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Tanera Mòr

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Gaelic name
  
Tannara Mòr

Area rank
  
86

Country
  
Scotland

Area
  
3.1 km²

Lieutenancy area
  
Highland

OS grid reference
  
NB992067

Sovereign state
  
United Kingdom

Highest elevation
  
124 m

Council area
  
Highland

Tanera Mòr idailymailcoukipix20141120234BF1160000057

Meaning of name
  
"Harbour island", from Norse

Island groups
  
British Isles, Inner Hebrides

Tanera Mòr (Scottish Gaelic: Tannara Mòr) is an uninhabited (previously inhabited) island in Loch Broom in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is the largest of the Summer Isles and was the last inhabited island in that group. Tanera Mòr has issued its own postage stamps and was the location of Frank Fraser Darling's book Island Years. In 2014 it was reported that the island's permanent residents had left and that it is for sale for £1.95 million.

Contents

Map of Tanera Mor, United Kingdom

Geography

Tanera Mòr is around 310 hectares (766 acres) and reaches a height of 124 metres (407 feet). The highest hill is Meall Mòr (a common Scottish mountain name, meaning a "big rounded hill").

The rock is Torridonian sandstone covered with peat and pasture.

History

The island was a port for herring fishing, and suffered the decline of that industry. The two settlements were known as Ardnagoine and Garadheancal.

In 1881, there were no fewer than 118 people living on Tanera Mòr, all of whom had left in 1931 (one year after St Kilda was abandoned). Permanent habitation has been intermittent since then, with six people identified as resident in 1961, eight in 1981, none in 1991 and then five at the 2001 census and four in 2011. Many of the old cottages have been renovated, and are now used as holiday accommodation.

In September 2012, it was revealed that the island's owners Lizzie and Richard Williams were considering a community buyout with residents on the mainland nearby. The price to the Coigach development trust has been assessed at £2.6 million. This proposal did not progress, however, and the island was placed on the open market in May 2013 for £2.5 million. By 2014 the price had been dropped to £1.95 million by owners Richard and Lizzie Williams, who have moved to the mainland.

Facilities and infrastructure

Tanera Mòr is home to a salmon fish farm, several holiday cottages, a small sailing school, a café and a post office, which has operated its own local post and printed its own stamps since 1970. The island has no roads and the only recognisable path goes around An Acarsaid ("The Anchorage"), the sheltered bay on the east side of the island. Tanera Mòr, like the other Summer Isles, can be seen from the Stornoway to Ullapool ferry. The island can be reached by boat from either Achiltibuie in Wester Ross, or Ullapool.

Wildlife

The island's floral diversity is strong due to the lack of grazing over the last 25 years, with northern marsh orchids and butterfly orchids particularly strong. Otters are active, common and grey seals frequently visit from the other nearby Summer Isles, and basking sharks and porpoises pass by in summer. Bird species include eider, heron, red grouse and buzzards

References

Tanera Mòr Wikipedia