Inch Kenneth
| Gaelic name | Innis Choinnich |
|---|---|
| Meaning of name | Island of Kenneth, follower of St Columba |
| Location | |
 Inch Kenneth
Inch Kenneth shown within Argyll and Bute
|
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| OS grid reference | NM435355 |
| Physical geography | |
| Island group | Inner Hebrides |
| Area | 55 hectares (0.21 sq mi) |
| Area rank | 189= [1] |
| Highest elevation | 49 metres (161 ft) |
| Political geography | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | Scotland |
| Council area | Argyll and Bute |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 0 |
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|
| References | [2][3] |
Inch Kenneth (Scottish Gaelic: Innis Choinnich) is a small grassy island in the parish of Kilfinichen and Kilvickeon, Argyllshire, Scotland. It is at the entrance of Loch Na Keal, off the west coast of the Isle of Mull, to the south-southeast of Ulva. It is part of the Loch Na Keal National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland.[4]
History
The island is named after St Kenneth, a follower of Saint Columba, who is said to have founded a monastery on the island.
People
The island was visited in 1773 by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their tour of the Hebrides; they were entertained there by Sir Allan MacLean, head of the Maclean clan. Both Johnson[5] and Boswell[6] published accounts of their visit.
In the 1930s the island was owned by Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet, the writer of the words to the Skye Boat Song. He enlarged an earlier house to make the existing large mansion.
Its most famous owners were the eccentric Mitford family. Nazi sympathiser Unity Mitford spent her final years on the island.[7] Following the death of their mother Lady Redesdale in 1963, the island was inherited by the surviving Mitford sisters, except Jessica. Nancy gave her share to Jessica, who bought the shares of Diana, Deborah and Pamela.[8] Jessica, a former communist, teasingly suggested that it might become a Soviet submarine base.
The island was sold by Jessica in the late 1960s to Dr Andrew Barlow (1916-2006) (son of Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet and Lady Nora Barlow, paediatrician at Middlesex Hospital), and his artist wife Yvonne Barlow; it remains with their daughter Claire Barlow, Senior Lecturer at Cambridge University and Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge.
The island was a location for the 1993 feature film Walk Me Home produced by author Timothy Neat.[9]
Inch Kenneth is classified by the National Records of Scotland as an inhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses."[10]
Footnotes
- ↑ Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands >20ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ "National Scenic Areas". SNH. Retrieved 30 Mar 2011.
- ↑ Samuel Johnson (1775). A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
- ↑ James Boswell (1785) The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Mary S. Lowell, The Mitford Sisters
- ↑ "Mull: I Know Where I'm Going" powell-pressburger.org. Retrieved 29 December 2009. Extract from Bruce, David (1996) Scotland the Movie. Polygon.
- ↑ National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013) (pdf) Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland - Release 1C (Part Two). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland’s inhabited islands". Retrieved 17 August 2013.
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