Talk:Inner Hebrides/Archive 1

Islands of the lower Firth of Clyde

I would describe the Islands of the lower Firth of Clyde as forming part of the Inner Hebrides, yet no mention is made of them here, nor of the Inner Hebrides at that article. What do other think? Perhaps best to comment at the Talk item I started over there, to avoid a parallel strand:

• Talk:Islands of the lower Firth of Clyde

--Mais oui! 22:54, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Islands in the Inner Hebrides

A question was raised re the inclusion of The Summer Isles and other small islands north of Skye in the Inner Hebrides category. Encylopedia Britannica (1978) says Hebrides - group of islands of the west coast of Scotland extending in an arc between 55.35 and 58.30 N and 5.26 and 8.40 W.” This includes Gigha, St.Kilda and everything up to Cape Wrath – although not for some reason, North Rona. The Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying 'east of the Minch'. It’s not unequivocal, but as neither exclude the Summer Isles etc. See also Talk:Islands of the Clyde. Ben MacDui 08:18, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. First that doesn't include everything up to Cape Wrath - Handa is at 5.20°W so excluded from that definition. Britannica online [1] states about the Inner Hebrides: "They stretch 150 miles (240 km) from Skye in the north to Islay in the south.". This clearly excludes the Summer Isles, Isle of Ewe, Handa etc. All of these islands are much closer to mainland Scotland than they are to the rest of the (Inner) Hebrides, so they are geographically distinct, and not generally regarded as part of the Hebrides. --Vclaw 17:21, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

So I imagine this means that either 1978 Brittanica editors consciously decided to include the Summer Isles, but not Handa for some unstated reason or that they were simply being slightly sloppy. As they had no need to categorise every last Hebridean islet I imagine the latter. I am aware of the on-line citation and it is a simply a generalism. There is no collective noun for ‘small islands near the mainland of north-west Scotland that are not Hebrides’ that I am aware of. In The Islands of Western Scotland W.H. Murray sub-titles the book ‘The Inner and Outer Hebrides’ and mentions all west coast islands including Handa and the ‘Atlantic Outliers’. I have not read Hamish Haswell-Smith’s ‘’The Scottish Islands’’ from cover to cover but he by-passes the issue by dividing the Inner Hebrides up into sections and I can see no reference to these northern islands as being anything other than Hebridean. If they are not Hebrides, then in order to clearly define what the islands of the west coast (excluding the Firth of Clyde) are, we can either say: ‘comprised of the Inner and Outer Hebrides’, or alternatively: ‘comprised of the Inner and Outer Hebrides and a small selection of in-shore islands north of an arbitrary line somewhere near Skye.’ These islands are geologically, geographically and culturally in every way similar to all the other Hebrides, and in short I do not believe there is any meaningful precedent for, or merit or elegance in excluding them. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ben MacDui (talk • contribs) 13:31, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

I know a girl named Skye.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.229.233.34 (talk) 02:23, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Island Template

I have created a Template:Infobox Scottish island for use with Scottish islands which is based on the existing Template:Infobox Scotland place but which contains parameters which may be more useful for smaller islands which don't have their own police force or Lord Lieutenant. Comments are welcome on the associated talk page.

I have created it as a template for all Scottish islands and used an image of a longboat next to the Saltire to emphasise the difference with the Scotland place Template. The said image is called Image:McdonaldBoat.jpg. Before ancient foes of Clan Donald complain, I am assured by User:Calgacus that the proper name for this image is a 'Lymphad' and that its was actually purloined from the Russian wikipedia. He also points out that the same image appears for example at the bottom of Image:Norse-Gael_Warrior.PNG[2] and the Sinclair Orkney arms [3] [4] which suggests to me that the lymphad may be appropriate for all our isles whether they have a primarily Celtic or primarily Norse history. This note has been copied in various places including Talk:Orkney Talk:Shetland Talk:Hebrides Talk:Islands of the Clyde etc.

An example of the template may be found at:Flannan Isles

There is space for references. Groupings and population information are available at List of islands of Scotland the latter being based on the 2001 census. Area measurements for the 162 islands of 100 acres or more in size are available in Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate. I'd be happy to pass the relevant numbers on if needed, although I doubt I am going to get around to listing all 162. There is more on this subject at Template talk:Infobox Scottish island. Ben MacDui (Talk) 10:32, 7 December 2006 (UTC)