Eriskay in the Hebrides

South Uist: Eriskay
Uibhist a Deas: Eirisgeigh

Though the film Whisky Galore! was based on the fictional Hebridean island of Todday, it was in fact Eriskay where the real events occured which inspired the film. These days, a long time since the SS Politician ran aground, Eriskay is once again a quiet sort of place with 180 inhabitants.

It is a small island - just 4km by 3km - but was in fact the place Bonnie Prince Charlie first set foot in Scotland. At that time it was under the juristiction of the MacNeills of Barra but was sold in the early nineteenth century to Gorden of Cluny who promptly cleared Eriskay of people and filled it with sheep. Unfortunately for him but fortunately for the populace, Eriskay was not as well suited as elsewhere in the Cluny domains for sheep and so people were allowed to drift back.

Fishing is very important and it is a tradition amongst the womenfolk to make hand-knitted sweaters using native patterns.