11 Facts About Inner Hebrides

Inner Hebrides is an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland, to the south east of the Outer Hebrides.

The Inner Hebrides comprise 35 inhabited islands as well as 44 uninhabited islands with an area greater than 30 hectares .

In modern times the Inner Hebrides have formed part of two separate local government jurisdictions, one to the north and the other to the south.

North of Dal Riata the Inner Hebrides were nominally under Pictish control although the historical record is sparse.

Early 10th century are an obscure period so far as the Hebrides are concerned but Aulaf mac Sitric, who fought at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937 is recorded as a King of the Isles from c 941 to 980.

Related searches

The records for the rulers of the Inner Hebrides are obscured again until the arrival of Godred Crovan as King of Dublin and the Isles.

However, their control of the southern Inner Hebrides was lost with the emergence of Somerled, the self-styled Lord of Argyle.

Inner Hebrides's was visited by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell during their 1773 Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and written on her gravestone are Johnson's words that hers was "A name that will be mentioned in history, and if courage and fidelity be virtues, mentioned with honour".

However, in the mid-19th century, the inhabitants of many parts of the Inner Hebrides were devastated by the clearances, which destroyed communities throughout the Highlands and Islands as the human populations were evicted and replaced with sheep farms.

The Inner Hebrides, known as Fingal's Cave, is a famous overture written by Felix Mendelssohn inspired by his visit to Staffa.

Cressida Cowell, the author of How to Train Your Dragon, spent childhood summers in the Inner Hebrides and has stated that they are "one of the most beautiful places on Earth" and "the kind of place where you expect to see dragons overhead".