Hermetray

Hermetray Gaelic: Theàrnatraigh
Sound of Harris (Inverness-shire)
Sheep grazing on Hermetray
Location
Location:	57°39’36"N, 7°2’56"W
Grid reference:	NF988741
Area:	178 acres
Highest point:	Compass Knoll, 115 feet
Data
Population:	0

Hermetray is an uninhabited island in the Sound of Harris which separates North Uist from Harris in the Outer Hebrides, and like its neighbours, it belongs to Inverness-shire. The isle is to the north of North Uist.

The name of the island is from the Norse Hermunðrs ey, meaning "Hermund's Island"

Geography and geology

Hermetray lies in the Sound of Harris, on the edge of the Minch. Though it lies on the south side of the sound, it is in the parish of Harris.

The island is 178 acres in area, and reaches no more than 115 feet at its highest point, Cnoc a' Chombaiste ("Compass Hill"). The bedrock of the island is Lewisian gneiss.

The hillock of Cnoc a' Chombaiste is found to the northeast. The other main geomorphological features are Acarseid Mór (big harbour) to the west a "shallow and weedy inlet with a rocky shore" and Loch Hermetray at the island's centre.

There are numerous surrounding islets. The largest is Vaccasay or Bhacasaigh which extends to 72 acres and lies to the west. Along with Fuam to the south and Hulmatraigh to the north this island encloses the sheltered Basin of Vaccasay. Fuam's full name in Gaelic is Fuam an Aon Fhoid, meaning "far out isle of the one peat" a reference to its shallow soils. Greineam and the skerries of Staffin and Creag na Stead lie to the north in the Grey Horse Channel and Grodaigh and the once fortified Dun Mhic Leathann to the south, beyond the Seòlaid na h-Eala and close to North Uist. This strait is named after the Eala Bhàn (white swan), a famous 17th century birlinn. Seòlaid means a sailing channel, "fairway in the sea" or anchorage.

Further northwest is the Cabbage Patch, a complex group of reefs and skerries including the islets of Opasaigh, Sàrstaigh and Nàrstaigh.

History

The island's name is Norse, Hermunðr-øy meaning "Hermund's Island", although it is not known who this person was. The Ordnance Survey also refer to the islet by its Gaelic name of "Thernatraigh", pronounced much the same way as the English name.

In 1549, Dean Monro wrote of "Hermodray" that it was a: "half mile lang, fertile and frutfull".

Martin Martin visited the island in 1695 and said of it, that it had: "moorish soil, covered all over almost in heath, except here and there, with a few piles of grass and the plant milkwort. Yet not withstanding this disadvantage, it is certainly the best spot of its extent for pasturage amongst these isles, and affords plenty of milk in January and February beyond what can be seen in other islands."

Martin Martin also mentions that there is:

"the foundation of a house built by the English in the reign of King Charles the First's time, for one of their magazines to lay up the cask, salt etc, for carrying on the fishery, which was then begun in the Western Islands; but this design miscarried because of the civil wars which then broke out."

Martin was referring to Lord Seaforth's fishery, set up in 1633, but which collapsed a mere seven years later. It was part of Charles I's "Company of the General Fishery of Great Britain & Ireland".

In 1841, a population of 8 was recorded as living on the island in a single household. Ordnance Survey maps published in 1881 showed six unroofed buildings on the island, which has remained uninhabited since the mid 19th century. A sheep fank at Acarseid Mór may be on the site of the 1841 house. North Uist was much affected by the Highland Clearances from where there was large scale emigration to Cape Breton in Canada but no certain reasons for the abandonment of Hermetray have come to light.

In 1921, a Norwegian ship, the Puritan was wrecked here. Reportedly the three survivors would not partake of a crate of whisky which was wrecked with them, and did not thank their rescuer, Alasdair Beag of Berneray, when he arranged for them to be returned to their home country. The Hebrideans explained this by the name of the ship, although it should be pointed out that the survivors spoke neither Gaelic nor English.

Heremtray is currently owned by the Crown and there is a fish farm in the Basin of Vaccasay.

Wildlife

Gulls and buzzards nest in the low cliffs and escaped American mink have been trapped on the island during an eradication programme. Fish are absent from Loch Hermetray.

The flora includes adder's tongue, flag iris, bog cotton, ragged robin and white clover.

In popular fiction

In the Harry Potter books it is recounted that at some point in the 16th Century Zygmunt Budge, an accomplished maker of potions, took up residence on Hermetray after leaving Hogwarts in protest at the age of 14. Living alone, he continued his studies and eventually wrote the Book of Potions.

Outside links

• Aerial photograph

Bagh a Chaise, North Uist with Hermetray beyond (dist. right)

References

• Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 1841954543. 
• Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Ainmean-àite/Placenames. (pdf)

• Martin, Martin (1703) "A Voyage to St. Kilda" in A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland. Appin Regiment/Appin Historical Society
• Munro, R. W. (1961) Monro's Western Isles of Scotland and Genealogies of the Clans. Edinburgh and London. Oliver and Boyd.