Inchfad

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Woodland on Inchfad

Inchfad is an island in the south-east of Loch Lomond, forming part of the parish of Buchanan, Stirlingshire. The name is from the Gaelic Innis Fada, meaning "long island".

The island is about a mile long[1] and nearly 100 acres in area. Its highest point is 82 ft.

Inchfad is partially wooded and has two residents. There are two houses on Inchfad, a modernised bungalow which served as the original farmhouse and a wooden house used as a holiday home.[2]

The very small island of Ellanderroch is just off its south-western tip.

There is a canal on the island which is ¼ mile long, connected with the distillery.[2][3]

History

After the closure of illicit whisky stills around the loch, Inchfad became the home of a registered distillery. The ruins can be seen to this day. A canal was built to minimise the distance that the raw materials for the whisky had to be man-handled.[2]

Inchfad was taken over by the MacFarlanes in the early 18th century, who ran a government distillery until the mid 19th century,[3][4] and their descendants run the boatyard at nearby Balmaha on the mainland, as well as the island's mail service.[4] Other owners have included the Dukes of Montrose, and Charles Collins, founder of the publishing dynasty.[2][4]

The island was bought in 1944 by the Davisons, who set about restoring the farm to working condition. Everything was brought up by train from the Wirral in Cheshire, including livestock. After they succeeded, they sold the island, and set off in a converted fishing vessel, which was wrecked off Portland Bill drowning Frank Davison. His widow Ann Davison later wrote an autobiography called Home was an Island about their life on Inchmurrin and Inchfad.[4]

In 1953 Ann Davison then went on to sail the Atlantic single handed and was the first woman to accomplish this. She spent her later life in the US.

Footnotes

  1. "British History On-Line". http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43448&strquery=fidrey#s10. Retrieved 24 August 2007. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Inchfad". Loch Lomond Net. http://www.loch-lomond.net/islands/inchfad.html. Retrieved 2008-09-24. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Inchfad". lochlomond-islands.com. http://www.lochlomond-islands.com/page53.html. Retrieved 5 October 2008. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Worsley, Harry (1988). Loch Lomond: The Loch, the Lairds and the Legends. Glasgow: Lindsay Publications. ISBN 978-1-898169-34-5. 

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