Colonsay
472310
221122581
2008-06-23T03:48:25Z
Rjwilmsi
203434
gen fixes + format *date= in cite news/web/paper templates - full explanation [[User:Rjwilmsi#My_correction_of_dates_in_templates|here]] using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]]
{{otherplaces}}
{{Infobox Scottish island |
|latitude=56.06
|longitude=-6.21
|GridReference=NR382938
|celtic name=Colbhasa
|norse name=Colonsey
|meaning of name= Old Norse for 'Columba's isle'
|area=4,074 ha
|area rank= 26
|highest elevation=143 m (469 feet)
|Population=108
|population rank=44
|main settlement= Scalasaig
|island group=Islay
|local authority=[[Argyll and Bute]]
|references=<ref>General Register Office for Scotland (28 Nov 2003) ''[http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/occpapers/occasional-paper-10.html Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands]'' Retrieved [[9 July]] [[2007]].</ref><ref>Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.</ref>
}}
'''Colonsay''' ([[Scots Gaelic Language|Gaelic]]: Colbhasa) is an [[island]] in the [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[Inner Hebrides]], located north of [[Islay]] and south of [[Isle of Mull|Mull]] and has an area of just over 4,000 hectares (16 sq. miles). It is the ancestral home of [[Clan Macfie]] and the Colonsay branch of [[Clan MacNeil]]l.
==Community==
The island's total population is about 110 people. Colonsay's main settlement is [[Scalasaig]] ([[Scots Gaelic Language|Gaelic]]: Sgalasaig) on the east coast, from where [[ferry|ferries]] sail to [[Oban]] and, between April and October, to [[Kennacraig]] via [[Port Askaig]] on [[Islay]].
The island is known for [[Colonsay House]], the [[8th century|eighth century]] [[Riasg Buidhe Cross]], its wild [[goat]]s, and for birds including [[Black-legged Kittiwake]]s, [[Great Cormorant|cormorant]]s, [[Common Guillemot|guillemot]]s, [[corncrake]]s and [[Golden Eagle|golden eagle]]s. The island is linked by a [[Tide|tidal]] [[causeway]] (named 'The Strand') to [[Oronsay, Inner Hebrides|Oronsay]] [Orasa].
Although Colonsay appears bare and somewhat forbidding on approach from the sea, its landscape is exceptionally beautiful and varied, with some of the finest sandy beaches in the Hebrides, and a sheltered and fertile interior. Hence the growth of [[tourism]] as the mainstay of the island's economy, with numerous holiday cottages, many of them owned and managed by the Isle of Colonsay Estate. The estate is owned by [[Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal|Donald Howard, 4th Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal]], whose eldest son and heir to the title, Alex Howard, lives on the island with his family and oversees the running of the Estate.
[[Image:Colonsay islands.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<Center>The Druid's Circle and other archaeological features on Colonsay.<ref name="Buckley">Harvie-Brown, J.A. and Buckley, T. E. (1892), A Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. Pub. David Douglas., Edinburgh.</ref>]]
The island has a tiny bookshop specialising in books of local interest; it is also the home of the [[House of Lochar]] publishing company specialising in Scottish history.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.houseoflochar.com/sitefiles/mission.htm| title=Mission Statement| author=House of Lochar Publisher | accessdate=2007-08-02}}</ref> There is a hotel overlooking the harbour<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.thecolonsay.com| title=Colonsay Hotel| accessdate=2007-08-02}}</ref>, a cafe and bakery, and a shop and post office. In 2006 the former [[Colonsay Airport|grass airstrip]] was upgraded and provided with a hard surface, in readiness for the introduction of a scheduled air service from Oban (Connel) airport, which was due to commence in 2007, but has been delayed until 2008. <ref>[http://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/content/news/general/PSOs?s=906&a=0 "Argyll Flying High."] Argyll-bute.gov.uk. Retrieved [[20 September]] [[2007]]</ref>
Colonsay Community Development Company, the local [[development trust]] is “engaged in a range of work which reflects a sustainable approach to the regeneration of our island”. Current projects include running the islands coal supply and only petrol pump, a major rhododendron ponticum eradication programme and a feasibility study into the possibility of improving the harbour and surrounding area.
The nature of island life was exemplified by a story reported in November 2006, when a construction worker from [[Glasgow]] was arrested and confessed to burglary. The man had entered an unlocked house and stolen £60 in cash. Media interest was stirred when it was reported that this was the first recorded crime since 2004, and the 'first ever theft from a house.'<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.islayblog.com/2006entries/20061110-colonsaycrime.shtml| author=Paterson. S.| title=Colonsay’s first house thief is fined £400| location=Glasgow| work=[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]] newspaper| date=2006-11-10| accessdate=2006-11-29}}</ref>
2007 saw the opening of the [[Colonsay Brewery]], a [[micro-brewery]] offering three different products.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.colonsaybrewery.co.uk| title=Colosay Brewery| accessdate=2007-04-24}}</ref>
==Mesolithic Food Industry==
In 1995 evidence of large-scale [[Mesolithic]] nut processing, some 9,000 years old, was found in a [[midden]] pit at Staosnaig on the island's sheltered east coast. The evidence consists of a large, shallow pit full of the remains of hundreds of thousands of burned [[hazelnut]] shells. Hazelnuts have been found on other Mesolithic sites, but rarely in such quantities or concentrated in one pit. The nuts were [[radiocarbon dating|radiocarbon dated]] to 7720+/-110BP, which calibrates to circa 7000 BC. Similar sites in Britain are known only at [[Farnham]] in [[Surrey]] and [[Cass ny Hawin]] on the [[Isle of Man]].<ref name="Nuts1">[http://www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba5/ba5news.html "Mesolithic food industry on Colonsay"] (June 1995) ''British Archaeology''. No. 5. Retrieved [[25 May]] [[2008]]. </ref><ref name=Moff>Moffat, Alistair (2005) ''Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History''. London. Thames & Hudson. p. 91–2.</ref>
This discovery gives an insight into communal activity and forward planning in the period. The nuts were harvested in a single year and [[pollen analysis]] suggests that the [[hazel]] trees were all cut down at the same time.<ref name=Moff/> The scale of the activity, unparalleled elsewhere in Scotland, and the lack of large game on the island, suggests the possibility that Colonsay contained a community with a largely vegetarian diet for the time they spent on the island. The pit was originally on a beach close to the shore, and was associated with two smaller stone-lined pits, whose function remains obscure, a hearth, and a second cluster of pits.<ref name="Nuts1"/>
{{Clear}}
==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Scalasaig Colonsay from ferry.JPG|View of Scalasaig from the Port Askaig ferry
Image:View from Colonsay to Oronsay.JPG|View over Colonsay and Oronsay to the right, the Paps of Jura in the distance
Image:Kiloran.JPG|An Tràigh Bhàn, Kiloran Bay, Colonsay.
Image:ClanBadge.jpg|Clan badge of the MacNeills of Gigha & Colonsay.
Image:Riasg Buidhe Cross.jpg|8th-century Riasg Buidhe Cross in the gardens of Colonsay House.
</gallery>
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.colonsay.org.uk/ Island web site]
*[http://www.colonsay.org.uk/gardens.html Colonsay House and gardens]
*[http://www.colonsay.org.uk/corncrake/cornframe.html The Corncrake, Colonsay's newsletter]
*[http://www.tommckendrick.com.au/video.html On The Edge, documentary about Colonsay]
{{hebrides}}
{{coor title dm|56|4|N|6|13|W|region:GB_type:isle}}
[[Category:Islands of the Inner Hebrides]]
[[Category:Argyll and Bute]]
[[ca:Colonsay]]
[[de:Colonsay]]
[[es:Colonsay]]
[[eu:Colonsay]]
[[fr:Colonsay]]
[[he:האי קולונסיי]]
[[nds:Colonsay]]