Belnahua

Belnahua, en gaélique Beul na h-Uamha, en français « La Bouche de la Caverne », est une toute petite île inhabitée du Royaume-Uni située en Écosse, dans le Firth of Lorn et faisant partie des Slate Islands, un groupe d'îles de l'archipel des Hébrides intérieures. L'ardoise de l'île a été exploitée durant des années et l'ancienne carrière est aujourd'hui noyée sous les eaux.

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Belnahua is one of the Slate Islands, in the Firth of Lorn in Scotland, known for its deserted slate quarries. The bedrock that underpins its human history is part of the Scarba Conglomerate Formation and its value has been on record since the 16th century. Likely uninhabited before commercial quarrying commenced, under the control of the Stevenson family during the 19th century the population expanded to over 150 before the island was abandoned again in 1914. Living on a remote island in the 19th century came with significant hardships and the lives of the quarry workers have been described in unflattering terms by modern commentators, one describing them as in effect "slaves". Today, the ruined buildings and abandoned machinery lie amidst the water filled quarries and are home only to wildlife. There are very strong tidal streams in the area and this a potentially hazardous location for shipping. In 1936 the cargo vessel Helēna Faulbaums was wrecked on the island, with the loss of 15 lives.

Fladda, Slate Islands

Fladda is one of the Slate Islands, off the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Fladda is an islet in the Sound of Luing, between Luing and Belnahua. The name Fladda originates from the Old Norse for 'flat island'.

Eilean Dubh Mòr

Eilean Dubh Mòr (Scottish Gaelic: big black island) is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It lies at the mouth of the Firth of Lorn, between the islands of Lunga and Garbh Eileach. The area of the island has been measured variously—at 50 hectares (120 acres) by Livingstone and 65 hectares (160 acres) by Haswell-Smith, the latter including the nearby islet of Eilean Dubh Beag (Scottish Gaelic: small black island), which is joined to Eilean Dubh Mòr at low tide.

Slate Islands, Scotland

The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua. Scarba and Kerrera, which lie nearby, are not usually included. The underlying geology of the islands is Dalradian slate, which was quarried widely until the mid-20th century. Quarry working began in 1630 and at the turn of the 20th century, the quarries were yielding some eight million slates every year. The Garvellachs lie to the southwest.

Dùn Chonnuill

Dùn Chonnuill is a small island in the Garvellachs in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland. Dùn Chonnuill lies north east of Garbh Eileach, the largest island of the archipelago to which it gives its anglicised name. There is a ruined castle, perhaps dating from the mid-13th century, when it was probably one of four castles known to have been held by Ewen MacDougall of Lorn from the Norwegian crown. The first certain reference was in 1343 when the island was granted to John of Islay, Lord of the Isles along with Cairnburgh and "Iselborgh". By 1390 his son Donald had granted half of the constabulary of Dùn Chonnuill to Lachlan Lùbanach Maclean of Duart. Circa 1385 John of Fordun included "the great castle of Dunquhonie" in his list of Hebridean strongholds. The MacLeans continued to hold the island and its castle until the mid-17th century, when ownership passed to the Campbell Earls of Argyll. Dean Monro, writing in 1549, made a brief reference to the isle in his Description of the Western Isles of Scotland referring to "ane strength... ane round Castell". To the northeast there are also the ruins of five roughly rectangular buildings, the largest of which is 12m by 6m in extent. They are all round-cornered and better preserved than the fortifications on the summit but are likely to be of a similar date. The "hereditary keeper" of the castle is Charles Maclean, son of the late Fitzroy Maclean.