NM2256 : Coll - Sgeir Dhubh and Cairn na Burgh Beg & More
taken 3 years ago, near to Arinagour, Coll, Argyll And Bute, Scotland
Arinagour is the chief settlement, in fact the only settlement of any size, on the island of Coll. Its resident population is about 50 out of the island's total of c.195, though this number can be considerably swollen by visitors to the island.
Arinagour hosts Coll's only hotel (The Coll Hotel Link ) although there are also B&Bs and holiday lets available. The hotel also contains the island's only bar and restaurant, though there is a very good café just down the road 'The Island Café'. The village also has a general stores, Post Office, church, fire station and coastguard post. The island's main harbour is situated here and the ferry port for CalMac ferries to Oban and neighbouring Tiree (daily service to both) is about ½ mile (1km) south of the village.
There are a series of interesting photographs of Arinagour from the 1930s on the ambaile website - see:
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A small plaque on the wall of the houses in Main Street states:
"ARINAGOUR VILLAGE 1812-2012
Shore St., Main St. & High St. built on stony ground
to house the Laird's estate workers close to the old pier.
Today, these homes are owned equally by new & old
Island families and a welcome is always ready here.
For Archie 1941-2012"
The Isle of Coll lies in the Sea of the Hebrides to the west of the much larger island of Mull, and immediately to the northeast of its neighbour, Tiree (Tiriodh).
Coll is much hillier and far less suitable for agriculture than Tiree, though the latter has slightly higher hills at its western edge whereas Coll has a distribution of c.60m hills over much of its terrain. Its highest point, Ben Hogh, achieving just 106m (348'). This difference in topography results in Coll having less than a third of the population of its neighbour.
Whereas Tiree is criss-crossed by a network of roads and lanes, Coll only really has one major road with a few (dead-end) 'branches'. Like Tiree, it is famed for its beaches, especially along its northwest coast and the massive expanse of dunes at the southwest of the island between Feall and Crossapol Bays.
Just off the SW coast is the small uninhabited island of Gunna (69ha, 170 acres (c.¼ mile²)) and off its NE coast a collection of uninhabited islets, the "Cairns of Coll" the largest of which is Eilean Mòr (c.18ha, 45 acres)
Statistics (Coll main island)
Area: 7,685ha (29.67 miles²)
Population: 195 (2011 census)
Density 2.537/km² (6.572/mile²)
Highest Point: Ben Hogh, 106m (348')
Principal settlement: Arinagour (with about ¼ of the island's population)
The two Cairn na Burgh islands along with their associated rocks and skerries are the northeasternmost islands of the Treshnish archipelago which guard the entrance to Loch Tuath on the western side of the Isle of Mull.
Cairn na Burgh More (Mòr) has an area of c.3⅓ acres (1.36ha) with a highest elevation of 35m.
Cairn na Burgh Beg (Beag) has an area of c.3 acres (1.2 ha) with a high point of 22m
Neither island is populated these days.
Links (Canmore):
Castle (Mòr) Link
Castle (Beag) Link
Treshmish Islands Link