Tiree Community Website - Our Strengths Tiree, tir an eorna, the land of the barley. The high soil fertility meant a strong population, and still today it is one of the best crofting areas on the west coast of Scotland. Added to which the Argyll Estate, along with various church groups, encouraged a large number of schools and a high standard of education on the island during the nineteenth century. Taking in the hay Of those who emigrated, many prospered. Isolated off the west coast, yet with a strong merchant navy tradition, Tiree was remote yet cosmopolitan.
Agriculture is still small-scale and the environment clean and unspoilt.
Taigh Iain Mhoir, Sandaig. Now a museum, run by the Hebridean Trust Despite the difficulties there is still a substantial body of traditional knowledge. There is a Gaelic medium unit at the school, where children are educated again through Gaelic, and the six-year secondary school means that young people no longer have to go to the mainland to continue their education. The island's Feis, now in its tenth year has very successfully re-invigorated traditional music, dance and song. The summer regattas are the last in Britain where traditional dipping lugsail vessels are raced.