page_title: Islands of the Clyde
section_title: Outlying islands
hierarchical_section_title: Islands of the Clyde / Islands / Outlying islands
caption_attribution_description: en:Lady Isle photographed from the mainland just to the north of en:Troon. Note en:Ailsa Craig in the background. Picture taken by me in the summer of 2005.
context_page_description: The Islands of the Firth of Clyde are the fifth largest of the major Scottish island groups after the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland. They are situated in the Firth of Clyde between Ayrshire and Argyll and Bute. There are about forty islands and skerries, of which only four are inhabited and only nine larger than 40 hectares. The largest and most populous are Arran and Bute, and Great Cumbrae and Holy Island are also served by dedicated ferry routes. Unlike the four larger Scottish archipelagos, none of the isles in this group are connected to one another or to the mainland by bridges.
  The geology and geomorphology of the area is complex and the islands and the surrounding sea lochs each have distinctive features. The influence of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Atlantic Drift create a mild, damp oceanic climate.
  The larger islands have been continuously inhabited since Neolithic times, were influenced by the emergence of the kingdom of Dál Riata from 500 AD and then absorbed into the emerging Kingdom of Alba under Kenneth MacAlpin. They experienced Viking incursions during the Early Middle Ages and then became part of the Kingdom of Scotland in the 13th century.
context_section_description: Some islets lie remote from the larger islands and are listed separately here by location.
  Gare Loch is a small loch which hosts the Faslane Naval Base, the home of the UK's Trident nuclear submarines. At its southern end, the loch opens into the Firth of Clyde, via the Rhu narrows. It contains two islets: Green Island and Perch Rock.
  The Kilbrannan Sound, which lies between Arran and the Kintyre peninsula, contains several islets: An Struthlag, Cour Island, Eilean Carrach (Carradale), Eilean Carrach (Skipness), Eilean Grianain, Eilean Sunadale, Gull Isle, Island Ross and Thorn Isle. In the late 11th century Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, made an arrangement with King Malcolm III of Scotland that he could take possession of land on the west coast around which a ship could sail. He had his longship dragged across the 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long isthmus in the north of Kintyre between East Loch Tarbert and West Loch Tarbert as part of a campaign to increase his possessions. Magnus declared that Kintyre had "better land than the best of the Hebrides", and by taking command of his ship's tiller and "sailing" across the isthmus he was able to claim the entire peninsula was an island, which remained under Norse rule for more than a dozen years as a result.
  Loch Fyne, which extends 65 kilometres (40 mi) inland from the Sound of Bute is the longest of Scotland's sea lochs and contains several islets and skerries. These are Duncuan Island, Eilean Ardgaddan, Eilean a' Bhuic, Eilean Aoghainn, Eilean a' Chomhraig, Eilean an Dúnain, Eilean Buidhe (Ardmarnock), Eilean Buidhe (Portavadie), Eilean Fraoch, Eilean Math-ghamhna, Eilean Mór, Glas Eilean, Heather Island, Inverneil Island, Kilbride Island and Liath Eilean.
  The North Ayrshire islets of Broad Rock, East Islet, Halftide Rock, High Rock and North Islet are all found surrounding Horse Isle. Lady Isle, which lies off the South Ayrshire coast near Troon once housed "ane old chapell with an excellent spring of water". However, in June 1821 someone set fire to the "turf and pasture", and permanently destroyed the island's grazing, with gales blowing much of the island's soil into the sea.
  Neither Loch Goil nor Loch Long, which are fjord-like arms of the firth to the north, contain islands.
caption: Lady Isle with Ailsa Craig beyond
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix S5000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0", "Image DateTime": "2005:08:22 07:08:23", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "240", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "878", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2062", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:08:20 13:02:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:08:20 13:02:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "209/25", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "57", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1414", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1018", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "5263", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "5263", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}