Barra Barraigh

The main town of Castlebay (pop. 1,300) was once a flourishing herring port, but the fishermen now go in search of lobsters and prawns.

It was at Eriskay on June 23, 1745 that "Bonnie Prince Charlie" first set foot on Scottish soil.

The tiny island off the southern tip of South Uist can be reached by passenger ferry from Ludag. In 1941 the "SS Politician" sank with a cargo of 20,000 crates of whisky which the inhabitants rapidly concealed. The full story was told in the film "Whisky Galore".

The medieval Kisimul Castle perches on a rock in the middle of a bay. The clan McNeil of Barra, who made a name for themselves as skilled seafarers and feared pirates, lived here from 1314, but the building was ruined by fire at the end of the 18th C. In 1938 the 45th clan chief, an American architect, returned it to its original condition.