The Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides are a group of islands situated on the very periphery of Europe far out off the West coast of Scotland. Set on the edge of the North Atlantic ocean the islands have been continually inhabited for over 4,000 years and during that time man has had a dramatic effect upon the landscape. One of the most widely know features of the Hebridean landscape are the standing stones of Calanais (shown in our banner above) but not is so widely known is the fact that there are numerous stone circles and single stones dotted all over the Outer Hebrides such as the wonderful site 3 at Calanais (shown left).

The islands of the Outer Hebrides, which are also know as the Western Isles, are the Isle of Lewis, the Isle of Harris, North & South Uist, Barra, Benbecula and numerous other small inhabited islands such as Scalpay and many, many more uninhabited islands such as Taransay off South Harris.

Of all the islands the Isle of Harris, for it's Harris Tweed, and the Isle of Lewis are, most probably the most famous. Lewis, where you will find the main town of the Outer Hebrides, Stornoway, and Harris are really just one large island known commonly as the 'Long Island'.

At one time the Outer Hebrides were a very important area of Europe but, for the last few hundred years, they have been more often seen as a distant place where the people live in poverty. This attitude arose for a number of reasons and was, in some ways, rather true for the majority of Hebridean folk who often struggled to feed themselves and lived in small buildings known as blackhouses. If you visit the Outer Hebrides it is still possible to see blackhouses as there are a small number that have been restored to how they would have been when lived in (the vast majority are in ruins). There are even one or two blackhouses dotted around the islands that have been renovated to meet today's high building standards and one or two are available as self catering accommodation such as the one shown to the right (see our Isle of Harris self catering section).