Rona

(South Rona; Ronaigh)

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Rona, an island of Portree parish, Inverness-shire, in the belt of sea between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Ross-shire, ½ mile N by E of Raasay, 8½i miles NW of Applecross village, and 11½ NNE of Portree Extending 4¾ miles north-by-eastward, and nowhere more than 1¼ mile broad, it forms a ridge nearly in a line with Raasay; rises to an extreme altitude of 404 feet above sea-level; is separated, by deep irregular vales, into a series of rocky hills; presents an appearance prevailingly tame and cheerless; is appropriated chiefly to the rearing of black cattle; contains a scattered village and some arable ground at the head of a small bay; has a tolerably good harbour, called Acairseid Haven; and is crowned with a lighthouse, built in 1857 at a cost of £5063, and showing flashin white light every 12 seconds, visible at the distance of 20 nautical miles. Pop. (1841) 165, (1861) 147, (1871) 157, (1881) 159.—Ord. Sur., sh. 81, 1882.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer