Inchfad
Scottish Gaelic nameInnis Fada
Meaning of namelong island
Location
Inchfad is located in West Dunbartonshire
Inchfad
Inchfad
Inchfad shown within Scotland
OS grid referenceNS400910
Coordinates56°05′06″N 4°34′19″W / 56.085°N 4.572°W / 56.085; -4.572
Physical geography
Island groupLoch Lomond
Area35 ha[1]
Area rank(Freshwater: 11) [2]
Highest elevation24 m
Administration
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
CountryScotland
Council areaStirling
Demographics
Population1[3]
Population rank89= (Freshwater: 5) [2]
Lymphad
References[4][5]
Inchfad in 2022
Woodland on Inchfad

Inchfad (Scottish Gaelic: Innis Fada, "long island") is an island in the south east of Loch Lomond in Scotland.

Inchfad is 1.35 km (0.84 mi)[6][7] long and forty hectares in area. Its highest point is 25 metres. The island forms part of the parish of Buchanan in west central Scotland, formerly part of Stirlingshire and now under Stirling Council.

Inchfad is partially wooded and has two residents. There are four houses on Inchfad, a modernized bungalow which served as the original farmhouse and a wooden house used as a holiday home.[6]

The very small island of Ellanderroch is just off its south-western tip.

There is a canal on the island which is 1⁄4 mile (400 metres) long, connected with the distillery.[6][8]

History

After the closure of illicit whisky stills around the loch, Inchfad became the home of a registered distillery. The ruins can be seen to this day.[6]

Inchfad was taken over by the MacFarlanes in the early 18th century, who ran a government distillery until the mid 19th century,[8][9] and their descendants run the boatyard at Balmaha nearby, as well as the island's mail service.[9] Other owners have included the Dukes of Montrose, and Charles Collins, founder of the publishing dynasty.[6][9]

The island was bought in 1944 by an English couple called Davison, who set about restoring the farm to working condition. Everything was brought up by train from the Wirral, including livestock. After they succeeded, they sold the island, and set off in a converted fishing vessel, which was wrecked off Portland Bill drowning Frank Davison. His widow Ann Davison later wrote an autobiography called Home was an Island about their life on Inchmurrin and Inchfad.[9]

In 1953 Ann Davison then went on to sail the Atlantic single handed and was the first woman to accomplish this. She spent her later life in the US.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Rick Livingstone’s Tables of the Islands of Scotland (pdf) Argyll Yacht Charters. Retrieved 12 Dec 2011.
  2. 1 2 Area and population ranks: there are c. 300 islands over 20 ha in extent and 93 permanently inhabited islands were listed in the 2011 census.
  3. ↑ National Records of Scotland (15 August 2013). "Appendix 2: Population and households on Scotland's Inhabited Islands" (PDF). Statistical Bulletin: 2011 Census: First Results on Population and Household Estimates for Scotland Release 1C (Part Two) (PDF) (Report). SG/2013/126. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  4. ↑ Ordnance Survey
  5. ↑ "Overview of Inchfad". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Inchfad". Loch Lomond Net. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  7. ↑ "British History On-Line". Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  8. 1 2 "Inchfad". lochlomond-islands.com. Retrieved 5 October 2008.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Worsley, Harry (1988). Loch Lomond: The Loch, the Lairds and the Legends. Glasgow: Lindsay Publications. ISBN 978-1-898169-34-5.
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56°05′N 4°34′W / 56.083°N 4.567°W / 56.083; -4.567

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