Scottish Blog

St Kilda is a small island of the coast of Scotland.

There are a number of islands of the coast of Scotland, the thing that makes St Kilda unique amongst these is that it is the further away then any other inhabitable piece of land from the Scottish mainland. It is 64 kilometers of the mainland coast. The island itself covers an area of eight and a half square kilometers, although the St Kilda World Heritage site, to which the island belongs, is 225 square kilometers as it covers the surrounding waters.

There is only one piece of land surpassing St Kilda to the claim of being the largest distance from the Scottish mainland, Rockall, a 25 meter wide volcano tip that is 369 kilometers from the mainland.

St Kilda is thought to draw its name from the Norse word “skildir”, meaning “shields”. Researchers believe that a simple spelling error on an old map made the “Skildir” resemble “S.Kildir”, thus creating both the current incarnation of the name and also a previously unknown Saint.

The geography of St Kilda consists of three main islands, surrounded with several smaller islets. There are a number of sheer cliffs on the waters edge, reaching a height of up top 300 meters. The highest peak in the archipelago is 430 meters. For the most part, the various islands are characterized by cliffs and large amounts of rock. There are also a number of stone pillars or stacks in the water surrounding the islands, these can reach a height of 172 meters.

The islands of St Kilda have been inhabited since pre-historic times. Although the population has been slowly dwindling since the 17th century due to sickness and emigration to countries such as the United States and Australia. On the 26th of August 1930, the last 36 inhabitants of St Kilda were evacuated from the islands by their own decision. In recent years the economy of the island had collapsed and living there became impossible.