Лисмор аралы: Шотландияның тарихы мен табиғаты

Island of Inner Hebrides, Scotland

Lismore (Lios Mòr, possibly meaning "great enclosure" or "garden") is an island of some in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The climate is damp and mild, with over of rain recorded annually. This fertile, low lying island was once a major centre of Celtic Christianity, with a 6th century monastery associated with Saint Moluag, and later became the seat of the medieval Bishop of Argyll. There are numerous ruined structures, including a broch and two 13th century castles. During the 19th century, various new industries were introduced, including lime quarrying. During the early decades of the 20th century, the population exceeded 1,000, but this was followed by a lengthy decline. Although resident numbers are now less than 200, there was a small increase from 2001 to 2011. About a third of the population were recorded as Gaelic speaking at the former date. The modern economy is largely based on farming, fishing and tourism, and the largest settlement is Achnacroish. Various shipwrecks have been recorded in the vicinity.

In the Gaelic name, lios means "garden" or "enclosure", One of the earliest English language references is to "Lismoir", recorded in the 16th century. Achnacroish is from Achadh na Croise and means "the field of the cross". The other small settlements are Clachan (village with a church) and Port Ramsay, opposite Eilean Ramsay (Ramsay's isle). Most of the surrounding islets have descriptive names, such as Eilean Dubh (black island), Eilean nan Gamhna (isle of the stirks) and Pladda (flat island, from Old Norse).

Lismore is formed almost wholly from rocks of the Neoproterozoic age Lismore Limestone Formation, which is ascribed to the Blair Atholl Subgroup of the Appin Group within the Dalradian sequence. There are also some minor graphitic pelites (sometimes described as 'interbedded black slate', within the formation. The limestone country rock is intruded by a handful of NE SW aligned lamprophyre dykes of Silurian to early Devonian age associated with the Strontian Granite Complex and by large numbers of NW SE aligned dykes of dolerite and basalt of Palaeogene age along with a rather fewer number assigned to the ‘Loch Scridain Suite. Quaternary deposits include glacial till and peat alongside some small patches of alluvium (clay, silt, sand and gravel) which occupy lower ground. Around the margins of Lismore are modern beach deposits and raised marine deposits of clay, silt and sand, the latter being a product of varying relative sea levels during the Holocene epoch. The whole of Scotland was subjected to glaciation during the Pleistocene epoch. A sign of this on Lismore is the presence of rock cut platforms close to the seashore that indicate the changing sea levels; in some areas of the northern coast, they also betray the presence of ice by the striation marks on the rocks.

There are various Bronze Age cairns on the island. Tirefour Castle is an Iron Age broch of an uncertain date that is a prominent landmark on Lismore's east coast. The walls have an average thickness of , enclosing a circular court about in diameter. The wall still stands high and reaches in the south east. There is a second possible broch site at An Dùn, SW of Loch Fiart, There are also various duns on the island that may date to the 1st or 2nd centuries AD. Lismore probably maintained its status as the principal religious house of the Cenél Loairn during the remainder of the 7th century and the deaths of abbots Iarnlaigh c. 700, Colmán in 704 and Crónán ua Eoain in 718 are recorded in the Annals of Ulster. Five further such obituaries are recorded in the latter half of the 8th century. Lismore was part of the kingdom of Dalriada in the 6th century and probably thereafter until the arrival of the Vikings in the late 8th century, after which it is likely the island was absorbed into the Norse Gael Kingdom of the Isles. Magnus Barelegs had established direct Norwegian overlordship over this sprawling sea kingdom by 1098. In that year, Edgar of Scotland signed a treaty with Magnus which settled much of the boundary between the Scots and Norwegian claims in these islands. Edgar formally acknowledged the existing situation by giving up his claims to the Hebrides but there were a few exceptions including Luing and Lismore, which were retained by the Scots.

Lismore later became the seat of the medieval Bishopric of Argyll. Before the late 12th century the Bishopric of Dunkeld included all of Argyll, but sometime between 1183 and 1193 they were separated, as apparently the then Bishop John Scotus was unable to speak Gaelic. Lismore became the seat of the new bishop, and he and his successors were known as Episcopi Lismorenses At least by 1268, Laurence de Ergadia became Bishop of Argyll and served in that position until his death in 1299. In the event St Moluag's cathedral at Clachan maintained its position until 1507, when the diocese's centre was moved to Saddell in Kintyre. The ruins of Coeffin Castle stand on the summit of a rocky promontory on the coast west of Clachan. There is the outline of an oblong hall house, which may be 13th century, and an irregularly shaped bailey, likely of a later date. A tidal fish trap, of unknown age, is located in the small bay to the south east of the castle. To the north east of the castle are the remains of a stone walled fort. The remains of Achanduin Castle west of Achnacroish is also thought to date back to the 13th century. Built by the MacDougalls around 1290, who held it throughout the 14th century, the castle is then thought to have been held by the Bishops of Argyll until the mid 16th century. The castle overlooks the island of Bernera.|group=Note Monro's Description of the Western Isles of Scotland also mentions Eilean Droineach and Eilean Ramsay. He stated that both were "good for corn and store" and had many "Elders and thorns" and that Eilean Droineach was the "habitation of Bishops and Nobles in auld times". However, the view of Munro (1961) is that this last comment more properly applies to the larger "Ramsay Isle". Lismore is the home of the Clan MacLea, who claim kinship with the Livingstone family, and who were recognised by the Lord Lyon in 2002. The Plod nam Baran, which is adjacent to the site of Saint Moluag's church, may be the burial ground of its clan chiefs, or "barons". The current chief, Niall Livingstone of Bachuil, is the "Coarb of Saint Moluag" and since the 16th century or earlier, the chiefs have been hereditary keepers of the saint's crozier or pastoral staff known as the Bachuil Mòr.

In 1707, the Acts of Union merged England and Scotland, and Lismore became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Thereafter taxes on whisky distillation rose dramatically, and much of Scotland's distillation was either shut down or forced underground until the 1823 Excise Act provided a legal framework for the industry. The remains of at least two illicit stills from this period have been found on Lismore. In 1749 the ruins of the old cathedral were trimmed down from their remaining height, given a roof and turned into a parish church with a bell tower. The remains of another two kilns can be seen at Kilcheran near Lismore Seminary, a Roman Catholic divinity school that was in operation from 1803 to 1828 at a time when the other inhabitants of the island were staunchly Presbyterian. John Stuart McCaig, the architect of McCaig's Tower in Oban, was born on Lismore in the 19th century as was the folklorist Alexander Carmichael. Overlooking Lismore Bay is a Celtic Cross, a memorial to Waverley Arthur Cameron, the son of Duncan Cameron, inventor of the "Waverley" nib pen and the owner of The Oban Times newspaper. There have been various other shipwrecks in the vicinity. In 1889 the paddle steamer Mountaineer lived up to its name by clambering onto Lady's Rock, the damage to which was still visible in 1995. In 1905 the MacBrayne steamship Clydesdale hit the same obstruction in a Force 6 wind. The harbour patrol craft Appletree was sunk in a collision with an RAF pinnace east of the Lismore light in October 1940 with, according to one report, the loss of two lives. The trawler MFV Solway Firth foundered south of this position in 1977. Lismore, like other Hebridean islands, has suffered from depopulation since the 19th century, in large part due to the Clearances. In 1798 there were 900 people living on the island and 1399 by 1841. Over the next 40 years the population more than halved to 621. By 1961 there were only 155 residents, and by the time of the 1991 census there were just 140. In the 2001 census, the population had risen slightly to 146, over 45% of whom were over 60 years old, making it the Scottish island with the oldest population.

The island's population was recorded as 192 at the 2011 census, During the same period Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702. The majority of the resident working population are engaged in farming or fishing, and sheep raised on the island have a reputation for quality. Majority of the land is owner occupied. Prior to 2007 there was no mains supply of drinking water on the island, water being supplied instead from wells and springs. However, Scottish Water later decided to supply water from boreholes instead. The island is linked to the mainland by two ferries: a Caledonian MacBrayne vehicle ferry making the crossing to Oban and a council passenger ferry making the shorter crossing from Point, at the north eastern tip of the island, to Port Appin. The B8045 is the main road on the island, which it traverses from beyond Kilcheran in the SW, to Point in the NE. In 2001 29% of the population of the island spoke Gaelic and maintaining this heritage is one of the aims of the Comann Eachdraidh Lios Mòr, the Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre. Lismore is part of the multi member ward of Oban, Lorn and the Isles in the Argyll and Bute council area. The island is represented by Jenni Minto of the SNP at the Holyrood Parliament in Edinburgh who was elected for the Argyll and Bute constituency in 2011, and by Brendan O'Hara of the SNP at the Westminster parliament in London. In 2023, the sole shop on the island, which is also the post office, was threatened with closure because the person running it had decided to return to school teaching. The Lismore Community Trust, a local charitable organisation, organised a campaign to keep it open, and with the help of residents, holiday home owners and tourists raised more than their target of £70,000 to do so.