JURA, SCOTLAND

'Jura' (Scottish Gaelic ''Diùra'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. The island is designated as a National Scenic Area.

Contents

Geography

Paps of Jura

Literature and film

References

Gallery

External links

Geography

With an area of 142 square miles and only around 180 inhabitants, Jura is much less densely populated than neighboring Islay. The main settlement is the village of Craighouse on the east coast. Craighouse is home to the island's sole distillery, producing Isle of Jura whisky. The village is also home to the island's only hotel, shop and church.
Jura is unusual for an island of its size, population and proximity to the mainland, in having no direct ferry connection with mainland Scotland. However, a small car ferry operates across the Sound of Islay between Port Askaig on Islay and Feolin Ferry on Jura. From Feolin Ferry a single road follows the southern and eastern coastline of the island. At the southern tip of the island, half way between Feolin and Craighouse, the road passes Jura House^[3], whose gardens, thanks to their sheltered southerly aspect, are home to exotic specimen plants from Australasia. The gardens are open to the public. To the north of Craighouse the road leads to Lagg, Tarbert, Ardlussa and beyond. A private track runs from the road end to the far north of the island.
The west coast of Jura has no permanent inhabitants, but is home to a number of raised beaches.Between the northern tip of Jura and the Island of Scarba lies the Gulf of Corryvreckan where a whirlpool makes passage dangerous at certain states of the tide.
The island has a large population of red deer and it is commonly believed that the name Jura was derived from ''hjörtr'', the Old Norse word for deer.
The deer prevent the island from tumbling back down to woodland, as was its former state; indeed, before the clearances and abundance of deer, the isle's name was thought to come from 'the great quantity of yew trees which grew in the island';^[4] Gaelic for Yew Isle is 'Juarey'.

Paps of Jura

The island is dominated by three steep-sided conical quartzite mountains on its western side – the ''Paps of Jura'' which rise to 785 m (2,575 feet). There are three major peaks:

★ Beinn an Òir (Gaelic: ''mountain of gold'') is the highest peak, standing at 785 metres, and is thereby a Corbett.

★ Beinn Shiantaidh (Gaelic: ''holy mountain'') stands at 755 metres high.

★ Beinn a' Chaolais (Gaelic: ''mountain of the kyle'') is the lowest of the Paps, reaching 734 metres.
The Paps dominate the landscape in the region and can be seen from the Mull of Kintyre and, on a clear day, Skye and Northern Ireland. The route of the annual Isle of Jura Fell Race includes all three Paps and four other hills.
These hills were the subject of William McTaggart's 1902 masterpiece ''The Paps of Jura''^[5] now displayed in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.^[6]

Literature and film

Past the road end is Barnhill, a remote house which was home to the novelist George Orwell, and where he finished his masterpiece ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. Apart from the connection with Orwell, Jura is perhaps best known for an event which took place on 23 August 1994, when Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, known then as the music group KLF, filmed themselves burning £1 million in banknotes in a disused boathouse on the island.

References

1. 2001 UK Census per List of islands of Scotland
2. Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) ''Orkneyinga Saga''. Translated by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
3. Jura House
4. Statistical account of Scotland - Account of 1791-99 vol.12 p.318
5. http://www.machrihanish.net/Machrihanish_McTaggart.html Machrihanish Online] Retrieved 4 April 2007.
6. Kelvingrove Art Gallery Retrieved 4 April 2007.

Gallery

External links

★ The Isle of Jura - Feolin Centre - World's largest collection of Jura information

★ Jura on Scotlandview Isle of Jura Pictures and Comprehensive info