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'Eilean Mhealasta' (Mealasta Island) is an uninhabited island in the Outer Hebrides, which takes its name from Mealista on the nearby Isle of Lewis. It is 24 ha in size, and 77m tall at its highest point. It is currently uninhabited.
A folk myth says that anyone born on Eilean Mhealasta will grow up to be an idiot.Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.

Contents

History

Geography and geology

References

History

Nearby Mealista had a shrine to St Catan, but it is not known if the island itself had a Culdee settlement.
Haswell-Smith deduces it was cleared in the early 19th century, because it had no permanent inhabitants during the censuses of 1831 onwards, and c. 1823, it was recorded as being incorporated into a sheep farm. In the 1861 census, it was recorded that some sailors from Rosehearty were camping there. The ruins of old buildings can still be seen, and it is still used as sheep grazing.

Geography and geology

It lies ½ mile from the West coast of Lewis and 3 miles south of Brenish (Breanais). It is just over a km long, and is indented with a bay, Camas Leirageo in the west, which contains, Sgeir na Geòdha Ruaidh. It is several miles north of Scarp, and Eilean Cearstaidh.
According to Haswell-Smith, the geology is
:''bedrock is gneiss some of which contains a reddish quartz''Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
There are some natural arches on the east coast.

References