Editing St Kilda, Scotland

{{Short description|Archipelago in Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom}}
{{pp-move}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Lead too long|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox Scottish island
|Map                =
|coordinates        = {{Coord|57|48|54|N|08|35|15|W|display=it|region:GB_type:isle}}
|location_map=Scotland Outer Hebrides
|caption=St Kilda shown within the Outer Hebrides
|official_name=St Kilda
|GridReference      = NF095995
|celtic name=Hiort
|gaelic pronunciation={{IPA-gd|hirˠʃt̪||Hiort.ogg}}
|norse name         = Possibly Hirtir<ref name="Maclean (1977) page 33.">Maclean (1977) page 33.</ref>
|meaning of name    =Unknown, possibly Gaelic for "westland" or Norse for "stags"<ref name="Maclean (1977) page 33."/>
|Image= Saint Kilda 20090611 Hirta - Village Bay overview.jpg
|ImageCaption=  Village Bay
|area               = {{Convert|3.3|sqmi}}
|area rank          =
|highest elevation  = Conachair, {{cvt|430|m}}
|Population         = No permanent population since 1930
|population rank    =
|main settlement    = Am Baile (the Village)
|island group       = St Kilda
|local authority=[[Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]]
|references=<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files1/stats/occasional-paper-10-inhabited-islands.pdf| journal=Occasional Paper No 10|title=Statistics for Inhabited Islands| author=General Register Office for Scotland| date=28 November 2003| access-date=25 July 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827172139/http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files1/stats/occasional-paper-10-inhabited-islands.pdf| archive-date=27 August 2008}}</ref><ref name=OS>{{gbmapping|cap=1|NF095995}}</ref><ref name=Smith>{{Haswell-Smith|314–26}}</ref><ref name=UNEP/><ref>{{Gaelic Placenames}}</ref>
  {{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
  |child = yes
  |ID = 387
  |Year = 1986
  |Extension = 2004, 2005
  |Criteria = Cultural: iii, v; Natural: vii, ix, x
  |Area = {{convert|24201.4|ha|acre|0}}
  }}
}}
'''St Kilda''' ({{lang-gd|Hiort}}) is a remote [[archipelago]] situated {{Convert|64|km}} west-northwest of [[North Uist]] in the [[North Atlantic Ocean]]. It contains the westernmost islands of the [[Outer Hebrides]] of Scotland.{{refn|Excluding the isolated pinnacle [[Rockall]], the status of which is a matter of international dispute. See, for example, {{cite journal |last=MacDonald |first=Fraser |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305748805001635 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2005.10.009 |title=The last outpost of Empire: Rockall and the Cold War |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=627–647 |date=2007-08-01 |url-access=subscription }} |group="note"}} The largest island is [[Hirta]], whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom; three other islands ([[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]], [[Soay, St Kilda|Soay]] and [[Boreray, St Kilda|Boreray]]) were also used for grazing and seabird hunting.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hiltner |first1=Stephen |title=Agony and Ecstasy on the Scottish Archipelago of St. Kilda |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/travel/st-kilda-scotland.html |work=The New York Times |date=11 October 2021 |access-date=21 March 2022}}</ref> The islands are administratively a part of the [[Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]] local authority area.<ref>Steel (1988)</ref>{{rp|254}}

The origin of the name ''St Kilda'' is a matter of conjecture. The islands' human heritage includes unique architectural features from the historic and prehistoric periods, although the earliest written records of island life date from the [[Scotland in the Late Middle Ages|Late Middle Ages]]. The medieval village on Hirta was rebuilt in the 19th century, but illnesses brought by increased external contacts through tourism, and the upheaval of the [[First World War]], contributed to the island's evacuation in 1930.<ref>See especially Maclean (1977), Steel (1988), Fleming (2005).</ref> Permanent habitation on the islands possibly extends back two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180; its peak was in the late 17th century. The population waxed and waned, eventually dropping to 36 in 1930,<ref name=nrs>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/features/stories-from-st-kilda |title=Stories from St Kilda |date=31 May 2013 |work=National Records of Scotland |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208114918/https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/features/stories-from-st-kilda |url-status=live }}</ref> when the  remaining population was evacuated. Currently, the only year-round residents are military personnel; a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=BBC29810>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11101243 "The new residents of St Kilda archipelago"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111130803/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11101243 |date=11 November 2018 }}. (29 August 2010). BBC News. Retrieved 29 August 2010.</ref> The entire archipelago is owned by the [[National Trust for Scotland]].<ref>National Trust for Scotland. Guide. {{cite web |url=http://www.kilda.org.uk/weekildaguide/guide17.htm |title=St Kilda Houses|access-date=4 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311104810/http://www.kilda.org.uk/weekildaguide/guide17.htm |archive-date=11 March 2013 }}</ref> 

A [[cleit]] is a stone storage hut or [[bothy]] unique to St Kilda; there are known to be 1,260 {{lang|gd|cleitean}} on Hirta and a further 170 on the other group islands.<ref>St Kilda – David Quine (Colin Baxter Island Guides) 1995</ref> Two different early sheep types have survived on these remote islands: the [[Soay sheep|Soay]], a [[Neolithic]] type, and the [[Boreray (sheep)|Boreray]], an [[Iron Age]] type. The islands are a breeding ground for many important [[seabird]] species including [[northern gannet]]s, [[Atlantic puffin]]s, and [[northern fulmar]]s. The [[St Kilda wren]] and [[St Kilda field mouse]] are endemic [[subspecies]].<ref name=Smith/>

It became one of [[World Heritage Sites in Scotland|Scotland]]'s six [[World Heritage Site]]s in 1986, and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for both its natural and cultural qualities.<ref name=UNESCO>[http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gb "World Heritage: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120228174539/http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/gb |date=28 February 2012 }}. UNESCO. Retrieved 3 January 2007.</ref>

== Origin of names ==
[[File:St-Kildans.jpg|thumb|The Street in 1886]]
The name ''St Kilda'', which is not used in Gaelic,{{sfn|Watson|1926|p=98}} is of obscure origin, as there is no saint by the name ''Kilda''. It occurs for the first time in {{lang|nl|Thresoor der Zeevaert}} ("Treasure of Navigation"), a pilot book published by [[Lucas Waghenaer]] in 1592. [[Alexander Burt Taylor|A. B. Taylor]] suggests that it originated as a copying error for ''Skilda(r)'', a name that appears on [[Nicolas de Nicolay]]'s 1583 map of Scotland, which Waghenaer used as a source. On Nicolay's map,{{refn|And on two other 16th-century maps, all three of which may derive from a 1540 original by Alexander Lindsay, a Scottish pilot.{{sfn|Taylor|1968|p=136}}|group="note"}} the name denotes an island group closer to [[Lewis and Harris]] than St Kilda, possibly [[Haskeir]],{{sfn|Fleming |2005|p=27}} [[Gasker]] or [[Haskeir Eagach]].{{sfn|Taylor|1968|p=137}}{{sfn|de Nicolay|1583}} Taylor notes that the latter two groups could be compared to shields lying flat upon the water, and gives the Norse word {{lang|non|skildir}} (meaning "shields") as the etymon.{{sfn|Taylor|1968|p=137}}
[[File:Carte of Scotlande.jpg|thumb|1580 ''Carte of Scotlande'' showing Hyrth (i.e. Hirta) at left and Skaldar to the north east]]

According to another theory, advanced by [[William J. Watson]] and others, the name derives from Tobar Childa, an important well on Hirta. ''Childa'' is in fact a descendant of {{lang|non|kelda}}, the Norse word for a well, but it is possible that visitors to the island (who would have used the well to take on fresh water) mistook it as the name of a local saint.{{sfn|Watson|1926|pp=97-98}} A number of other theories have been suggested in both the past and in modern times.{{refn|[[Martin Martin]], who visited in 1697, believed that the name "is taken from one Kilder, who lived here; and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name".<ref name=Martin/> Maclean (1972) similarly suggests it comes from a corruption of the [[Old Norse]] name for the spring on Hirta, ''Childa'', and states that a 1588 map identifies the archipelago as ''Kilda''. He also speculates that it refers to the [[Culdee]]s, [[anchorite]]s who might have brought Christianity to the island, or be a corruption of the Gaelic name, {{lang|gd|Hirta}}, for the main island of the group, since the islanders tended to pronounce ''r'' as ''l'', and thus habitually referred to the island as ''Hilta''.<ref name="Maclean (1977) page 33."/> Steel (1988) adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the ''H'' with a "somewhat guttural quality", making the sound they used for {{lang|gd|Hirta}} "almost" ''Kilta''.<ref>Steel (1988) p. 27.</ref> Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the [[School of Scottish Studies]] in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, [[lenition|leniting]] to {{IPA|/h/}}, e.g. {{lang|gd|ann an Tirte}} ({{IPA-gd|ˈan̪ˠən̪ˠ ˈtʰʲirˠʃt̪ʲə|}}) and {{lang|gd|gu Hirte}} ({{IPA-gd|kə ˈhirˠʃt̪ʲə|}}).<ref>Bruford, A. (ed.) ''Tocher'' Vol 36–37 (1982) [[School of Scottish Studies]].</ref>|group="note"}}

<!-- Infobox template for pronunciation-->
{| class="mw-collapsible infobox mw-collapsed" style="width:280px; font-size:90%;"
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|Pronunciation
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|style="width: 40%;"|
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Am Baile}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|əm ˈpalə||ambaile.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|An Lag bhon Tuath}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ə ˈlˠ̪ak vɔn̪ˠ ˈt̪ʰuə||anlagbhontuath.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Bàgh a' Bhaile}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈpaːɣ ə valə||baghabhaile.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|cleitean}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈkʰlehtʲan||cleitean.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Cleitean MacPhàidein}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈkʰlehtʲan maxkˈfaːtʲɛɲ||cleiteanmacphaidein.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Cnatan nan Gall}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈkʰɾãht̪an nəŋ ˈkaulˠ̪||cnatannangall.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Conachair}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈkʰɔnəxəɾʲ||conachair.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Dòirneagan Hiort}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈt̪ɔːrˠɲakən ˈhirˠʃt̪||doirneaganhiort.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Dùn}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈt̪uːn||dun-hiort.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Gleann Mòr}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈklaun̪ˠ ˈmoːɾ||gleannmor.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Ì Àrd}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈiː ˈaːrˠt̪||iard.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Loch Hiort}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|lˠ̪ɔxˈhirˠʃt̪||lochhiort.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Mullach Bìgh}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈmulˠ̪əx ˈpiː||mullachbigh.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Mullach Mòr}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈmulˠ̪əx ˈmoːɾ||mullachmor.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Oiseabhal}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈɔʃəvəlˠ̪||oiseabhal.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Ruadhbhal}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈrˠuəvəlˠ̪||ruadhbhal.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Seann Taigh}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈʃaun̪ˠ ˈt̪ʰɤj||seanntaigh.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Taigh an t-Sithiche}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈt̪ʰɤj əɲ ˈtʰʲi.ɪçə||taighantsithiche.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Taigh Dugain}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|t̪ʰɤjˈt̪ukɛɲ||taighdugain.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Taigh na Banaghaisgich}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈt̪ʰɤj nə ˈpanaɣaʃkʲɪç||taighnabanaghaisgich.ogg}}
|-
! colspan="2" style="background:#efefef;"|
|-
|[[Scottish Gaelic]]:|| {{lang|gd|Taigh Stallair}}
|-
|Pronunciation:||{{IPA-gd|ˈt̪ʰɤj ˈs̪t̪alˠ̪əɾʲ||taighstallair.ogg}}
|}
[[File:The Street.jpg|thumb|The Village Street showing restoration work]]

The origins of ''Hiort'', and its anglicized form ''Hirta'',which long pre-date ''St Kilda'', are similarly obscure. Watson derives it from the Gaelic word {{lang|gd|(h)irt}}, meaning "death", noting that although [[Alexander MacBain]] suggested "that the ancient Celts fancied this sunset isle to be the gate to their earthly paradise"{{sfn|Watson|1926|p=97}} the connection was more likely to be to the dangers of living on St Kilda, which "in the Hebrides is regarded as a penitentiary rather than a gate to paradise".{{sfn|Watson|1926|pp=97-98}}{{refn|Watson notes that in the [[Uist]]s the Gaelic for "in Hirta" is {{lang|gd|an t-Irt}}.{{sfn|Watson|1926|p=97}} However, Coates dismisses Watson's connection to {{lang|gd|(h)irt}} as "totally implausible".{{sfn|Coates|1990|pp=44–49}}|group="note"}} It has also been said to mean "the western land", from the Gaelic {{lang|gd|(na) h-iartìre}} although this theory presents difficulties.{{sfn|Coates|1990|pp=44–49}} It may not be Gaelic in origin at all, but rather Norse. Taylor derives it from the Norse word {{lang|non|hirtir}}, meaning "stags", on account of the islands' "jagged outlines". In support of this theory, he notes that ''Hirtir'' appears in the 13th-century {{lang|non|[[Guðmundar saga biskups|Prestssaga Guðmundar Arasonar]]}} as a name for an island group in the Hebrides.{{sfn|Taylor|1968|pp=120-123}}

As with St Kilda, a number of other theories have been offered.{{refn|Martin (1703) averred that "Hirta is taken from the Irish {{lang|ga|Ier}}, which in that language signifies west".<ref name=Martin/> Steel (1998) quotes the view of Reverend Neil Mackenzie, who lived there from 1829 to 1844, that the name is from the Gaelic {{lang|gd|Ì Àrd}} ('high island'), and a further possibility that it is from the Norse {{lang|non|Hirt}} ('shepherd').<ref>Steel (1988) pp. 26–27.</ref> In a similar vein, Murray (1966) speculates that the Norse {{lang|non|Hirðö}}, pronounced 'Hirtha' ('herd island'), could be the origin of the name.{{sfn|Murray|1966|pp=196,236}}|group="note"}} All the names of and on the islands are discussed by [[Richard Coates]].{{sfn|Coates|1990}}

== Geography ==
[[File:Saint Kilda archipelago topographic map-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|The St Kilda archipelago]]

The islands are composed of [[Tertiary]] [[igneous]] formations of [[granite]]s and [[gabbro]], heavily weathered by the elements. The archipelago represents the remnants of a long-extinct ring volcano rising from a seabed plateau approximately {{convert|40|m|ft}} below sea level.<ref>[http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/trends/seas/Seas_Part1.pdf "Knowledge of the marine environment"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070709200108/http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/trends/seas/Seas_Part1.pdf |date=9 July 2007 }} (PDF) Scottish Natural Heritage. Retrieved 2 January 2007.</ref>

At {{Convert|670|ha}} in extent, [[Hirta]] is the largest island in the group and comprises more than 78% of the land area of the archipelago. Next in size are [[Soay, St Kilda|Soay]] (English: "sheep island") at {{Convert|99|ha}} and [[Boreray, St Kilda|Boreray]] ("the fortified isle"), which measures {{Convert|86|ha}}.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=UNEP>[http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/stkilda.html "Protected Areas and World Heritage—St Kilda".] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070705053252/http://www.unep-wcmc.org/sites/wh/stkilda.html |date=5 July 2007 }} United Nations Environment Programme: World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Retrieved 18 March 2007.</ref> Soay is {{convert|0.5|km|mi|1}} north-west of Hirta, Boreray 6&nbsp;kilometres (4&nbsp;mi) to the northeast. Smaller [[islet]]s and [[Stack (geology)|stacks]] in the group include [[Stac an Armin]] ("warrior's stack"), [[Stac Lee]] ("grey stack") and [[Stac Levenish]] ("stream" or "torrent").<ref name="Maclean (1977) page 33."/><ref>Quine (2000) pages 99, 109, 111, 125, 137, 145.</ref> The island of Dùn ('fort'), which protects Village Bay from the prevailing southwesterly winds, was at one time joined to Hirta by a natural arch. MacLean (1972) suggests that the arch was broken when struck by a [[galleon]] fleeing the defeat of the [[Spanish Armada]], but other sources, such as Mitchell (1992) and Fleming (2005), suggest that the arch was simply swept away by one of the many fierce storms that batter the islands every winter.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 18.</ref><ref>Fleming (2005) page 64.</ref>

The highest point in the archipelago, Conachair ("the beacon") at {{convert|430|m|ft}}, is on Hirta, immediately north of the village. In the southeast is Oiseval ("east fell"), which reaches {{convert|290|m|ft}}, and Mullach Mòr ("big hill summit") 361&nbsp;metres (1,185&nbsp;ft) is due west of Conachair. Ruival ("red fell") {{convert|137|m|ft}} and Mullach Bi ("pillar summit") {{convert|358|m|ft}} dominate the western cliffs. Boreray reaches {{convert|384|m|ft}} and Soay&nbsp;{{convert|378|m|ft}}.<ref name=Smith/> The extraordinary Stac an Armin reaches {{convert|196|m|ft}}, and Stac Lee, {{convert|172|m|ft}}, making them the highest [[sea stack]]s in Britain.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm "Dual World Heritage Status For Unique Scottish Islands"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002160717/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm |date=2 October 2006 }}. National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 6 January 2007.</ref><ref>The heights are from Haswell-Smith (2004), although the National Trust website states {{Convert|191|m|ft}} and {{Convert|165|m|ft}} respectively.</ref>

In modern times, St Kilda's only settlement was at Village Bay ({{lang-gd|Bàgh a' Bhaile}} or {{lang|gd|Loch Hiort}}) on the east side of Hirta. Gleann Mòr on the north coast of Hirta and Boreray also contain the remains of earlier habitations.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 19.</ref> The sea approach to Hirta into Village Bay suggests a small settlement flanked by high rolling hills in a semicircle behind it. This is misleading.<ref>Baxter and Crumley (1988) page 87. "Village Bay and its hills... a stupendous sham, a masterly St Kildan deception."</ref> The whole north face of Conachair is a vertical cliff up to {{Convert|427|m|ft}} high,<ref name=Keay>Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland''. London. HarperCollins. Pages 840–2.</ref> falling sheer into the sea and constituting the highest sea cliff in the UK.<ref>This is noted by several authorities including Steel (1988), p. 27, although Keay (1994) erroneously states they are the "highest in Europe". Croaghaun on [[Achill Island]] is considerably higher at {{Convert|668|m|ft}}; see for example [http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/extremities.html "Geographical Facts and Figures".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151219155333/http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/geography/extremities.html |date=19 December 2015 }} Wesleyjohnston.com. Retrieved on 9 September 2007.</ref>

The archipelago is the site of many of the most spectacular sea cliffs in the British Isles. Baxter and Crumley (1988) suggest that St Kilda: "...is a mad, imperfect God's hoard of all unnecessary lavish landscape luxuries he ever devised in his madness. These he has scattered at random in Atlantic isolation {{convert|100|mi}} from the corrupting influences of the mainland, {{convert|40|mi}} west of the westmost Western Isles. He has kept for himself only the best pieces and woven around them a plot as evidence of his madness."<ref>Baxter and Crumley (1988) page 7. The lower case pronouns for the deity are in the original text.</ref>
[[File:Staclevenish.jpg|thumb|upright|Cliff face silhouette on [[Stac Levenish]]]]
Although {{Convert|64|km}} from the nearest land, St Kilda is visible from as far as the summit ridges of the [[Skye]] [[Cuillin]], some {{Convert|129|km}} distant.<ref>Murray (1966) page 163.</ref> The climate is oceanic with high rainfall, {{Convert|1400|mm|in}}, and high humidity. Temperatures are generally cool, averaging {{Convert|5.6|C|F}} in January and {{Convert|11.8|C|F}} in July. The prevailing winds, especially strong in winter, are southerly and southwesterly. Wind speeds average {{Convert|13|km/h}} approximately 85 percent of the time and more than {{Convert|24|km/h}} more than 30 percent of the time. Gale-force winds occur less than 2 percent of the time, but gusts of {{Convert|185|km/h}} and more occur regularly on the high tops, and speeds of {{Convert|209|km/h}} have occasionally been recorded near sea level.<ref name=Darling/> The tidal range is {{Convert|2.9|m|ft}}, and ocean swells of {{Convert|5|m|ft|0}} frequently occur, which can make landings difficult or impossible at any time of year.<ref name=UNEP/><ref name=Manplan>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/StkildaManagementPlan.pdf "St Kilda World Heritage Site Management Plan 2003 – 2008"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529185218/http://www.kilda.org.uk/StKildaManagementPlan.pdf |date=29 May 2008 }} (PDF) National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 24 January 2007.</ref> The oceanic location protects the islands from snow, which lies for only about a dozen days per year.<ref name=Darling/>

The archipelago's remote location and oceanic climate are matched in the UK only by a few smaller outlying islands such as the [[Flannan Isles]], [[North Rona]], [[Sula Sgeir]], and the [[Barra Isles|Bishop's Isles]] at the southern edge of the Outer Hebrides. Administratively, St Kilda was part of the [[List of civil parishes in Scotland|parish]] of [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]] in the traditional county of [[Inverness-shire]].<ref>Steel (1988) page 199.</ref> Today it is incorporated in the [[Comhairle nan Eilean Siar]] [[unitary authority]]<ref>Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 460, North Lewis/Ceann a Tuath Leòdhais.</ref> (formerly Western Isles Islands Council).

== History ==
[[File:Cleit above Village Bay.jpg|right|thumb|A cleit above Village Bay]]

=== Prehistory ===
It has been known for some time that St Kilda was continuously inhabited for two millennia or more, from the [[Bronze Age]] to the 20th century.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/StKildaCultHerExtractFINALB38477.pdf St Kilda: Revised Nomination of St Kilda for inclusion in the World Heritage Site List] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703131509/http://www.kilda.org.uk/StKildaCultHerExtractFINALB38477.pdf |date=3 July 2007 }} (January 2003) (pdf) National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 21 March 2007.</ref> In 2015, the first direct evidence of earlier [[Neolithic]] settlement emerged, [[potsherd|sherds of pottery]] of the Hebridean ware style, found to the east of the village. The subsequent discovery of a quarry for stone tools on Mullach Sgar above Village Bay led to finds of numerous stone hoe-blades, grinders and Skaill knives{{refn|A flaked stone with a sharp edge used for cutting. This neolithic tool is named after [[Skaill Bay]], the location of World Heritage Site [[Skara Brae]] in Orkney.<ref>[http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-103-335-C "Skaill knife"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227193131/http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-103-335-C |date=27 February 2015 }} National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 27 February 2015.</ref>|group="note"}} in the Village Bay ''cleitean'', unique stone storage buildings (see below). These tools are also probably of Neolithic origin.<ref>Fleming (2005) pages 37–56.</ref> 

The potsherds appear to have been made of local material, rather than material brought from other islands in the Hebrides, suggesting that the islands were settled in the [[4th millennium BC]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Copper|first=Michael|date=March 2017|title=Neolithic sherds from St Kilda|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/saj.2017.0079|journal=Scottish Archaeological Journal|volume=39|issue=1|pages=95–100|doi=10.3366/saj.2017.0079|issn=1471-5767}}</ref> Iron Age pottery is also known. Archaeologist Alan Hunter Blair reported that "the eastern end of Village Bay on St Kilda was occupied fairly intensively during the Iron Age period, although no house structures were found".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-55995799 |title=Evidence St Kilda was inhabited 2,000 years ago |date=9 February 2021 |work=BBC News |access-date=10 February 2021 |quote="These few clues tell us that people were well established on St Kilda as part of the wider settlement of the Western Isles." |archive-date=9 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209132408/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-55995799 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 13th to 18th centuries ===
The first written record of St Kilda may date from 1202 when an Icelandic cleric wrote of taking shelter on "the islands that are called Hirtir".<ref>Fleming (2005) page 27 quoting Taylor, A.B. (1968) "The Norsemen in St Kilda". ''Saga book of the Viking Society''. '''17'''. 116–43.</ref> Early reports mentioned finds of brooches, an iron sword and Danish coins, and the enduring Norse place names indicate a sustained Viking presence on Hirta, but the visible evidence has been lost.<ref>Fleming (2005) page 63.</ref> In the late 14th century [[John of Fordun]] referred to it as "the isle of Irte (''insula de Irte''), which is agreed to be under the [[Classical compass winds|Circius]] and on the margins of the world".<ref>Maclean (1972) page 34 quoting [[John of Fordun]]'s ''Scotichronicon'' of c. 1380.</ref> The islands were historically part of the domain of the [[Clan MacLeod|MacLeods]] of [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]], whose steward was responsible for the collection of rents in kind and other duties. The first detailed report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549, when [[Donald Monro (Dean)|Donald Munro]] suggested that: "The inhabitants thereof {{not a typo|ar}} simple poor people, scarce {{not a typo|learnit}} in {{not a typo|aney}} religion, but M'Cloyd of Herray, his {{not a typo|stewart}}, or he {{not a typo|quhom}} he {{not a typo|deputs}} in sic office, {{not a typo|sailes anes}} in the {{not a typo|zear ther}} at midsummer, with some chaplaine to baptize {{not a typo|bairnes ther}}."{{refn|Monro (1549) "Hirta" No. 158. English translation from [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]]: "The inhabitants are simple poor people, hardly educated in any religion, but the steward of MacLeod of Harris, or his deputy, sails there once a year at midsummer with a chaplain to baptise the children".|group="note"}}

Coll MacDonald of [[Colonsay]] raided Hirta in 1615, removing 30 sheep and a quantity of barley.<ref>Fleming (2005) page 28.</ref> Thereafter, the islands developed a reputation for abundance. At the time of [[Martin Martin]]'s visit in 1697 the population was 180 and the steward travelled with a "company" of up to 60 persons to which he "elected the most 'meagre' among his friends in the neighbouring islands, to that number and took them periodically to St Kilda to enjoy the nourishing and plentiful, if primitive, fare of the island, and so be restored to their wonted health and strength."<ref name=Martin>Martin, Martin (1703).</ref>

According to Keay and Keay (1994), until the early 19th century the islanders' "close relationship with nature had taken the ritual form of [[Druidism]]", whilst their understanding of [[Christianity]] shaped their relationships with one another: a combination of "natural devoutness and superstitious character".<ref name=Keay/> [[Kenneth Macaulay (minister)|Macauley]] (1764) claimed the existence of a "druidic" circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallar House on [[Boreray, St Kilda|Boreray]].<ref>{{cite book |author1=Macaulay, Kenneth |title=The history of St. Kilda |date=1764 |pages=53–58 |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-history-of-st-kilda_macaulay-kenneth_1764/mode/2up}}</ref> However, by 1875 all trace of this had gone and according to [[John Sands (journalist)|John Sands]] “the St Kildans seem never to have heard of it”.<ref>[https://canmore.org.uk/site/3969/st-kilda-boreray-taigh-stallair "St Kilda, Boreray, Taigh Stallair"]. [[Canmore (database)|Canmore]]. Retrieved 24 March 2024.</ref>

[[Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange]] was held on St Kilda from 1734 to 1741.<ref>[https://www.historyscotland.com/history/winter-storm-exposes-the-secrets-of-lady-granges-house-at-st-kilda/ "Winter storm exposes the secrets of Lady Grange's House at St Kilda"]. ''Historyscotland.com''. 14 February 2022.</ref> The church minister of Harris, [[Kenneth Macaulay (minister)|Kenneth Macaulay]], visited St Kilda in 1759 on behalf of the [[Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge]] (SSPCK), and published in 1764 ''The History of St Kilda, containing a Description of this Remarkable Island, the Manners and Customs of its Inhabitants, the Religious and Pagan Antiquities there found, with many other curious and interesting particulars.''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Macaulay |first1=Kenneth |title=The history of St. Kilda |date=1764 |publisher=T. Becket and P. A. DeHondt |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/b30545225}}</ref>

Visiting ships brought [[cholera]] and [[smallpox]] in the 18th century.<ref name=Smith/> In 1727, the loss of life was so high that too few residents remained to man the boats, and new families were brought in from [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]] to replace them.{{refn|This is the date provided by Quine (2000) for the marooning of the group on Stac an Armin, (see "Buildings on other islands" above), although Steel (1988) states that the outbreak took place in 1724.|group="note"}} By 1758 the population had risen to 88, and it had reached just under 100 by the end of the century. This figure remained fairly constant from the 18th century until 1852, when 36 islanders, with the help of the [[Highland and Island Emigration Society]], emigrated to Australia on board the ''Priscilla''; reducing the population to 70.<ref name="Zanolla">{{cite book|author=Roberto Zanolla|title=LAND OF BIRD-MEN - History of St Kilda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9lMxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT90|date=5 August 2017|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|isbn=978-0-244-62212-1|pages=90–}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Among the emigrants was [[Ewen Gillies]]. The laird of St Kilda, Sir John MacLeod, tried to persuade some of the group to return to the island; when they were unconvinced, he paid for their voyage to Australia.<ref name="Zanolla"/> Eighteen of the 36 St Kildans died of sickness on the ship or in quarantine.<ref name="Zanolla"/><ref name="Richards">{{cite journal|issn= 0036-9241|author= Eric Richards|journal= The Scottish Historical Review|issue= 191/192|pages=129–155|publisher= Edinburgh University Press|title= St Kilda and Australia: Emigrants at Peril, 1852-3|volume=71|year=1992|jstor= 25530537}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Highland and Island Emigration Society, HIES "PRISCILLA" |url=https://www.angelfire.com/ns/bkeddy/HIES/priscilla.html |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> The island never fully recovered from the population loss.The emigration was in part a response to the [[laird]]'s closure of the church and [[manse]] for several years during the [[Disruption of 1843|Disruption]] that created the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]].<ref>Maclean (1977) page 125.</ref><ref>Fleming (2005) page 32.</ref>

=== Religion ===
{{See also|Religion in the Outer Hebrides}}
[[File:Insidestkildachurch.jpg|thumb|The interior of the church at Oiseabhal, St Kilda]]

A missionary called Alexander Buchan went to St Kilda in 1705, but despite his long stay, the idea of organised religion did not take hold. This changed when Rev. [[John Macdonald (Apostle of the North)|John MacDonald]], the "Apostle of the North", arrived in 1822. He set about his mission with zeal, preaching 13 lengthy sermons during his first 11 days. He returned regularly and raised funds on behalf of the St Kildans, although privately he was appalled by their lack of religious knowledge. The islanders took to him with enthusiasm and wept when he left for the last time eight years later. His successor, who arrived on 3 July 1830, was Rev. Neil Mackenzie, a resident [[Church of Scotland]] minister who greatly improved the conditions of the inhabitants. He reorganised island agriculture, was instrumental in the rebuilding of the village (see below) and supervised the building of a new church and [[manse]]. With help from the Gaelic School Society, MacKenzie and his wife introduced formal education to Hirta, beginning a daily school to teach reading, writing and arithmetic and a [[Sunday school]] for religious education.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 115–6.</ref>

Mackenzie left in 1844.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 116.</ref> No new minister was appointed for a decade and as a result, the school closed on the MacKenzie's departure and although he had achieved a great deal, the weakness of the St Kildans' dependence on external authority was exposed in 1865 with the arrival of Rev. John Mackay. Despite their fondness for Mackenzie, who stayed in the Church of Scotland, the St Kildans declared in favour of the new [[Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] during the [[Great Disruption]]. Mackay, the new Free Church minister, placed an uncommon emphasis on religious observance. He introduced a routine of three two-to-three-hour services on Sunday at which attendance was effectively compulsory. One visitor noted in 1875 that: "The Sabbath was a day of intolerable gloom. At the clink of the bell, the whole flock hurry to Church with sorrowful looks and eyes bent upon the ground. It is considered sinful to look to the right or to the left."<ref>[[John Sands (journalist)|John Sands]], quoted in Maclean (1977) page 117.</ref>

Time spent in religious gatherings interfered seriously with the practical routines of the island. Old ladies and children who made noise in church were lectured at length and warned of dire punishments in the afterworld. During a period of food shortages on the island, a relief vessel arrived on a Saturday, but the minister said that the islanders had to spend the day preparing for church on the Sabbath, and it was Monday before supplies were landed. Children were forbidden to play games and required to carry a Bible wherever they went. Mackay remained minister on St Kilda for 24 years.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 116–9.</ref>

The church and manse have recently been restored and further restoration is planned for the 200th anniversary of the church. Visitors can see how they may have appeared in the 1920s.<ref>https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/st-kilda/highlights/church-and-museum#:~:text=Church%20and%20museum.%20The%20museum,%20which%20is%20in</ref>

=== Way of life ===
[[File:Ropingpeg.jpg|thumb|St Kildans paid some of their rent by collecting seabirds; roping pegs – one of which can be seen in this photo – enabled them to [[abseiling|abseil]] down to the nests.]]

Most modern commentators feel that the predominant theme of life on St Kilda was isolation. When [[Martin Martin]] visited the islands in 1697,<ref name=Martin/> the only means of making the journey was by open boat, which could take several days and nights of rowing and sailing across the ocean and was next to impossible in autumn and winter. According to a St Kilda diarist writing in 1908, vicious storms could be expected at any time between September and March.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/weatherextremes/2014/08/04/st-kilda-extreme-weather-on-the-edge-of-the-world/|title=St Kilda: Extreme Weather on the Edge of the World|author=James|work=University of Nottingham|date=4 August 2014|access-date=2 January 2017|archive-date=3 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103002713/http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/weatherextremes/2014/08/04/st-kilda-extreme-weather-on-the-edge-of-the-world/|url-status=live}}</ref> More modern records from the National Trust for Scotland record gales for 75 days a year with peak winds around {{convert |144 |mph|knots|abbr=on}} whilst peak wave heights on the Scottish west coast have been recorded at {{convert|16|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30402293|title=Power restored as 'weather bomb' storm subsides|work=BBC Scotland|date=11 December 2014|access-date=2 January 2017|archive-date=31 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031101821/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30402293|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the mid 18th century the St Kildans are recorded as speaking a "very corrupt dialect of the Galic adulterated with a little mixture of the Norvegian tongue."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Macaulay, Kenneth |title=The history of St. Kilda |date=1764 |pages=214–215 |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-history-of-st-kilda_macaulay-kenneth_1764/mode/2up}}</ref>

Separated by distance and weather, the natives knew little of mainland and international politics. After the [[Battle of Culloden]] in 1746, it was rumoured that [[Prince Charles Edward Stuart]] and some of his senior [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] aides had escaped to St Kilda. An expedition was launched, and in due course British soldiers were ferried ashore to Hirta. They found a deserted village, as the St Kildans, fearing pirates, had fled to caves to the west. When the St Kildans were persuaded to come down, the soldiers discovered that the isolated natives knew nothing of the prince and had never heard of [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]] either.<ref>Steel (1988) page 32.</ref>

Even in the late 19th century, the islanders could communicate with the rest of the world only by lighting a bonfire on the summit of Conachair which would, weather permitting, be visible to those on the isles of Harris and the Uists, or by using the "St Kilda mailboat". This was the invention of [[John Sands (journalist)|John Sands]], who visited in 1877. During his stay, a shipwreck left nine Austrian sailors marooned there, and by February supplies were running low. Sands attached a message to a [[lifebuoy]] salvaged from the ''Peti Dubrovacki'' and threw it into the sea.<ref name=Sands>[http://www.widegrin.com/vicmisc/st_kilda.htm "Life in St. Kilda"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929070713/http://www.widegrin.com/vicmisc/st_kilda.htm |date=29 September 2007 }}, an account by J. Sands in Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science and Art, 1877. Retrieved 1 April 2007.</ref> Nine days later it was picked up in [[Birsay]], Orkney, and a rescue was arranged. The St Kildans, building on this idea, would fashion a piece of wood into the shape of a boat, attach it to a bladder made of sheepskin, and place in it a small bottle or tin containing a message. Launched when the wind came from the north-west, two-thirds of the messages were later found on the west coast of Scotland or in Norway.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 136–8.</ref><ref>[http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/keacam/keacam0109.htm "St Kilda mailboat"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611105325/http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/keacam/keacam0109.htm |date=11 June 2007 }} Glasgow Digital Library. Retrieved 4 March 2008.</ref>
[[File:St Kilda mailboat.jpg|thumb|upright|Launching the "St Kilda mailboat"]]

===Diet===

Another significant feature of St Kilda life was diet. The islanders kept sheep and some cattle, and were able to grow a limited amount of food crops such as [[barley]] and [[potato]]es on the better-drained land in Village Bay; in many ways the islands can be seen as a large mixed farm. [[Samuel Johnson]] reported in the 18th century that [[Domestic sheep#As food|sheep's milk]] was made "into small cheeses" by the St Kildans.<ref>Johnson, Samuel (1775) ''A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland''. Republished, Chapman & Dodd, London, 1924. Page 121.</ref> They generally eschewed fishing because of the heavy, northern seas and unpredictable weather.<ref>The St Kildans fished from the rocks and even organised fishing trips from their boats from time to time, but these were occasional events, sometimes undertaken to pay rent, rather than crucial aspects of day-to-day island life. See Maclean (1977) pp 102–03, who also quotes J. MacCulloch's 1824 ''Description of the Western Islands of Scotland'' as stating "The neglect of fishing proceeds from the wealth of the inhabitants. They possess already as much food as they can consume, and are under no temptation to augment it by another perilous and laborious employment".</ref> The mainstay of their food supplies was the profusion of island birds, especially [[gannet]] and [[fulmar]]. These they harvested as eggs and young birds and ate both fresh and cured. Adult puffins were also caught using [[fowling]] rods.<ref name=Keay/> The method involved the use of a flexible pole with a noose on the end; a flick of the wrist would flip the noose over the puffin's head and it was killed before its struggles could alarm other birds.<ref name=boag>{{cite book |last1=Boag |first1=David |last2=Alexander |first2=Mike |year=1995 |title=The Puffin |publisher=Blandford |place=London |isbn=0-7137-2596-6|pages=112–113 }}</ref> A 1764 census described a daily consumption by the 90 inhabitants of "36 wildfoul eggs and 18 wildfoul" (i.e. seabirds).<ref>BBC News – Census find sheds new light on St Kilda's history (29 December 2016) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38450471] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505184401/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38450471|date=5 May 2021}}. London. ''The BBC''. Retrieved 29 December' 2016.</ref>

This feature of island life came at a price. When [[Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux|Henry Brougham]] visited in 1799 he noted that "the air is infected by a stench almost insupportable – a compound of rotten fish, filth of all sorts and stinking seafowl".<ref name=Cooper>Cooper, Derek (1979) ''Road to the Isles: Travellers in the Hebrides 1770–1914''. London. Routledge & Kegan Paul.</ref> An excavation of the ''Taigh an t-Sithiche'' (the "house of the faeries" – see below) in 1877 by Sands unearthed the remains of gannet, sheep, cattle, and limpets amidst various stone tools. The building is between 1,700 and 2,500 years old, which suggests that the St Kildan diet had changed little over the millennia. Indeed, the tools were recognised by the St Kildans, who could put names to them as similar devices were still in use.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 26.</ref>

[[Razorbill]], [[guillemot]], and [[fulmar]] eggs were collected before the late 1920s in St Kilda's islands by their men scaling the cliffs. The eggs were buried in St Kilda [[peat]] ash to be eaten through the cold, northern winters. The eggs were considered to taste like [[duck eggs]] in taste and nourishment.<ref>The Daily Mail April 18, 1930: article by Susan Rachel Ferguson</ref>

These fowling activities involved considerable skills in climbing, especially on the precipitous sea stacks. An important island tradition involved the "Mistress Stone", a door-shaped opening in the rocks northwest of Ruival over-hanging a gully. Young men of the island had to undertake a ritual there to prove themselves on the crags and worthy of taking a wife. Martin Martin wrote:
[[File:Mistress Stone.jpg|thumb|right|The Mistress Stone]]
{{Blockquote|In the face of the rock, south from the town, is the famous stone, known by the name of the mistress-stone; it resembles a door exactly; and is in the very front of this rock, which is 20 or 30 fathom [{{Convert|120|to|180|ft|m}}] perpendicular in height, the figure of it being discernible about the distance of a mile; upon the lintel of this door, every bachelor-wooer is by ancient custom obliged in honour to give a specimen of his affection for the love of his mistress, and it is thus; he is to stand on his left foot, having the one half of his sole over the rock, and then he draws the right foot further out to the left, and in this posture bowing, he puts both his fists further out to the right foot; and then after he has performed this, he has acquired no small reputation, being always after it accounted worthy of the finest mistress in the world: they firmly believe that this achievement is always followed with the desired success. This being the custom of the place, one of the inhabitants very gravely desired me to let him know the time limited by me for trying of this piece of gallantry before I design'd to leave the place, that he might attend me; I told him this performance would have a quite contrary effect upon me, by robbing me both of my life and mistress at the same moment.<ref name=Martin/>}}

[[File:Machias Seal Island puffins.jpg|thumb|[[Atlantic puffin]] (''Fratercula arctica''). Seabirds were the mainstay of the St Kildan diet.]]
Another important aspect of St Kildan life was the daily "parliament". This was a meeting held in the street every morning after prayers and attended by all the adult males during the course of which they would decide upon the day's activities. No one led the meeting, and all men had the right to speak. According to Steel (1988), "Discussion frequently spread discord, but never in recorded history were feuds so bitter as to bring about a permanent division in the community".<ref>Steel (1988) pages 44–6</ref> This notion of a free society influenced [[Enric Miralles]]' vision for the new [[Scottish Parliament Building]], opened in October 2004.<ref>Balfour, Alan, and McCrone, David (2005) [http://www.alanbalfour.com/books/parliament/chapter1/index.html ''Creating a Scottish Parliament''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828040922/http://www.alanbalfour.com/books/parliament/chapter1/index.html |date=28 August 2008 }} Edinburgh. StudioLR. {{ISBN|0-9550016-0-9}}. Retrieved 4 January 2008. Miralles wrote:
:"Late XIX St Kilda Parliament
:To Remember this is not an archaic activity
:My generation (myself) has experienced that emotion
:Consider how different movements exist in present times
:Architecture should be able to talk about this."</ref>

Whatever the privations, the St Kildans were fortunate in some respects, for their isolation spared them some of the evils of life elsewhere. Martin noted in 1697 that the citizens seemed "happier than the generality of mankind as being almost the only people in the world who feel the sweetness of true liberty",<ref name=Martin/> and in the 19th century their health and well being was contrasted favourably with conditions elsewhere in the [[Hebrides]].<ref>See for example Steel (1988) page 71 quoting Macauley in 1756, MacCulloch in 1819 and Ross in 1887.</ref> Theirs was not a utopian society; the islanders had ingenious wooden locks for their property, and financial penalties were exacted for misdemeanours.<ref>Fleming (2005) pages 107 and 110.</ref> Nonetheless, no resident St Kildan is known to have fought in a war, and in four centuries of history, no serious crime committed by an islander was recorded there.<ref>Steel (1988) pages 33–4.</ref>{{refn|A 19th-century commentator wrote: "If St Kilda is not the Eutopia so long sought, where will it be found? Where is the land which has neither arms, money, care, physic, politics, nor taxes? That land is St Kilda". Maclean, Lachlan (1838) ''Sketches on the Island of St Kilda''. McPhun.|group="note"}}

=== Tourism in the 19th century ===
[[File:St. Kilda, Scotland, circa 1890, by Alexander Hutchison.jpg|thumb|Photograph of the residents by an Edinburgh-based amateur photographer, circa 1890]]
[[Norman Heathcote]] visited the islands in 1898 and 1899 and wrote a book about his experiences.<ref>{{cite book|last=Heathcote|first=Norman|title=St Kilda|date=1900|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/stkilda00heatgoog}}</ref> During the 19th century, steamers had begun to visit Hirta, enabling the islanders to earn money from the sale of [[Tweed (cloth)|tweeds]] and birds' eggs but at the expense of their [[self-esteem]] as the tourists regarded them as curiosities. It is also clear that the St Kildans were not so naïve as they sometimes appeared. "For example, when they boarded a yacht they would pretend they thought all the polished brass was gold, and that the owner must be enormously wealthy".<ref>Rev. Neil MacKenzie, quoted by Fleming (2005), p. 8</ref> The boats brought other previously unknown diseases, especially ''[[Neonatal tetanus|tetanus infantum]]'', which resulted in infant mortality rates as high as 80 per cent during the late 19th century.<ref name=Keay/> The ''cnatan na gall'' or boat-cough, an illness that struck after the arrival of a ship off Hirta, became a regular feature of life.<ref name=Sands/><ref name=Cooper/>

By the early 20th century, formal schooling had again become a feature of the islands, and in 1906 the church was extended to make a schoolhouse. The children all now learned English and their native [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]]. Improved [[midwifery]] skills, denied to the island by John Mackay, reduced the problems of [[childhood tetanus]]. From the 1880s, [[Commercial trawler|trawlers]] fishing the north Atlantic made regular visits, bringing additional trade. There was talk of an evacuation in 1875 during MacKay's time as minister, but despite occasional food shortages and a flu epidemic in 1913, the population was stable at between 75 and 80, and there was no obvious sign that within a few years the millennia-old occupation of the island was to end.<ref>Steel (1988), pp. 150–5.</ref><ref>Maclean (1977) p. 140.</ref><ref>Fleming (2005) p. 165.</ref>

=== First World War ===
[[File:Gun Dùn St Kilda.jpg|thumb|The [[QF 4 inch naval gun Mk I – III|4-inch QF gun]] on [[Hirta]] looking towards [[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]]]]

Early in the [[World War I|First World War]], the [[Royal Navy]] erected a [[Transmitter station|signal station]] on Hirta, and daily communications with the mainland were established for the first time. On the morning of 15 May 1918, the German submarine [[SM U-90]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mnb.seekrieg14-18.de/MNB_004_IV-2010.htm|title=Das Marine-Nachrichtenblatt|website=mnb.seekrieg14-18.de|access-date=31 March 2013|archive-date=19 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319081434/http://www.mnb.seekrieg14-18.de/MNB_004_IV-2010.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> arrived in Village Bay and, after issuing a warning, started shelling the island. Seventy-two shells were fired and the wireless station was destroyed. The manse, church, and jetty storehouse were damaged, but there was no loss of life.<ref>Steel (1988) p. 167</ref> One eyewitness recalled: "It wasn't what you would call a bad submarine because it could have blowed every house down because they were all in a row there. He only wanted Admiralty property. One lamb was killed... all the cattle ran from one side of the island to the other when they heard the shots."<ref>Neil Gilles, quoted in Steel (1988) p. 167</ref>

As a result of this attack, a [[QF 4-inch naval gun Mk I – III|4-inch Mark III QF gun]] was erected on a promontory overlooking Village Bay, but it never saw action. Of greater significance to the islanders were the introduction of regular contact with the outside world and the development of a money-based economy. This made life easier for the St Kildans but also made them less self-reliant. Both were factors in the evacuation of the island little more than a decade later.<ref>Steel (1988), p. 168</ref>

"Ironically, things improved with the war, which brought a naval detachment and regular deliveries of mail and food from naval supply vessels but when these services were withdrawn at end of the war, the sense of isolation increased. Able bodied young islanders left for a better life, resulting in a breakdown of the island economy".<ref name=Smyth>{{cite web |url=https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/remote-possibilities-when-people-lived-on-st-kilda/ |title=Remote Possibilities When People Lived on St Kilda |date=15 November 2019 |work=Scottish Field |access-date=10 February 2021 |last=Smyth |first=Kirsty |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503171131/https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/remote-possibilities-when-people-lived-on-st-kilda/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Evacuation and aftermath ===
[[File:Boreray and the Stacs.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Boreray, St Kilda|Boreray]], [[Stac Lee]], and [[Stac an Armin]] (left) from the heights of Conachair, the highest cliff in the [[United Kingdom]].]]

Numerous factors led to the evacuation of St Kilda. The islands' inhabitants had existed for centuries in relative isolation until tourism and the presence of the military during the First World War led the islanders to seek alternatives to privations they routinely suffered. The changes made to the island by visitors in the 19th century disconnected the islanders from the way of life that had allowed their forebears to survive in this environment.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame1.htm The Evacuation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831172220/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame1.htm |date=31 August 2010 }} kilda.org.uk Accessed 2 December 2008</ref> Despite the construction of a small jetty in 1902, the islands remained at the weather's mercy.{{refn|Even in the 21st century this is a problem. The National Trust reported in 2006 that it was cancelling 2007 work parties as "adverse weather conditions resulted in our supplies failing to reach St Kilda and our next opportunity to get supplies out is May 2007."<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm "Work party information"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002160717/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm |date=2 October 2006 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 18 March 2007.</ref>|group="note"}}

After the end of the Great War, most of the young men left the island, and the population fell from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928.<ref name=Keay/> After the death of four men from [[influenza]] in 1926, there was a succession of crop failures in the 1920s. Investigations by the [[University of Aberdeen]] into the soil where crops had been grown have shown that there had been contamination by [[lead]] and other pollutants, caused by the use of seabird carcasses and peat ash in the manure used on the fields. This occurred over a lengthy period of time, as manuring practices became more intensive, and may have been a factor in the evacuation.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/latestnews.htm#Poison "Poison in Paradise"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205145818/http://www.kilda.org.uk/latestnews.htm#Poison |date=5 December 2008 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 20 June 2008.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.chemosphere.2006.01.076 |title=Ancient manuring practices pollute arable soils at the St Kilda World Heritage Site, Scottish North Atlantic |date=2006 |last1=Meharg |first1=Andrew A. |last2=Deacon |first2=Clare |last3=Edwards |first3=Kevin J. |last4=Donaldson |first4=Margaret |last5=Davidson |first5=Donald A. |last6=Spring |first6=Christian |last7=Scrimgeour |first7=Charles M. |last8=Feldmann |first8=Jörg |last9=Rabb |first9=A. |journal=Chemosphere |volume=64 |issue=11 |pages=1818–1828 |pmid=16542706 |bibcode=2006Chmsp..64.1818M }}</ref>

The last straw came with the death of a young woman, Mary Gillies, who fell ill with [[appendicitis]] in January 1930 and was taken to the mainland for treatment. She died in hospital, having given birth to a daughter who also died. It was assumed that she had died of appendicitis, but her son Norman John Gillies discovered in 1991 that she had died of [[pneumonia]].<ref>Rix, Juliet (24 March 2012) [https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/24/last-man-st-kilda-evacuation?INTCMP=SRCH "St Kilda: On the street where we lived"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829170634/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/24/last-man-st-kilda-evacuation?INTCMP=SRCH |date=29 August 2017 }}. London. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 28 March 2012.</ref> All the cattle and sheep were taken off the island two days before the evacuation by the tourist boat ''Dunara Castle'' for sale on the mainland. However, all the island's working dogs were drowned in the bay because they could not be taken.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/eighty-years-ago-st-kilda-was-evacuated-today-one-of-only-two-survivors-remembers-leaving-the-islands-1-821248|title=Eighty years ago St Kilda was evacuated. Today one of only two survivors remembers leaving the islands.|newspaper=[[The Scotsman]]|date=11 August 2010|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829162733/http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/eighty-years-ago-st-kilda-was-evacuated-today-one-of-only-two-survivors-remembers-leaving-the-islands-1-821248|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although the cats were left behind, many did not survive the winter. In 1931, the remaining cats were shot to protect the native birds and rodents.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://commonplacefacts.com/2024/07/24/the-evacuation-of-st-kilda-a-story-of-isolation-resilience-and-change/|title=The Evacuation of St Kilda: A Story of Isolation, Resiliance, and Change|date=24 July 2024}}</ref> On 29 August 1930, the ship [[Anchusa-class sloop|HMS ''Harebell'']] took the remaining 36 inhabitants to [[Morvern]] on the Scottish mainland, a decision they took collectively themselves. 

<blockquote>The morning of the evacuation promised a perfect day. The sun rose out of a calm and sparkling sea and warmed the impassive cliffs of Oiseval. The sky was hopelessly blue and the sight of Hirta, green and pleasant as the island of so many careless dreams, made parting all the more difficult. Observing tradition the islanders left an open Bible and a small pile of oats in each house, locked all the doors and at 7&nbsp;am boarded the ''Harebell''. Although exhausted by the strain and hard work of the last few days, they were reported to have stayed cheerful throughout the operation. But as the long antler of Dun fell back onto the horizon and the familiar outline of the island grew faint, the severing of an ancient tie became a reality and the St Kildans gave way to tears.<ref>Maclean (1977), p. 142.</ref>
</blockquote>

One source states that "officials found forestry work for the men, and most of them were settled at [[Lochaline]] near Oban, while other families went to live at [[Strome Ferry]], Ross-shire, [[Culcabock]] near Inverness, and at [[Culross]], Fife".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/features/stories-from-st-kilda |title=Stories from St Kilda |date= |work=National Records of Scotland |access-date=11 February 2021 |quote=}}</ref> Barclay visited the resettled islanders and found that some were experiencing difficulties with disillusionment and adjustment, which she reported to the Scottish Department of Health.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women|date=15 October 2018 |editor-last=Ewan |editor-first=Elizabeth|isbn=9781474436298|location=Edinburgh |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|oclc=1057237368}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle-2-15039/st-kilda-and-the-seas-of-change-1-465588|title=St Kilda and the seas of change|website=www.scotsman.com|language=en|access-date=2019-06-28}}</ref> The last of the native St Kildans, Rachel Johnson, died in 2016 at the age of 93, having been evacuated at the age of eight.<ref>BBC News – Last surviving St Kildan Rachel Johnson dies (7 April 2016) [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-35985243] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505175625/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-35985243|date=5 May 2021}}. London. ''The BBC''. Retrieved 7 April 2016.</ref>

In 1931, the laird, [[Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod|Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod]], sold the islands to [[John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess of Bute|Lord Dumfries]], later the 5th [[Marquess of Bute]]. For the next 26 years they saw few people, save for the occasional summer visitors or a returning St Kildan family.<ref>Thompson, Francis (1970) ''St Kilda and other Hebridean Outliers''. David & Charles. {{ISBN|0-7153-4885-X}}</ref><ref>Steel (1988) pp. 229–32.</ref> Lord Dumfries was an [[ornithologist]] and bought the islands to preserve them as a bird sanctuary, leaving them to the [[National Trust for Scotland]] on his death in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|title=5th Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart (1907–1956)|url=http://www.mountstuart.com/history-and-heritage/bute-family/5th-marquess/|publisher=Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute|access-date=13 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729194336/http://www.mountstuart.com/history-and-heritage/bute-family/5th-marquess/|archive-date=29 July 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including [[Michael Powell]]'s 1937 film ''[[The Edge of the World]]'' and an opera.<ref>McMillan, Joyce (3 March 2007) [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=336112007 "St Kilda the Opera brings out the bully-boys"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102160545/http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=336112007 |date=2 November 2007 }}. Edinburgh. ''The Scotsman''. Retrieved 3 March 2007.</ref>

=== Military occupation ===
[[File:Blotonstkilda.jpg|right|thumb|The tracking tower on [[Mullach Sgar]]]]

The islands saw no military activity during the [[World War II|Second World War]], remaining uninhabited,<ref>Steel (1988) page 234.</ref> but three aircraft crash sites remain from that period. A [[Bristol Beaufighter]] LX798 based at [[Islay Airport|RAF Port Ellen]] on [[Islay]] crashed into Conachair within {{convert|100|m|ft|-1}} of the summit on the night of 3–4 June 1943. A year later, just before midnight on 7 June 1944, the day after [[Normandy Landings|D-Day]], a [[Short Sunderland]] [[flying boat]] ML858 was wrecked at the head of Gleann Mòr. A small plaque in the church is dedicated to those who died in this accident.<ref>Quine (2000), p. 90.</ref>

A [[Vickers Wellington]] [[bomber]] crashed on the south coast of Soay in 1942 or 1943. Not until 1978 was any formal attempt made to investigate the wreck, and its identity has not been absolutely determined. Amongst the wreckage, a [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] cap badge was discovered, which suggests it may have been HX448 of [[Coastal Command Anti U-Boat Devices School RAF|7 Operational Training Unit]] which went missing on a navigation exercise on 28 September 1942. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Wellington is LA995 of [[List of ferry units of the Royal Air Force|303 Ferry Training Unit]] which was lost on 23 February 1943.<ref>Steel (1988), p. 236</ref><ref>Barry, John C. (1980) "Wartime Wrecks on St. Kilda" ''After the Battle''. '''30''' p. 28</ref>

In 1955 the British government decided to incorporate St Kilda into a [[Deep Sea Range|missile-tracking range]] based in [[Benbecula]], where test firings and flights are carried out. Thus in 1957 St Kilda became permanently inhabited once again. A variety of military buildings and masts have since been erected, including a canteen (which is not open to the public), the Puff Inn.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/puffinnstatement.htm "Puff Inn statement"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311083300/http://www.kilda.org.uk/puffinnstatement.htm |date=11 March 2012 }}. Provided by QinetiQ, approved by the MOD and published by the [[National Trust for Scotland]]. Retrieved 18 October 2012.</ref> The [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] (MOD) leases St Kilda from the National Trust for Scotland for a nominal fee.<ref>Steel (1988) pp. 238–55.</ref>

Hirta is still occupied year-round by a small number of civilians employed by defence contractor [[QinetiQ]] working in the military base ([[Deep Sea Range]]) on a monthly rotation.<ref name=BBC29810/><ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/visitor-advice.htm "Advice for visitors"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070416054436/http://www.kilda.org.uk/visitor-advice.htm |date=16 April 2007 }} (2004) National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 18 March 2007. This notes that the name "Puff Inn" is misleading in that it is not open to the public.</ref> In 2009 the MOD announced that it was considering closing down its missile-testing ranges in the Western Isles, potentially leaving the Hirta base unmanned.<ref name=SKday>{{cite news| author=Ross, John| date=31 July 2009| title=Historic evacuation of islands will be commemorated on St Kilda Day| location=Edinburgh| newspaper=[[The Scotsman]]| url=http://news.scotsman.com/inverness/In-1930-the-last-islanders.5511585.jp| access-date=10 August 2009| archive-date=27 October 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027200704/https://www.scotsman.com/news| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2015 the base had to be temporarily evacuated due to adverse weather conditions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ampaipear.org.uk/qinetiq-st-kilda-recovery-plan-already-motion/|title=Qinetiq: St Kilda recovery plan already in motion|date=12 January 2015|access-date=21 November 2016|archive-date=21 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121181951/http://www.ampaipear.org.uk/qinetiq-st-kilda-recovery-plan-already-motion/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In summer 2018, the MOD facilities were being restored as part of building a new base; one report stated that the project included "replacing aged generators and accommodation blocks".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scotislands.com/st-kilda/|title=ST KILDA|date=12 September 2018|access-date=10 February 2021|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503153748/https://scotislands.com/st-kilda/|url-status=live}}</ref> With no permanent population, the island population can vary between 20 and 70, most living here temporarily. These inhabitants include MOD employees, National Trust for Scotland employees, and several scientists working on a [[Soay sheep]] research project.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/what-it-s-like-living-on-st-kilda-1-4693525|title=What it's like living on St Kilda|website=The Scotsman|date=21 February 2018|author=Alison Campsie|access-date=31 December 2018|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231194215/https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/what-it-s-like-living-on-st-kilda-1-4693525|url-status=live}}</ref>

==21st-century tourism==
[[File:Village, Hirta, St Kilda.jpg|thumb|Village Bay (St Kilda Village), Hirta; 2010]]
Visits to St Kilda were encouraged until facilities closed due to the worldwide [[COVID-19 pandemic]] in 2020; as of early February 2021 the toilets, campsite, and shopping facilities on Hirta were all closed.

The National Trust for Scotland has improved the village on Hirta over the years. "They have reroofed the cottages on the main street, restored the church, and re-stacked stones that years of gales had toppled from the cleits, or bothies, that dot the volcanic landscape".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/nov/10/st-kilda-volunteering-working-holiday-scotland|title=Volunteering on St Kilda is all about DIY and clearing ditches. Yay!|first=Jay|last=Sivell|date=10 November 2017|website=The Guardian|access-date=20 August 2021|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505204211/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/nov/10/st-kilda-volunteering-working-holiday-scotland|url-status=live}}</ref> One cottage, #3 on "The Street" has been more extensively restored and turned into the museum.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-collection-at-the-edge-of-the-world|title=The collection at the edge of the world|first=Deirdre|last=Mitchell|date=18 August 2018|website=National Trust for Scotland|access-date=11 February 2021|archive-date=18 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118150111/https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-collection-at-the-edge-of-the-world|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst90671.html|title=St Kilda Museum from The Gazetteer for Scotland|website=scottish-places.info|access-date=11 February 2021|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503154034/https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst90671.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, a full restoration of the other cottages is not expected.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web|url=https://barefoot-backpacker.com/st-kilda/|title=Why you should visit St Kilda|first=The Barefoot|last=Backpacker|date=17 July 2020|access-date=12 February 2021|archive-date=20 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120192306/https://barefoot-backpacker.com/st-kilda/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abandonedspaces.com/towns/hirta-island-of-the-st-kilda.html |title=DAY TRIP TO ST KILDA |date=9 December 2017 |work=Abandoned Spaces |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=18 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118195659/https://www.abandonedspaces.com/towns/hirta-island-of-the-st-kilda.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/st-kilda-travel-guide-holiday-review-572972 |title=St Kilda travel guide 2020: Visit the magical Scottish 'island on the edge of the world' |date=6 August 2020 |work=iNews |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503154034/https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/st-kilda-travel-guide-holiday-review-572972 |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The Historic Environment Scotland website states that "the plain, two-bay church, with the schoolroom added to its north west in 1898" was "restored as they might have appeared in the 1920s." The site also explains that the "arrangement of St Kilda Village along a curving street is the result of mid-19th century improvement ... Distinctive drystone storage structures, known as cleitan, are scattered throughout the landscape. There are over 1,400 cleitan known throughout the St Kilda archipelago, but they are concentrated in the area around the village".<ref name=canmore>{{cite web |url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/9668/st-kilda-hirta-village-bay |title=Stories from St Kilda |date=11 January 2008 |work=Historic Environment Scotland |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503184138/https://canmore.org.uk/site/9668/st-kilda-hirta-village-bay |url-status=live }}</ref> 
[[File:A Cleit On St Kilda - geograph.org.uk - 1379478.jpg|thumb|A Cleit (storage shed)]]

The National Trust for Scotland suggests that there is a great deal of interest in diving in the area as well as viewing of seabirds in "Europe's most important seabird colony, and one of the major seabird breeding stations in the North Atlantic.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/st-kilda |title=ST KILDA WORLD HERITAGE SITE |date=15 January 2021 |work=NTS |access-date=10 February 2021 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021335/http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/55/Details/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Before the closure, day trips for tourists were readily available, by boat, leaving from Stein Jetty, Skye.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visitscotland.com/info/tours/day-trip-to-st-kilda-f9877071 |title=Day trip to St Kilda |date=15 March 2020 |work=Visit Scotland |access-date=10 February 2021 |quote=Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice. |archive-date=1 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301064654/https://www.visitscotland.com/info/tours/day-trip-to-st-kilda-f9877071 |url-status=live }}</ref> A review of St Kilda, written before facilities closed, warned that landing at the pier can be difficult in rough seas.<ref name="auto1"/>

== Architecture ==

=== Prehistoric buildings ===
[[File:St Kilda-2.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins in Gleann Mòr]]

The oldest structures on St Kilda are the most enigmatic. Large [[sheepfold]]s lie inland from the existing village at ''An Lag Bho'n Tuath'' (English: the hollow in the north) and contain curious "boat-shaped" stone rings, or "settings". Soil samples suggest a date of 1850&nbsp;BC, but they are unique to St Kilda, and their purpose is unknown. In Gleann Mòr, (north-west of Village Bay beyond Hirta's central ridge), there are 20 "horned structures", essentially ruined buildings with a main court measuring about {{Convert|3|by|3|m|0}}, two or more smaller cells and a forecourt formed by two curved or horn-shaped walls. Again, nothing like them exists anywhere else in Europe, and their original use is unknown.<ref>Quine (2000) page 91–2.</ref><ref>It is possible they are [[Pict]]ish structures dating from 400 to 900&nbsp;AD. Fleming (2005) page 23.</ref> Also in Gleann Mòr is ''Taigh na Banaghaisgeich'', the "Amazon's House". As Martin (1703) reported, many St Kilda tales are told about this female warrior.

<blockquote>
This Amazon is famous in their traditions: her house or dairy of stone is yet extant; some of the inhabitants dwell in it all summer, though it be some hundred years old; the whole is built of stone, without any wood, lime, earth, or mortar to cement it, and is built in form of a circle pyramid-wise towards the top, having a vent in it, the fire being always in the centre of the floor; the stones are long and thin, which supplies the defect of wood; the body of this house contains not above nine persons sitting; there are three beds or low vaults that go off the side of the wall, a pillar betwixt each bed, which contains five men apiece; at the entry to one of these low vaults is a stone standing upon one end fix'd; upon this they say she ordinarily laid her helmet; there are two stones on the other side, upon which she is reported to have laid her sword: she is said to have been much addicted to hunting, and that in her time all the space betwixt this isle and that of Harries, was one continued tract of dry land.<ref name=Martin/>
</blockquote>

Similar stories of a female warrior who hunted the now-submerged land between the Outer Hebrides and St Kilda are reported from [[Harris, Outer Hebrides|Harris]].<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 27–8.</ref> The structure's forecourt is akin to the other "horned structures" in the immediate area, but like Martin's "Amazon" its original purpose is the stuff of legend rather than archaeological fact.

Much more is known of the hundreds of unique [[Cleit|''cleitean'']] that decorate the archipelago. These dome-shaped structures are constructed of flat boulders with a cap of turf on the top. This enables the wind to pass through the cavities in the wall but keeps the rain out. They were used for storing peat, nets, [[Food grain|grain]], preserved flesh and eggs, manure, and hay, and as a shelter for lambs in winter. The date of origin of this St Kildan invention is unknown, but they were in continuous use from prehistoric times until the 1930 evacuation. More than 1,200 ruined or intact ''cleitean'' remain on Hirta and a further 170 on the neighbouring islands.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 65–6.</ref><ref>Quine (2000) page 32.</ref> House no. 16 in the modern village has an early Christian stone cross built into the front wall, which may date from the 7th century.<ref>Quine (2000) page 51.</ref>

=== Medieval village ===
[[File:St Kilda village.jpg|thumb|The Village. The Head Wall surrounds the site, with Tobar Childa top left, the 19th-century Street at the centre and the new military base to the right.]]

A medieval village lay near Tobar Childa, about {{Convert|350|m}} from the shore, at the foot of the slopes of Conachair. The oldest building is an underground passage with two small annexes called ''Taigh an t-Sithiche'' (house of the faeries) which dates to between 500&nbsp;BC and 300&nbsp;AD. The St Kildans believed it was a house or hiding place, although a more recent theory suggests that it was an [[Ice house (building)|ice house]].<ref>Quine (2000) pages 52–3.</ref>

Extensive ruins of field walls and ''cleitean'' and the remnants of a [[medieval]] "house" with a beehive-shaped annexe remain. Nearby is the "Bull's House", a roofless rectangular structure in which the island's bull was kept during winter. Tobar Childa itself is supplied by two springs that lie just outside the Head Wall that was constructed around the Village to prevent sheep and cattle gaining access to the cultivated areas within its boundary.<ref name="Quine (2000) page 30.">Quine (2000) page 30.</ref> There were 25 to 30 houses altogether. Most were [[blackhouse]]s of typical Hebridean design, but some older buildings were made of corbelled stone and turfed rather than thatched. The turf was used to prevent the ingress of wind and rain, and the older "beehive" buildings resembled green hillocks rather than dwellings.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 66.</ref>

=== Post-Medieval structures ===
The Head Wall was built in 1834 when the medieval village was abandoned and a new one planned between Tobar Childa and the sea some {{convert|700|ft}} down the slope. This came about as the result of a visit by [[Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, 10th Baronet|Sir Thomas Dyke Ackland]], one of the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Members of Parliament]] for [[Devon (UK Parliament constituency)|Devon]]. Appalled by the primitive conditions, he gave money for the building of a completely new settlement of thirty new [[blackhouse]]s. These houses were made of [[dry stone]], had thick walls, and were roofed with turf. Each typically had only one tiny window and a small opening for letting out smoke from the peat fire that burnt in the middle of the room. As a result, the interiors were blackened by soot. The cattle occupied one end of the house in winter, and once a year the straw from the floor was stripped out and spread on the ground.<ref>Steel (1988) pages 72–3.</ref>

In October 1860, several of the new dwellings were damaged by a severe gale, and repairs were sufficient only to make them suitable for use as [[byre]]s. According to [[Alasdair Alpin MacGregor|Alasdair MacGregor]]'s analysis of the settlement, the sixteen modern, zinc-roofed cottages amidst the black houses and new [[Factor (Scotland)|Factor's]] house seen in most photographs of the native islanders were constructed around 1862.<ref>MacGregor (1969) page 129.</ref>

[[File:Featherstorestkilda.jpg|thumb|left|The Feather Store, where fulmar and gannet feathers were kept, and sold to pay the rent]]
One of the more poignant ruins on Hirta is the site of "Lady Grange's House". [[Rachel Chiesley, Lady Grange|Lady Grange]] had been married to the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] sympathiser [[James Erskine, Lord Grange]], for 25 years when he decided that she might have overheard too many of his treasonable plottings. He had her kidnapped and secretly confined in [[Edinburgh]] for six months. From there she was sent to the [[Monach Isles]], where she lived in isolation for two years. She was then taken to Hirta from 1734 to 1740, which she described as "a vile neasty,<!--sic--> stinking poor isle". After a failed rescue attempt, she was removed on her husband's orders to the [[Isle of Skye]], where she died. The "house" on Hirta which carries her name is a large cleit in the Village meadows.<ref>Quine (2000) page 48.</ref><ref>Steel (1988) pages 31–2.</ref><ref>Keay & Keay (1994) page 358.</ref><ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame5.htm "St Kilda: Fascinating Facts"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009053305/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame5.htm |date=9 October 2008 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 19 August 2007.</ref>

[[James Boswell|Boswell]] and [[Samuel Johnson|Johnson]] discussed the subject during their 1773 tour of the Hebrides. Boswell wrote: "After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of Lady Grange's being sent to St Kilda, and confined there for several years, without any means of relief. Dr Johnson said, if M'Leod would let it be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might make it a very profitable island."<ref>{{cite web |last=Boswell |first=James |year=1785 |url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/b74t/ |title=Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. |access-date=6 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428010642/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/b74t/ |archive-date=28 April 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Notquiteheathrow.jpg|thumb|This "International Sea & Airport Lounge" is situated adjacent to the [[helipad]] and landing craft slipway.]]
In the 1860s unsuccessful attempts were made to improve the landing area by blasting rocks. A small [[jetty]] was erected in 1877, but it was washed away in a storm two years later. In 1883 representations to the [[Napier Commission]] suggested the building of a replacement, but it was 1901 before the [[Congested Districts Board (Scotland)|Congested Districts Board]] provided an engineer to enable one to be completed the following year. Nearby on the shoreline are some huge boulders which were known throughout the [[Highlands and Islands]] in the 19th century as ''Doirneagan Hirt'', Hirta's pebbles.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 29–30.</ref>

At one time, three churches stood on Hirta. Christ Church, in the site of the graveyard at the centre of the village, was in use in 1697 and was the largest, but this thatched-roof structure was too small to hold the entire population, and most of the congregation had to gather in the churchyard during services. St Brendan's Church lay over a kilometre away on the slopes of Ruival, and St Columba's at the west end of the village street, but little is left of these buildings. A new [[kirk]] and [[rectory|manse]] were erected at the east end of the village in 1830 and a [[Factor (Scotland)|Factor's]] house in 1860.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 31.</ref><ref>Quine (2000) page 37.</ref>

=== Buildings on other islands ===
[[File:Dun, St Kilda.jpg|thumb|left| [[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]] from Ruival with [[Stac Levenish]] in the background at left]]
[[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]] means "fort", and there is but a single ruined wall of a structure said to have been built in the far-distant past by the [[Fir Bolg]].<ref>Maclean (1977) page 29.</ref> The only "habitation" is ''Sean Taigh'' (old house), a natural cavern sometimes used as a shelter by the St Kildans when they were tending the sheep or catching birds.<ref>Quine (2000) page 99.</ref> Soay has a primitive hut known as ''Taigh Dugan'' (Dugan's house). This is little more than an excavated hole under a massive stone with two crude walls on the sides. The story of its creation relates to two sheep-stealing brothers from [[Isle of Lewis|Lewis]] who came to St Kilda only to cause further trouble. Dugan was exiled to Soay, where he died; the other, called Fearchar Mòr, was sent to Stac an Armin, where he found life so intolerable he cast himself into the sea.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 99 and 146.</ref>

Boreray boasts the ''Cleitean MacPhàidein'', a "cleit village" of three small bothies used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions. Here too are the ruins of ''Taigh Stallar'' (the steward's house), which was similar to the Amazon's house in Gleann Mòr although somewhat larger, and which had six bed spaces. The local tradition was that it was built by the "Man of the Rocks", who led a rebellion against the landlord's steward.<ref>Maclean (1977) page 28.</ref> It may be an example of an [[Iron Age]] [[wheelhouse (archaeology)|wheelhouse]] and the associated remains of an agricultural field system were discovered in 2011.<ref>Fleming (2005) page 58.</ref><ref>[http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/news/evidence-of-ancient-settlement-found-on-boreray "Evidence of Ancient Settlement Found on Boreray"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111015234129/http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/news/evidence-of-ancient-settlement-found-on-boreray |date=15 October 2011 }}. (16 June 2011) RCHAMS. Retrieved 19 June 2011.</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13753643 "Prehistoric finds on remote St Kilda's Boreray isle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619112728/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13753643 |date=19 June 2011 }}. (17 June 2011) BBC News. Retrieved 19 June 2011.</ref> As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1724, three men and eight boys were marooned on Boreray until the following May.<ref>Maclean (1977) pages 48–9</ref> No fewer than 78 storage ''cleitean'' exist on [[Stac an Armin]] and a small [[bothy]]. A small bothy exists on the precipitous [[Stac Lee]] too, also used by fowlers.<ref>Quine (2000) pages 142 and 146.</ref>

==Fauna and flora==
=== Wildlife ===
{{See also|Flora and fauna of the Outer Hebrides}}
[[File:Inselsoay.JPG|thumb|[[Soay, St Kilda|Soay]] shrouded in mist]]
St Kilda is a breeding ground for many important [[seabird]] species. One of the world's largest colonies of [[northern gannet]]s, totalling 30,000 pairs, amount to 24 per cent of the global population. There are 49,000 breeding pairs of [[Leach's storm-petrel|Leach's petrels]], up to 90 per cent of the European population; 136,000 pairs of [[Atlantic puffin]]s, about 30 per cent of the UK total breeding population, and 67,000 [[northern fulmar]] pairs, about 13 per cent of the UK total.<ref name=Benvie>Benvie, Neil (2000) ''Scotland's Wildlife''. London. Aurum Press.</ref> Dùn is home to the largest colony of [[fulmars]] in [[UK|Britain]]. Before 1828, St Kilda was their only UK breeding ground, but they have since spread and established colonies elsewhere, such as [[Fowlsheugh]].<ref>{{citation|jstor=1312|title=The Breeding Distribution, History and Population of the Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) in the British Isles|journal=Journal of Animal Ecology|volume=10|issue=2|pages=204–272|last1=Fisher|first1=James|last2=Waterston|first2=George|year=1941|doi=10.2307/1312|bibcode=1941JAnEc..10..204F }}</ref> The last [[great auk]] (''Pinguinus impennis'') seen in Britain was killed on Stac an Armin in July 1840.<ref name=Smith/> Unusual behaviour by St Kilda's [[great skua|bonxies]] was recorded in 2007 during research into recent falls in the Leach's petrel population. Using night-vision gear, ecologists observed the skuas hunting petrels at night, a remarkable strategy for a seabird.<ref>McKenzie, Steven [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7069755.stm "Bird night attacks may be unique"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205170312/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7069755.stm |date=5 December 2008 }} (5 November 2007) BBC News. Retrieved on 6 November 2007.</ref> The St Kilda archipelago has been recognised as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] for its [[seabird]] [[bird colony|colonies]].<ref name=bli>{{cite web|url= http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/st-kilda-iba-united-kingdom|title= St Kilda|author= <!--Not stated-->|date= 2021|website= BirdLife Data Zone|publisher= BirdLife International|access-date= 20 January 2021|archive-date= 29 November 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201129103511/http://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/st-kilda-iba-united-kingdom|url-status= live}}</ref>

Two wild animal taxa are unique to St Kilda: the [[St Kilda wren]] (''Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis''), which is a subspecies of the [[troglodytes troglodytes|Eurasian wren]], and a subspecies of [[wood mouse]] known as the [[St Kilda field mouse]] (''Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis''). A third taxon [[Endemism|endemic]] to St Kilda, a subspecies of [[house mouse]] known as the [[St Kilda house mouse]] (''Mus musculus muralis''), vanished entirely after the departure of human inhabitants, as it was strictly associated with settlements and buildings.<ref name=Smith/> It had several traits in common with a sub-species (''Mus musculus mykinessiensis'') found on [[Mykines, Faroe Islands|Mykines]] island in the [[Faroe Islands]].<ref>[http://heima.olivant.fo/~mykines/mammalsgb.htm "The mammals on Mykines"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233729/http://heima.olivant.fo/~mykines/mammalsgb.htm |date=3 March 2016 }} Heima.olivant.fo. Retrieved 22 May 2007.</ref> The [[gray seal|grey seal]] (''Halichoerus grypus'') now breeds on Hirta but did not do so before the 1930 evacuation.<ref name=Darling>Fraser Darling, F. and Boyd, J.M. (1969) ''Natural History in the Highlands and Islands.'' London. Bloomsbury.</ref>

The archipelago's isolation has resulted in a lack of [[biodiversity]]. The most successful [[Insect migration|colonists]] with nearly two hundred species are the [[fly|flies]] followed by [[beetle]]s with approximately 140 species. There are no [[bee]]s on the islands, so flies are probably important [[pollinator]]s of plants. One beetle, the rare and endangered [[weevil]], ''[[Ceutorhynchus insularis]]'', is known from only [[Dùn, St Kilda|Dùn]] and the [[Vestmannaeyjar|Westmann Islands]], an archipelago off the south-west coast of [[Iceland]].<ref name=Love>{{cite web|last1=Love|first1=John|title=Tèarmann Nàdair Nàiseanta St Kilda National Nature Reserve A world apart|url=http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/designatedareas/st%20kilda.pdf|website=Scottish Natural Heritage|access-date=13 September 2014|pages=48|year=2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913145539/http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/designatedareas/st%20kilda.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Less than one hundred species of [[butterfly]] and [[moth]] occur, compared to 367 recorded on the [[Outer Hebrides|Western Isles]]. [[Vanessa atalanta|Red admiral]] (''Vanessa atalanta'') and [[Vanessa cardui|painted lady]] (''Vanessa cardui'') are two of only seven species of butterflies, both well known and common [[Lepidoptera migration|migrants]]. Common summer moths are the [[Cerapteryx graminis|antler]] (''Cerapteryx graminis''), [[dark arches]] (''Apamea monoglypha'') and the migrant [[silver Y]] (''Autographa gamma''). One unusual moth recorded is the [[Idaea rusticata|least carpet]] (''Idaea rusticata''), an occasional migrant, and in the UK, usually recorded in the south-east of England.<ref name=Love/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kimber|first1=Ian|title=1699 Least Carpet ''Idaea rusticata''|url=https://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1699&map=true|website=UKmoths|access-date=13 September 2014|archive-date=13 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913170332/http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1699&map=true|url-status=live}}</ref> On 4 September 2014 a rare [[Vagrancy (biology)|vagrant]] [[oleander hawk-moth]] (''Daphnis nerii'') was recorded.<ref>{{cite web|title=Flight Arrivals|url=http://www.atropos.info/flightarrivals//index.php|website=Atropos|access-date=13 September 2014|archive-date=13 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913151023/http://www.atropos.info/flightarrivals//index.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Oleander is not found in the UK every year, and the larva has never been recorded in Britain.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kimber|first1=Ian|title=1985 Oleander Hawk-moth ''Daphnis nerii''|url=https://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=6335|website=UKmoths|access-date=13 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913150552/http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=6335|archive-date=13 September 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Its plant life is heavily influenced by island's natural environment such as the salt spray, strong winds and acidic [[peat]]y soils. No trees grow on the archipelago, although there are more than 130 different flowering plants, 162 species of [[fungi]] and 160 [[bryophyte]]s. Several rarities exist amongst the 194 [[lichen]] species. [[Kelp]] thrives in the surrounding seas, which contain a diversity of unusual marine invertebrates.<ref name=Smith/><ref name=UNEP/> The [[St Kilda dandelion]] (''Taraxacum pankhurstianum'') is an endemic species of [[Taraxacum|dandelion]], identified in 2012.<ref name="RBGE">{{cite web|url=http://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/news/stories/new-dandelion-found|title=New Dandelion Found|author=Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh|access-date=29 June 2012|archive-date=26 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926054125/http://www.rbge.org.uk/about-us/news/stories/new-dandelion-found|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The beach at Village Bay is unusual in that its short stretch of summer sand recedes in winter, exposing the large boulders on which it rests. A survey of the beach in 1953 found only a single resident species, the crustacean [[isopod]] ''[[Eurydice pulchra]]''.<ref>Gauld, R. Bagenal, T.E. and Connell, J.H. (1953) "The marine fauna and flora of St. Kilda, 1952". ''Scottish Naturalist'' '''65''' pp 29–49, quoted in Darling and Boyd (1969) page 184.</ref>

=== Soay sheep ===
[[File:Soaysheepkilda.jpg|thumb|Soay [[sheep|ram]] on Hirta]]
On the inaccessible island of Soay are sheep of a unique type, which lived as [[feral]] animals and belonged to the owner of the islands, not to the islanders.  These [[Soay sheep]] are believed to be remnants of the earliest sheep kept in Europe in the [[Neolithic Era]], and are small, short-tailed, usually brown with white bellies, and have naturally [[moulting]] fleeces.  About 200 Soay sheep remain on Soay itself, and soon after the evacuation a second feral population of them was established on Hirta, which at that time had no sheep; in 1994 these numbered between 600 and 1,700.<ref name=Keay/> A few Soays have been exported to form breeding populations in other parts of the world, where they are valued for their hardiness, small size and unusual appearance.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010817041448/http://www.soaysofamerica.org/ "Soays of America"] soaysofamerica.org Retrieved 24 December 2007.</ref> On Hirta and Soay, the sheep prefer the ''[[Plantago]]'' pastures, which grow well in locations exposed to [[sea spray]] and include red fescue (''[[Festuca rubra]]''), sea plantain (''[[Plantago maritima]]'') and sea pink (''[[Armeria maritima]]'').<ref name=Darling/>

The St Kildans kept up to 2,000 of a different type of sheep on the islands of Hirta and Boreray.  These were a Hebridean variety of the [[Scottish Dunface]], a primitive sheep probably similar to those kept throughout Britain during the [[Iron Age]].  During the evacuation, all the islanders' sheep were removed from Hirta, but those on Boreray were left to become feral. These sheep are now regarded as a breed in their own right, the [[Boreray (sheep)|Boreray]].  The Boreray is one of the rarest British sheep and is one of the few remaining descendants of the [[Scottish Dunface|Dunface]] (although some [[Scottish Blackface]] blood was introduced in the 19th century).<ref name="rbst.org.uk">
{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/sheep/boreray
 |title       = Sheep
 |work        = Rare Breeds Watchlist
 |publisher   = Rare Breeds Survival Trust
 |access-date  = 10 July 2008
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120406034136/https://www.rbst.org.uk/watch-list/sheep/boreray
 |archive-date = 6 April 2012
}}
</ref>

== Nature conservation ==
On his death on 14 August 1956, the [[Marquess of Bute]]'s will bequeathed the archipelago to the [[National Trust for Scotland]] provided they accepted the offer within six months. After much soul-searching, the executive committee agreed to do so in January 1957. The slow renovation and conservation of the village began, much of it undertaken by summer volunteer work parties.<ref>Steel (1988) pages 256–7.</ref> In addition, scientific research began on the feral Soay sheep population and other aspects of the natural environment. In 1957 the area was designated a [[national nature reserve (United Kingdom)|national nature reserve]].<ref>[http://www.nnr-scotland.org.uk/reserve.asp?NNRId=5 "Scotland's National Nature Reserves—St Kilda"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515231414/http://www.nnr-scotland.org.uk/reserve.asp?NNRId=5 |date=15 May 2008 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 16 March 2007.</ref>

In 1986 the islands became the first place in Scotland to be inscribed as a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]], for its terrestrial natural features.<ref>[http://www.snh.org.uk/nnr-scotland/news_detail.asp?newsID=12 "Scotland's National Nature Reserves—News and Events"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090112220128/http://www.snh.org.uk/nnr-scotland/news_detail.asp?newsID=12 |date=12 January 2009 }} (9 December 2004) National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 17 March 2007.</ref> In 2004, the WHS was extended to include a large amount of the surrounding marine features as well as the islands themselves.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame2.htm ''Marine Environment gains World Heritage Protection''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603050143/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame2.htm |date=3 June 2013 }} (2 July 2004) The National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 4 December 2008.</ref><ref>[http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/pdf_res_notes/rn01-73.pdf "World Heritage Sites in Scotland"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529185217/http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/pdf_res_notes/rn01-73.pdf |date=29 May 2008 }} (21 July 2007) Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Research Note RN 01/73. Retrieved 3 January 2007.</ref> In 2005 St Kilda became one of only two dozen global locations to be awarded mixed World Heritage Status for both "natural" and "cultural" significance. The islands share this honour with internationally important sites such as [[Machu Picchu]] in [[Peru]], [[Mount Athos]] in Greece and the Ukhahlamba/[[Drakensberg|Drakensberg Park]] in South Africa.<ref>[http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm "Dual World Heritage Status For Unique Scottish Islands"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002160717/http://www.kilda.org.uk/frame26.htm |date=2 October 2006 }} (14 July 2005) National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 6 January 2007.</ref>

St Kilda is a [[Scheduled Monument|Scheduled Ancient Monument]], a [[National Scenic Area (Scotland)|National Scenic Area]], a [[Site of Special Scientific Interest]], and was a European Union [[Special Protection Area]].<ref>[http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/55/Details/ "St Kilda National Nature Reserve"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021335/http://www.nts.org.uk/Property/55/Details/ |date=27 September 2007 }} National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 16 March 2007.</ref> Visiting yachts may find shelter in Village Bay, but those wishing to land are told to contact the National Trust for Scotland in advance. Concern exists about the introduction of non-native animal and plant species into such a fragile environment.<ref name=Smith/> In 2008 the National Trust for Scotland received the support of Scotland's [[Minister for Environment]], [[Michael Russell (Scottish politician)|Michael Russell]] for their plan to ensure no rats came ashore from the ''Spinningdale'', a UK-registered/Spanish-owned [[fishing trawler]] which grounded on Hirta on 1 February.<ref name="Feb1-1">{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7221597.stm| publisher = BBC News online| title = Crew rescued from stricken boat | accessdate = 1 February 2008}}</ref> There was concern that bird life on the island could be seriously affected.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/05/conservation1|publisher=Guardian Newspapers|title=Trawler rats threaten St Kilda seabirds|date=5 February 2008|access-date=30 June 2010|location=London|first=Roxanne|last=Escobales|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006193717/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/05/conservation1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7227563.stm "Rats probe under way on St Kilda"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208161443/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/7227563.stm |date=8 February 2008 }} BBC. Retrieved 10 February 2008.</ref> Fortunately, potential contaminants from the vessel including fuel, oils, bait and stores were successfully removed by Dutch salvage company [[Mammoet]] before the bird breeding season in early April.<ref>{{cite news| last =Gaston |first =Jack |title =Early bird saves UK heritage site | work =Lloyd's List Daily Commercial News | page =22 | publisher =Informa Australia Pty Ltd | date =29 May 2008}}</ref>

St Kilda's marine environment of underwater caves, arches and chasms, offers a very challenging but superlative diving experience.<ref>Booth, Richard [http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?section=1248&sectionTitle=UK&itemid=2275 "St Kilda: The Holy Grail of UK Diving?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603184649/http://www.bsac.com/diverreports.asp?section=1248&sectionTitle=UK&itemid=2275 |date=3 June 2012 }} (July 2005) BSAC Travel Club. Retrieved 18 March 2007.</ref> Such is the power of the North Atlantic swell that the effects of the waves can be detected {{convert|70|m|ft|0}} below sea level.<ref>McKirdy, Alan Gordon, John & Crofts, Roger (2007) ''Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. Page 220.</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[St Kilda, Britain's Loneliest Isle]]'' (1928 silent film)
* ''[[Lady of St Kilda]]'', ship that gave its name to [[St Kilda, Victoria]]; wrecked in 1844
* [[Mingulay]] – the "near St Kilda"
* [[John Sands (journalist)|John Sands]], a Scottish journalist mockingly described by his enemies as "the MP for St Kilda"
* [[Scarp, Scotland|Scarp]] – a Hebridean island that had a "parliament" similar to St Kilda's
* [[North Rona]] – most remote island in the UK
* [[World Heritage Sites in Scotland]]
* [[List of outlying islands of Scotland]]
* [[List of Important Bird Areas in the United Kingdom]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
* Baxter, Colin and Crumley, Jim (1998) ''St Kilda: A portrait of Britain's remotest island landscape'', Biggar, Colin Baxter Photography {{ISBN|0-948661-03-8}}
* Buchanan, Margaret (1983) ''St Kilda: a Photographic Album'', W. Blackwood, {{ISBN|0-85158-162-5}}

*{{cite book|title=The Place-Names of St Kilda: Nomina Hirtensia|last=Coates|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Coates|date=1990|location=Lewiston, New York|publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|isbn=0-88946-077-9}}
* [[Frank Fraser Darling|Fraser Darling, F.]], and [[John Morton Boyd|Boyd, J.M.]] (1969) ''Natural History in the Highlands and Islands'', London, Bloomsbury {{ISBN|1-870630-98-X}}
*{{cite book|last=Fleming|first= Andrew|year=2005|title=St. Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island|publisher= Windgather Press|isbn=1-905119-00-3}}
* Harvie-Brown, J.A. and Buckley, T. E. (1888), ''A Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides.'' Pub. David Douglas., Edinburgh.
* {{Haswell-Smith}}
* Keay, J., and Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland'', London, HarperCollins {{ISBN|0-00-255082-2}}
* Maclean, Charles (1977) ''Island on the Edge of the World: the Story of St. Kilda'', Edinburgh, Canongate {{ISBN|0-903937-41-7}}
* [[Alasdair Alpin MacGregor|MacGregor, Alasdair Alpin]] (1969) ''The Farthest Hebrides'', London, Michael Joseph Ltd. {{ISBN|0-7181-0691-1}}
* [[Martin Martin|Martin, Martin]] (1703) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070313003106/http://www.appins.org/martin.htm A Voyage to St. Kilda]" in ''A Description of The Western Islands of Scotland'', Appin Regiment/Appin Historical Society. Retrieved 3 March 2007
* {{Monro}} 
*{{cite book |first=W.H. |last=Murray |author-link=W.H. Murray |year=1966 |title=The Hebrides |location=London |publisher=Heinemann}}
*{{cite book|last=de Nicolay |first=Nicholas |year=1583 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/coasts/chart/169 |title=Vraye & exacte description Hydrographique des costes maritimes d'Escosse & des Isles Orchades Hebrides avec partie d'Angleterre & d'Irlande servant a la navigation |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[National Library of Scotland]] |access-date=14 September 2019 |archive-date=17 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117233252/https://maps.nls.uk/coasts/chart/169 |url-status=live }}
* Quine, David (2000) ''St Kilda'', Grantown-on-Spey, Colin Baxter Island Guides {{ISBN|1-84107-008-4}}
* Steel, Tom (1988) ''The Life and Death of St. Kilda'', London, Fontana {{ISBN|0-00-637340-2}}
* {{cite journal|title=The Norsemen in St. Kilda|last=Taylor|first=A. B.|author-link=Alexander Burt Taylor|date=1968|journal=Saga-Book|volume=17|pages=116–144|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48613119|access-date=24 March 2024|publisher=JSTOR/Viking Society for Northern Research|jstor=48613119 }}
*{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcelticp0000unse/page/97|title=The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland|last=Watson|first=William J.|author-link=William J. Watson|location=Edinburgh and London|publisher=William Blackwood and Sons|date=1926}}
* [[Kenneth Williamson|Williamson, Kenneth]]; & Boyd, J. Morton. (1960). ''St Kilda Summer''. London. Hutchinson.
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* Atkinson, Robert ''Island going to the remoter isles, chiefly uninhabited, off the north-west corner of Scotland'', William Collins, 1949. (Reprinted Birlinn, 1995 {{ISBN|1-874744-31-9}})
* Charnley, Bob ''Last Greetings of St. Kilda'', Richard Stenlake, 1989 {{ISBN|1-872074-02-2}}
* Coates, Richard ''The Place-Names of St. Kilda'', [[Lewiston, New York]]: [[Edwin Mellen Press]], 1990 {{ISBN|0-88946-077-9}}
* Crichton, Torcuil (26 June 2005) "The Last of the St Kildans". Glasgow. ''Sunday Herald''. A report of a surviving St Kildan re-visiting the islands.
* Gilbert, O. ''The Lichen Hunters.'' St Kilda: Lichens at the Edge of the World, The Book Guild Ltd., England, 2004 {{ISBN|1-85776-930-9}}
* Gillies, Donald John, and Randall, John (Editor) ''The Truth about St Kilda. An Islander's Memoir'', John Donald, Edinburgh, 2010 {{ISBN|978-1-906566-07-4}}
* Harden, Jill and Lelong, Olivia "Winds of Change, the Living Landscapes of Hirta, St Kilda", Edinburgh, Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-903903-29-5}}
* Harman, Mary ''An Isle Called Hirte: History and Culture of St. Kilda to 1930'', MacLean Press, 1996 {{ISBN|1-899272-03-8}}
* Kearton, Richard ''[http://gdl.cdlr.strath.ac.uk/keacam/index.html With Nature and a Camera]'', Cassell and Company, London, 1898
* Macaulay, Kenneth (1764), ''The History of St Kilda'', T Becket and P A De Hondt, London ([https://archive.org/details/b30545225 Internet Archive])
* Macauley, Margaret (2009) ''The Prisoner of St Kilda: The true story of the unfortunate Lady Grange'', Edinburgh, Luath {{ISBN|978-1-906817-02-2}}
* McCutcheon, Campbell ''St. Kilda: a Journey to the End of the World'', Tempus, 2002 {{ISBN|0-7524-2380-0}}
* Stell, Geoffrey P., and Mary Harman ''Buildings of St Kilda'', [[RCAHMS]], 1988 {{ISBN|0-11-493391-X}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|St Kilda, Scotland|St Kilda}}
{{Wikivoyage|St Kilda}}
{{EB1911 poster|St Kilda (Scotland)}}
* [https://digital.nls.uk/scotlandspages/timeline/1930.html 1930 – evacuation of St Kilda] (29 August 1930) [[National Library of Scotland]] reprint of report from ''The Times''. London. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
* Digitised manuscript map of [http://maps.nls.uk/counties/detail.cfm?id=659 St Kilda] drawn by the Scottish civil engineer [[Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)|Robert Stevenson]] in approximately 1818
*[http://ssa.nls.uk/search.cfm?search_sort_order=Film.dateRelease%2CFilm.name&search_sort_direction=ASC&search_term=st+kilda&search_fields=2&search_join_type=AND&search_fuzzy=yes&videos_only=1&search_mode=Advanced&submit=Search+%3E%3E%3E Archive films about St Kilda] from the [[Scottish Screen#The Archive|Scottish Screen Archive]] at [[National Library of Scotland]]
* [http://www.abandonedcommunities.co.uk/page39.html abandonedcommunities.co.uk] Retrieved 28 December 2007.
* [http://www.kilda.org.uk/StKildaCultHerExtractFINALB38477.pdf Revised nomination of St Kilda for inclusion on the World Heritage Site List] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703131509/http://www.kilda.org.uk/StKildaCultHerExtractFINALB38477.pdf |date=3 July 2007 }} (January 2003) (pdf) Retrieved 28 December 2007. Includes a detailed map.
* [https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20190127025030/http://www2.gov.scot/Publications/2003/05/16738/19671 archive of "Revised Nomination of St Kilda for inclusion in the World Heritage Site List"]. (12 May 2003) The [[Scottish Government|Scottish Executive]]
* [http://www.utopia-britannica.org.uk/pages/StKilda.htm "St Kilda – Death of an Island Republic"] Utopia Britannica: British Utopian Experiments 1325 – 1945. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160110172858/http://www.kilda.org.uk/ "St Kilda"] National Trust for Scotland. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
* [http://protectedplanet.net/sites/St_Kilda_World_Heritage_Site Protected Planet Factsheet about St Kilda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227104827/http://protectedplanet.net/sites/St_Kilda_World_Heritage_Site |date=27 February 2014 }}
* [http://www.pierreseche.com/cleitean_of_saint-kilda.htm ''The cleitean of the St Kilda Archipelago'']. An architectural and historical account by Christian Lassure. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
* [http://www.eoearth.org/article/St_Kilda_(Hirta)_National_Nature_Reserve,_United_Kingdom St Kilda (Hirta) National Nature Reserve, United Kingdom]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8226450.stm Abandonment of St Kilda recalled] BBC News 28 August 2009
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4pBDwJi_kw St Kilda: A Wildlife Mystery]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SDVV4Vz2kI St. Kilda, Its People and Birds (1908) – extract]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-CpkFgxx2I St Kilda: Britain's Loneliest Isle (1928)]
* [https://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21588052-norman-john-gillies-last-voice-st-kilda-died-september-29th-aged-88-norman-john Obituary of Norman John Gillies, the last voice of St Kilda, died on 29 September 2013, aged 88. The Economist.]

{{St Kilda}}
{{Prehistoric Western Isles}}
{{Islands of Scotland}}
{{NSAs in Scotland}}
{{World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom}}
{{National Nature Reserves of Scotland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Kilda, Scotland}}
[[Category:St Kilda, Scotland| ]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Scotland]]
[[Category:Archipelagoes of Scotland]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in the Outer Hebrides]]
[[Category:National nature reserves in Scotland]]
[[Category:National scenic areas of Scotland]]
[[Category:National Trust for Scotland properties]]
[[Category:Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Western Isles South]]
[[Category:Special Areas of Conservation in Scotland]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Scotland]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Scotland]]
[[Category:Paleogene volcanism]]
[[Category:Extinct volcanoes of Europe]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of the Outer Hebrides]]
[[Category:Protected areas of the Outer Hebrides]]
[[Category:Former biosphere reserves]]
[[Category:Underwater diving sites in Scotland]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in Scotland]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of the Outer Hebrides]]