Islands of the Forth
The Islands of the Forth are a group of small islands located in the Firth of Forth and in the estuary of the River Forth on the east coast of Scotland. Most of the group lie in the open waters of the firth, between the Lothians and Fife, with the majority to the east of the city of Edinburgh. Two islands lie further west in the river estuary.
The islands have a varied geology and history; over the centuries, several have had both ecclesiastical connections and a history of involvement in military occupations. Various lighthouses and other aids to navigation have been erected on the islands and skerries — one of these dates to the 17th century. But only one of the islands still has year-round human inhabitants. The area has diverse bird and sea life. The scientific name for the northern gannet was chosen in recognition of this bird's connection with the Bass Rock.
There are only a few islands off the coast of eastern Scotland, and most of them of any significant size are included in this group.
Geography
Furthest east is the Isle of May, off the coast of Fife south of Crail. To the south in the outer Firth there is a group of islands off East Lothian near North Berwick and Gullane; from east to west they are the Bass Rock, Craigleith, Lamb, Fidra and Eyebroughy. A second group lie in the inner Firth of Forth. Inchkeith and Inchcolm are off Kinghorn and Aberdour on the north shore, Inchgarvie lies midway between North and South Queensferry, and Inchmickery and Cramond Island are nearer to Edinburgh on the south shore. Alloa Inch and Tullibody Inch are furthest west in the estuarine waters of the River Forth.Only one of these islands, Inchcolm, has had a resident population in recent years, although there have been monasteries, hermitages, lighthouses and fortifications on most of them in the past. In the late 19th century, the Isle of May had a population of over 20. Many of the island names have the first element, "Inch-".
Geology
Geologically, most of the islands are the remnants of igneous intrusions. The Isle of May's rock is "fine grained basalt of a dark-grey colour with tinges of green and greenstone". Fidra is also largely basalt and The Bass is a phonolite volcanic plug. Craigleith is a laccolith made up of essexite which is popular for making curling stones and Cramond island is made up of dolerite. Inchmickery and Inchgarvie are of igneous origin and the latter is partly made up of picrite. Studies of the landscape beneath the waters of the firth have revealed that the visible surface of Inchgarvie is only the top of a larger crag and tail structure similar in structure to Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile created by glacial action. The tidal islet of Eyebroughy is about to the west of Fidra. Its component rock is trachyte and Lower Carboniferous in origin.Most of Inchkeith is of volcanic origin but there are also sections of sandstone, coal, limestone and shale, the last named containing numerous fossils. There are also several springs on the island. Inchcolm is similarly varied, consisting of greenstone, sandstone, shale and limestone.
Natural history
The Firth is an important area for nature conservation and has a range of habitats including extensive mudflats, shingle shorelines and saltmarsh. The last named, which is well developed on Alloa Inch, is typically dominated by saltmarsh rush, sea club-rush, sea aster and common saltmarsh-grass. The inner Firth is important for nationally and internationally important numbers of wintering wildfowl and wading birds and hosts populations of shelduck, knot, redshank, great crested grebe, teal and goldeneye. The outer islands support significant numbers of nesting seabirds. The Bass Rock has more than 150,000 nesting northern gannets and is the largest single rock gannetry in the world. When viewed from the mainland much of the rock looks white due to the sheer number of birds. The scientific name of this gannet, Morus bassanus, is derived from the rock. The bird was traditionally known locally as the solan goose, and its eggs and meat were considered delicacies. It is estimated that in 1850 almost 2000 birds were harvested from the rock. Other bird species on the rock include guillemot, razorbill, cormorant, puffin, eider duck and numerous gulls.Craigleith lies close to North Berwick's harbour and historically was used as a rabbit warren. The rabbits were bred for food but they were wiped out by myxomatosis in the 1950s. The Atlantic puffin colony on Craigleith, once one of the largest in Britain with 28,000 pairs, became endangered from 1999 onward, due to invasion of non-endemic tree mallow, which choked the puffins' burrows, preventing them from rearing their pufflings. A five-year project, SOS Puffin, led by the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick, was launched early in 2007. Since then, hundreds of volunteers have been working hard to rid the island of the problem, ferried out by boat from the Seabird Centre during the winter months, when the puffins are at sea. There are signs that the puffins are starting to return to the island to breed. Fidra, Inchmickery and Eyebroughy are RSPB reserves, the last being noted for its cormorants. Over 240 species of bird and 60 varieties of seaweed have been recorded on the Isle of May.
History
Several of the islands contain pre-historic remains created by cultures whose names are unknown. They have also been affected by the successive influences of Celtic, Norse and English-speaking peoples during the historic period and this is reflected in their names. The islands also came under attack from Vikings during the early Historic period.15th century
During the reign of King James IV Inchkeith was the site of an extraordinary experiment. According to the historian Robert Lyndsay of Pitscottie, in 1493 James directed that a dumb woman and two infants be transported to the island, to ascertain which language the infants would grow up to speak when isolated from the rest of the world. It was thought that this would be the "original" language, or language of God. There is no reliable account of how the infants spoke although Lyndsay of Pitscottie reported that "some say they spoke good Hebrew".In 1497 Inchkeith and Inchgarvie were used as an isolated refuge for victims of syphilis and in 1589, history repeated itself when Inchkeith was used to quarantine the passengers of a plague-ridden ship.
Inchcolm is mentioned in Shakespeare's Macbeth where it is described as "Saint Colmes ynch".
English garrisons
Inchcolm was raided by English troops during the 14th century Wars of Independence. In the 16th century Inchkeith, Inchcolm and Inchgarvie all suffered English occupation. The Earl of Somerset garrisoned the islands in 1547 after the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh. His force of marines were ordered to reinforce Inchkeith, and they built a large square fort, with corner towers, on the site of the present day lighthouse. His forces, mainly Italian mercenaries, were ejected by a combined Franco-Scottish force under General D’ Essé in 1549.Later fortifications
Only Inchcolm was fortified during the Napoleonic wars. Inchkeith was fortified in 1880. Inchgarvie was armed early in the 20th century. In the First World War and the Second World War Inchmickery, Inchcolm and Cramond Island formed part of a defensive line of guns covering anti-submarine booms across the river. There is no evidence to support the popular belief that the defensive structures on Inchmickery were designed to make the island look like a battleship from a distance: the structures were placed to provide the best fields of fire for the guns, and to squeeze in as much accommodation as possible for the garrison. These buildings were later used for filming scenes of the film Complicity.Ecclesiastical associations
Many of the islands were said to have Culdee connections, and had chapels on them. Various saints also have connections with the islands. St Thaney or Thenaw was reputedly the mother of St Kentigern and is said to have been cast adrift in an oarless coracle in deep waters beyond the Isle of May by her father King Leudonus, which resulted in an abundance of fish in the seas nearby. St Adrian of May was murdered there by invading Danes in 870. He was buried in a stone coffin on the island but is said to have floated across the Firth before coming to rest in a churchyard at Anstruther. The Isle of May has a long history of ecclesiastical activity and there are various remains including that of a 13th-century Benedictine church.The Irish missionary Saint Baldred of Tyninghame resided on The Bass in the 8th century and there is a ruined 12th century chapel on Fidra dedicated to St Nicholas. Inchcolm has connections to St Columba and King Alexander I was marooned on the island, and decided to make it the site of an Augustinian monastery. In the 7th century St Adomnán of Iona founded a "school of the prophets" on Inchkeith in the late 7th century having met St Serf there. Inchmickery's name may be derived from the Gaelic for "island of the vicar".
Navigation
Many of the isles act as an aid to navigation. There are various lighthouses and numerous devices to guide shipping in the busy waters near the ports of Leith and Rosyth.In 1803, construction was begun of Inchkeith Lighthouse, designed and built by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson. The lighthouse stands 67 metres high and was operational by 1804. The Fidra light was built in 1885 and automated in 1970.
The light on the small rock of Oxcars was automated as early as 1894. At that time it was controlled by a clockwork timer and was powered using gas delivered weekly from Granton gasworks. A lighthouse was constructed on the Bass Rock in 1902.
The Isle of May light has a long history having been in operation since 1635 when a crude coal-fired structure was erected. The existing building was constructed in 1816, which was converted to a "rock station" in 1972 and automated in March 1989. The island is owned by the Commissioners of the Northern Lights although managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a national nature reserve.
None of the islands are accessible by public transport except Inchcolm, which has a regular summer service.