Eilean Siar, Scotland : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Eilean Siar. You may be able to find further references to Eilean Siar in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Hebrides or Western Islands a large group or series of groups of islands and islets Groome
Hebrides, The (or Western Islands) collective name of islands Bartholomew
Long Island the Outer Hebrides, or largest group of the Western Islands Groome
Long Island, The Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Eilean Siar within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Smaller Islands in the British Ocean 2

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Tarbert 0 3
Harris 0 2
Taransay 0 3
Scalpa 0 2
Uig 0 2
Lochs 0 2
Shiant Isles 0 2
Pabbay 0 2
Eilean An Tighe 0 2
Callernish 0 2
Berneray 0 2
Lewis 5 2
Great and Little Bernera 0 2
Carloway 0 2
Stornoway 0 4
Borniskittag 0 2
Kilmuir 0 2
Lochmaddy 0 2
Shawbost 0 3
Knock 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Eilean Siar. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HEBRIDES F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
HEBRIDES OR WESTERN ISLANDS F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
HEBRIDES THE OR WESTERN ISLANDS John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
LONG ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
LONG ISLAND THE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
THE LONG ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
WESTERNE ILANDS William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WESTERNE ISLES William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
WESTERN ISLANDS F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.