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‘I grew to love the bleakness of Ness, the savage quality of its coastline’
The Outer Hebrides is a 130-mile long archipelago of around 220 islands.
Just over 26,000 people live on the 15 inhabited islands.
The islands have three National Nature Reserves and 55 Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
The Callanish Standing Stones were erected around 5,000 years ago.
Vikings began to invade the Western Isles in about 900AD.
The Outer Hebrides were ceded to Scotland in 1266 but it wasn’t until 1493 that King James IV asserted Scotland’s military authority over the islands.
Gearrannan Black Village, a collection of traditional dwellings, was built in around 1600.
The Lewis Chessmen, a collection of 12th- century figures, were found on a beach in 1831. Eleven of the 93 are on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, with the rest at the British Museum in London.