Eilean Nòstaig

The windswept rolling headland of Ardnave Point is a mix of machair and sand dunes and populated by inquistive sheep.

Along the Atlantic facing coast, a strange abandoned arrangement of concrete dam walls and rusty sluice gates, too small for a boat. I read that it is an abandoned lobster farm¹Google Books. (2013). Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yQiwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT245&dq=ardnave%20lobster%20farm&pg=PT245#v=onepage&q=ardnave%20lobster%20farm&f=false [Accessed 16 May 2022]..

Further information has proved quite elusive. Canmore, the Scottish Heritage site lists “Two stone built fish traps on the shore” of unassigned age²Canmore.org.uk. (2022). Islay, Eilean Nostaig | Canmore. [online] Available at: https://canmore.org.uk/site/273263/islay-eilean-nostaig [Accessed 16 May 2022].. These were definately concrete.

A report written in 1973 notes “in recent years a concrete fishing tank has been constructed in the southwest corner of the [Ardnave peninsula], making use of a naturally advantageous position between the shore and the rocks on the lower beach. At the time of survey the tank was unused“³Ritchie, W.  and R.S. Crofts. Beaches of Islay, Jura and Colonsay Commissioned by the Countryside Commission for Scotland, June 1973..

More questions than answers.

• 1
  Google Books. (2013). Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay. [online] Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=yQiwDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT245&dq=ardnave%20lobster%20farm&pg=PT245#v=onepage&q=ardnave%20lobster%20farm&f=false [Accessed 16 May 2022].
• 2
  Canmore.org.uk. (2022). Islay, Eilean Nostaig | Canmore. [online] Available at: https://canmore.org.uk/site/273263/islay-eilean-nostaig [Accessed 16 May 2022].
• 3
  Ritchie, W.  and R.S. Crofts. Beaches of Islay, Jura and Colonsay Commissioned by the Countryside Commission for Scotland, June 1973.