There are currently 3 cottages and a wooden hut on Fladda, which I think are just used as holiday homes but they looked to be in a good state of repair. However the island was once home to several families. In 1841 the population was 29. By 1891 thanks to the clearances elsewhere on Raasay, the population had risen to 51.
The school age children on Fladda used to attend a school in Torran but could only do so at low tide, so in the 1920s the inhabitants asked the council to build a footbridge from Raasay to Fladda. The council refused but they did build and staff a small school on the island, which opened in 1936.
Calum MacLeod and his brother Charles were paid by Inverness County Council to construct a coastal footpath from Torran to Fladda between 1949 and 1952. This is the footpath I walked along and although overgrown in places it is still well surfaced.
By 1961 the population of Fladda had fallen to 12. In 1962 Calum MacLeod asked the council to build a causeway to Fladda but they said the cost was too high. The last three families grew tired of waiting for a causeway or footbridge and road to be built and for running water and electricity to be laid on and by 1965 they had all left Fladda.
The name Fladda comes from the Old Norse for flat. There are several other Scottish islands called Fladda or Flotta.
Fladda from Raasay:
the causeway is covered in slippery seaweed
the causeway is covered in slippery seaweed
First view of Fladda as you approach from Torran
Path up from the causeway
Nice cottage but there was no one at home
No one at home here either
Path down to the causeway
Well, we are here when we can. We have been here once twice or three times a year for over fifty yrs. Yes "no one at home at the time you came", but Fladda is at the centre of our hearts. Always.
ReplyDelete