Island 306 - Eilean Chaluim Chille, Lewis

Eilean Chaluim Chille is a substantial sized uninhabited island off the east coast of the Isle of Lewis half a mile to the west of the hamlet of Cromor. It is at the eastern end of Loch Erisort.  It is about a mile from east to west and half a mile from north to south.  It is grazed by sheep.  

If you aren't an island collector, the main reason to visit the island is to look at the ruins of St Columba's Church, which are located about 500 metres to the south west of the causeway. Colmcille is Gaelic for Columba. The island is thought to have been connected with Christianity since the 7th century but the ruins which can be seen today date from the 12th century.  There may once also have been a monastery on the island and in the 16th century there are reports of an orchard on the island.  Today it is grazed by sheep. The graveyard around the ruins of the church was in use by local people until the 19th century.  There is a more recent enclosed burial ground between the causeway and the church ruins.

The island can be accessed on foot at low tide via a gravel and stone causeway.  The causeway was presumably built sometime after 2007 because it isn't marked on an Ordnance Survey map of that year.  The island was not previously accessible on foot at any state of the tide.  The morning I visited it was a neap tide and I arrived at the causeway about 45 minutes after low tide.  The causeway was above the water but only by a few inches.  Aware that the tide was coming in, I only stayed on the island for about 20 minutes and by the time I got back to the causeway water was beginning to trickle over parts of it.  I assume that it is uncovered for longer during spring tides.

There are no signposts to the island.  To get to it you take a road which heads west from the village of Cromor to the south of the telephone box.  The road soon becomes a track and you need to go through a couple of gates.  After half a mile and just before you reach the end of the track at a house at Crobeag, turn off to the right and go through a pedestrian gate and walk north along the shore.  The causeway will soon come into view. Parking places at Cromor were in short supply.  I parked about 500 metres to the south of the telephone box where the road widens out as it goes over a small causeway.  

 Eilean Chaluim Chille from Lewis

 

Ruins of St Columba's Church

 Ruins

 St Columba's Church Ruins

 Sculpture?

 Private Modern Cemetery

Private Cemetery

 Lewis from Eilean Chaluim Chille