A lifetime of Islands: Island 72 - Vatersay, Outer Hebrides

Vatersay (Bhatarsaigh) is one of the archipelago of islands to the south of Barra known as the Bishop's Isles, as they were once owned by the Bishop of the Isles. Today only Vatersay is inhabited but in the past the islands of Berneray, Sandray, Pabbay and Mingulay also had permanent populations.

The north and south ends of Vatersay are hilly and made of Lewisian gneiss, which is one of the oldest rocks on earth at around 3,000 million years old. The two ends of the island are joined by a low sandy isthmus, which is only 400 metres wide at its narrowest point. There are beautiful beaches of silver sand on either side of the isthmus - Traigh Siar on the western side and Bagh Bhatarsaigh on the eastern side. The highest point on the island is Heiseabhal Mor at 190 metres above sea level.

In 1835 crofters were evicted from Sandray, which was then used as grazing by Vatersay Farm. In 1850-51 all the crofters were evicted from Vatersay and parts of neighbouring Barra by Colonel John Gordon of Cluny, who had bought South Uist, Benbecula and the Barra Isles in 1840. Many people emigrated but some moved to other parts of Barra or to Mingulay. Vatersay was then farmed by a tenant as a single unit.

Colonel Gordon died in 1858 and the islands were inherited by son Captain John Gordon and his wife Lady Emily Gordon. John and Emily Gordon had no children, so on his death in 1878 his widow inherited them. Her only visit to the islands during her 54 years of ownership was in 1878. She remarried in 1880 to Sir Reginald Cathcart and became Lady Gordon Cathcart.

By the end of the 19th century overpopulation meant that there wasn't enough land on Barra and Mingulay for everyone to grow enough crops like potatoes, barley and oats and to raise sufficient livestock to feed themselves. In 1883 cottars (people with houses but no crofts) and crofters on Barra unsuccessfully appealed to Lady Gordon Cathcart for crofts on Vatersay. In 1903 the Congested Districts Board purchased land at Uidh on Vatersay, so that cottars could grow potatoes there.

From 1900-1905 the Barra crofters visited Vatersay and marked out crofts but did not occupy the land. In 1906 families from Barra and Mingulay occupied the island and started to build huts in which to live. They became known as the Vatersay Raiders. In 1908 Lady Gordon Cathcart took 10 of them to court in Glasgow and they were imprisoned there for 2 months. However later in the same year she agreed to the creation of crofts on Vatersay and in 1909 the government bought Vatersay and Sandray. Initially there were more applicants than crofts but by 1912 most of those who wanted crofts had been allocated them. A school opened on Vatersay in 1910 and a church was built in 1913.

In 1853 a ship called the Annie Jane, which was carrying about 400 people, who were emigrating to Canada from Liverpool (+48 crew), was wrecked off Vatersay. About 330 people died and 102 survived. There is a memorial in the sand dunes on the island to people who drowned.

On 12th May 1944 a Catalina flying boat crashed into a hill on the north east side of Vatersay. Three of the nine crew on board were killed. Some of the wreckage can still be seen today just below the road. There is a memorial stone alongside the wreckage, which was erected in 2007.

Vatersay has been linked by causeway to Barra since 1990. Previously cattle had to be swum across Caolas Bhatarsaigh to get to market. In 1986 a prize bull called Bernie died during the crossing and the resulting publicity persuaded the government to build a causeway.

The population of Vatersay was 104 in 1764, 64 in 1851, 17 in 1871, 288 in 1911, 151 in 1951, 70 in 1991, 94 in 2001 and 90 in 2011. The great fluctuations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are explained by the clearances and the repossession of the island. The building of the causeway helped to reverse the decline in the population.