Scott's Islands : Scotland Magazine

Scott in Mull and Iona (Sir Walter Scott)

The latest in our series by Ian Mitchell charting Sir Walter Scott’s travels around the Scottish islands

Almost everything Scott had seen had been new to him, since he had left Edinburgh in 1814 on the vessel of the Northern Light-House Commissioners, sailing to Shetland and then to the Hebrides. But coming to Iona he was on familiar ground. In 1810 he had been invited by MacDonald of Staffa, to visit...

By Ian Mitchell from Issue 30 published on 01/12/2006

Scott in the Hebrides

This issue, Ian Mitchell looks at Sir Walter Scott’s experiences on the islands of Harris and Eigg on Scotland’s west coast

In 1814, the poet and novelist Walter Scott accepted an invitation from the engineer Robert Stevenson, to accompany him on a ship of the Northern Lighthouse Commissioners which was circumnavigating Scotland to inspect the condition of maritime safety installations. Scott later confessed that “so fa...

By Ian Mitchell from Issue 29 published on 25/10/2006

Scott in Skye

In the latest in our series, Ian Mitchell reports on Sir Walter Scott's love affair with the Isle of Skye

There have been many visits to Skye, but few have had the impact which Walter Scott’s visit to the island in 1814 did. The wanderings of the Pretender had given Skye its romantic aura, and the visits of travellers and authors Boswell and Johnson in the 18th century had encouraged a trickle of touri...

By Ian Mitchell from Issue 28 published on 20/09/2006

Scotland Magazine section Scott's Islands

Scott in Mull and Iona (Sir Walter Scott)

Scott in the Hebrides

Scott in Skye