Sunday 10 April 2011

A tale of four islands - Mingulay

Mingulay is the largest of the Bishops Isles, and had the largest population, until it was abandoned in 1912. When visiting the island today, landing on the beach will give an indication of the difficulties encountered by the islanders as they launched and beached their boats for the fishing. The storm that claimed the men of Pabbay in 1897 was survived by the Mingulay boat, but the difficulties eventually led to the dereliction of the island.

When looking at the population statistics, the large number of under-18s is conspicuous: around 70; over 60s number on average around 10.

1851: 115 people, 23 households,
1861: 139 people, 25 households
1871: 141 people, 26 households
1881: 150 people, 34 households
1891: 142 people, 32 households
1901: 135 people, 30 households

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