|Waters||Loch Linnhe ( Atlantic Ocean )|
|Highest elevation||Barr Mòr
8.2 inhabitants / km²
Lismore ( Scottish Gaelic : Lios Mòr , German: "Large Garden") is an island on the Scottish west coast. It is located in Loch Linnhe and is around 16 kilometers long and around two kilometers wide. Lismore belongs to the traditional county of Argyll or Argyll and Bute County . The highest mountain is the 127 meter high Barr Mòr.
About 160 people live on the island who mostly speak Scottish Gaelic. Most of the residents work on the mainland, as only a few workers are needed in agriculture and the quarry has been closed. In the Middle Ages, the island was a center because you had access to the sea. Around 1500 people still lived on the island in the 17th century. Today the geographical location is rather isolated, so that many, especially young people, are leaving. Therefore, the mean age is above the national average.
One reason for this is the inadequate educational infrastructure. The children can only go to high school in Oban and often do not return after graduation. Immigration is also hampered by high property prices, which make moving to the island unattractive.
A polished stone ax from the Neolithic Age (around 3500 BC) of great craftsmanship was found in 1974. There are 14 cairns from the Bronze Age , most of them in the southwest of the island, with the exception of Cnoc Aingeal (Fire Hill) five kilometers from the northern tip of the island. They are largely untouched. Six duns (Dun Chruban, Dun Fiart, Sean Dun, Dun Slochd a Bhridhe, Dun Chuilean, Dun Mor and Dun Chillchearan) and the brochure of Tirefour date from the Iron Age . In 562 Christian missionaries came to the island. Even today, three family names of the local people go back to the missionaries. Around 1150 Lismore became the administrative seat of the Diocese of Argyll and remained so for 350 years. The current church is part of the cathedral from that time (see also Leabhar Deathan Lios Mòir , "The Book of the Dean of Lismore").
There are few public institutions on the island. The only shop in the village is the post office, which also has a goods store attached.
The only public access is a car ferry from Oban to Achnacroish, which goes to the island several times a day, and a passenger ferry from Port Appin to Lismore Point (or Port Ramsay at the northern tip), which runs every hour on the hour except Sundays.
The island has a primary school that ranges from first to sixth grade with an integrated kindergarten. A total of around ten children visited the facility in 2007. The school is run by two teachers and a kindergarten teacher.
Unlike many other Scottish islands, Lismore has a community nurse who offers daily consultations. She has special powers that entitle her to write prescriptions.
Internet pilot project digital communities
The regional authorities are trying to counteract migration. For this purpose, the Digital Communities project was launched in 2002 . On 13 Scottish islands, including Lismore, residents received a fully equipped computer and internet connection free of charge. This is to reduce isolation and create new jobs. 75 computers were issued on Lismore, including the majority of people who had never used a computer before. Some immigration and new jobs via the Internet have been recorded as a result of the project. The health system benefits most from this, as the DSL lines also allow video conferences with doctors on the mainland. In many cases, this prevents a doctor's visit on the mainland, which would have to take several days into account.
Critics of the project, however, see the advantages more in the sponsors HP , Microsoft and BT , who gained more users through the project and thus also have higher income. The project could not stop the migration of younger islanders.
The long-term goal of the project is to network the education system in order to be able to offer lessons online and to make the previously necessary migration to a high school unnecessary. The first teaching materials are already available.
In addition to the Cairns, Duns and the Broch, there are three medieval castle ruins. There is a local museum on the island.
- Island Homepage (English)
- Ferry table from Oban to Lismore. In: www.calmac.co.uk. Retrieved June 29, 2016 .