On 15th March 2002 the ownership of the island of Gigha is transferred to the Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust following a community buyout.
The Isle of Gigha (pronounced “geea”) is some seven miles long and about a mile and a half wide. It is aligned with the west coast of the north end of the Kintyre peninsula, from which it is separated by the 2-3 mile wide Firth of Gigha.
Access to Gigha is via a frequent car ferry from Tayinloan on the Kintyre coast, which itself is roughly mid way between Tarbert and Campbeltown.
The community buyout in 2002 brought to a conclusion an unsettled period during which the population declined from a high point in 1841 of 550 (including Cara Island) to 326 in 1911; 240 in 1931; and to 110 in 2001. Greater stability and improved future prospects saw the population increase significantly, to 163, by 2011.
Today’s residents are only the latest in a continuous line of occupation which can be traced back some 5000 years. It entered the historical record as Gudey, “the Good Isle” when visited by the fleet of King Håkon IV of Norway in 1263, and subsequently became a property to be fought over by the Lords of the Isles and the Scottish Crown. It later swapped hands a number of times between the MacNeills and the Macdonalds, before being sold to the Yorkshireman, Captain William Scarlett, in 1865. The Scarletts owned Gigha until 1919, and the island then changed hands seven more times until it was purchased by the community in 2002.
Much more on the Island of Gigha can be found here http://www.gigha.org.uk/
