‘Mystical and romantic’ island off Isle of Skye listed for sale for £190k

A mystical and romantic private island off Skye with the remains of a sixth-century chapel built by St Columba has hit the market.

The sale of Fladda-Chuain, an unspoilt and uninhabited 27-hectare island rich in myth and legend, offers an extremely rare opportunity for buyers looking for the romance associated with the Scottish islands.

Identified by some as the mysterious Tír na nÓg, ‘The Isle of Perpetual Youth’ in Irish mythology, it was believed to be a sacred place where it is always summer and the sun never sets.

It is said that Druids believed puffins always circled the island three times before starting a new journey and did the same on Skye before leaving.

Some say this was the origin of an old Skye tradition in which people turned three times before starting a new enterprise.

Fladda-Chuain, now for sale for offers over £190,000 through GOLDCREST Land & Forestry Group, translates as ‘Flat Island of the Ocean’, and is part of the Fladda Island Chain three miles northwest of Skye’s Trotternish peninsula.

It offers exceptional views that include the dramatic mountains of Skye and the northern Highlands and the picturesque Inner Hebrides.

It teems with birdlife, including storm petrels, puffins and black guillemots and it is often possible to spot porpoises, dolphins, whales, basking sharks and otters in the waters around the island.

In an area renowned for sailing, watersports and fishing, the island’s coves and inlets provide several landing places for small boats and kayaks and there is plenty of fish to be caught from the rocks.

The deep clear waters of the Minch provide fantastic diving sites including opportunities to explore ancient shipwrecks.

While there are no services on the island, it may be possible to build a small hut, subject to planning consent.

When St Columba brought Christianity to the islands in the sixth century he built a chapel on Fladda-Chuain, the remains of which are still to be found on the west side of the island.

According to folklore, fishermen used to pour three handfuls of seawater on ‘the weeping stone’ placed on the altar to secure favourable winds and bountiful catches.

It seems that Vikings were once visitors with an 11th century gold ring found on Fladda Chuain in 1851 now on display in the National Museum of Scotland.

The last inhabitant was known as ‘Am Muileach Mòr’, meaning either ‘Big Mullman’ or ‘Man of the Headland’.

‘Fladda-Chuain has all the tranquillity, peace and romance associated with a west coast island. This sale offers an exceptionally rare opportunity,’ Jock Galbraith, partner at selling agents GOLDCREST Land & Forestry Group, said.

‘Found off Skye’s north-west coast, Fladda-Chuain provides a fabulous sanctuary to the buyer looking for solitude and a place from which to enjoy some of the most remarkable surroundings Scotland has to offer.

‘Imagine arriving by RIB or kayak for a night’s camping in your own little bit of rugged wilderness, and eating fish and lobster caught off the rocks whilst watching a glorious sunset over the Outer Hebrides.’

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