Stac an Armin
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Stac an Armin (NA151064) or Stac an Àrmainn (the proper Scottish Gaelic spelling, formerly àrmuinn), meaning "stack of the soldier/warrior". It is a sea stack in the St Kilda archipelago. It is 196 metres tall, making it a Marilyn, and is also the highest sea stack in Scotland and the British Isles.[1][2]
It is 400 m to the north of Boreray.
[edit] History and people
There are no fewer than 78 storage cleitean on Stac an Àrmainn and a small bothy, built by the St Kildans. The island was never inhabited, but was visited several times a year. The islanders used Stac an Àrmainn for harvesting gannets, which they would throw off a cliff into the boats below.
Martin Martin calls the island "Stack-Narmin".
It was here in July, 1840, that the last great auk seen in the British Isles was killed by two locals. Haswell-Smith claims that this was because they thought it was a witch. The last known specimens in the world were killed a few years later either in Eldey, Iceland or off Newfoundland.
As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1727 three men and eight boys were marooned here until the following May.
[edit] References
- Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh. Canongate.
- ^ National Trust for Scotland - St Kilda. Retrieved 06.01.07.
- ^ Heights from Haswell-Smith (2004); the National Trust website states 191 m & 165 m respectively.
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