Isle Ornsay is, according to J.A. MacCulloch "St. Oran's Isle" and the name of St. Oran is again commemorated, though in a corrupted form, in Loch Hourn on the mainland.
According to Derek Cooper it is the Norse name for an island which at low tide is joined to the mainland.
From my own wide education and compehensive research I can make the following statement with authority: One of them got it wrong!
Nowadays the island may be visited whatever the state of the tide.
The village has a pier and a hotel. There is also a lighthouse.
The hotel is the Hotel Eilean Iarmain which in 2000 described itself as "award winning", and was voted by the Automobile Association as "Romantic hotel of Great Britain and Ireland." Its restaurant specialises in game and seafood.
We cannot give our personal view because we have never been in it, but certainly, it is idyllically located.
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| Isle Ornsay lighthouse | Isle Ornsay pier and Janet |
Copyright © Gareth Boote 2000