Stornoway

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of Great Britain

Stornoway
Scottish Gaelic: Steòrnabhagh
Stornoway shown within the Outer Hebrides
Population	8,055
Language	Gaelic
	English
OS grid reference
Council area	Na h-Eileanan Siar
Lieutenancy area	Western Isles
Constituent country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	STORNOWAY
Postcode district	HS1
Dialling code	01851
Police	Northern
Fire	Highlands and Islands
Ambulance	Scottish
European Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Scottish Parliament	Western Isles
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates:

Stornoway (Steòrnabhagh in Scottish Gaelic) is a burgh on Lewis (Leòdhas), in the Outer Hebrides (Gaelic: Na h-Eilean Siar) of Scotland.

The town's population is approximately 8,055, out of a total population of 26,370 for the whole of the Western Isles. Stornoway is the major town and administrative centre of the Outer Hebrides and is home to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (the Western Isles Council).

Stornoway is currently twinned with the much smaller Pendleton, South Carolina, United States of America.

The civil parish of Stornoway has a population of approximately 12,000 and includes the villages/suburbs of (among others) Sandwick, Plasterfield, Steinish, Laxdale, Newvalley, Newmarket, and Marybank .

History

Stornoway was originally a Viking settlement and developed around its well sheltered natural harbour. Reflecting this, the name Stornoway itself is derived from 'Stjornavagr', an Old Norse word for 'steering bay'. Medieval development of the town was spurred by the construction of the original castle in the High Middle Ages by the Nicolson (or MacNicol) family, themselves of Viking descent. Infighting between rival clans continued throughout the Late Middle Ages and resisted an attempt by the then King of Scotland James VI to colonise Lewis in 1597.

The castle was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's forces in the aftermath of his Scottish campaign in the mid 17th century, and the ownership of Stornoway - and by extension, Lewis - passed from the MacKenzies of Kintail through the Seaforth family and Sir James Matheson (and his descendants) to William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme. Lord Leverhulme finally gifted the town's parish to the Stornoway Trust, whose ownership remains to this day.

Harbour and Maritime Industry

Panorama of Stornoway Harbour area from Arnish Point

Today the harbour hosts a fishing fleet (and associated shoreside services) somewhat reduced from its heyday, a small marina and moorings for pleasure craft, a small shipyard and slipway, 3 larger piers for commercial traffic and Stornoway Lifeboat Station, run by the RNLI and home to a Severn class lifeboat, Tom Sanderson. Her Majesty's Coastguard operates a Maritime Rescue Sub Centre from a building near the harbour.

A lighthouse, seaweed processing plant and a renewable energy manufacturing yard are situated on Arnish Point at the mouth of the harbour and visually dominate the approaches. Arnish Point is also earmarked by AMEC as the landfall for its proposed private sub-sea cable which would export the electricity generated from the Lewis Windpower wind farm with a planning application for 181 turbines submitted to the Scottish Executive. In 2008 the Scottish Government rejected the plans - the company responsible are currently planning their next move.

The Arnish area was also surveyed by SSE for a second sub-sea cable but lost out in favour of Gravir to the south as the preferred site.

The manufacturing yard was originally established in the 1970s as a fabrication plant for the oil industry but suffered regular boom and bust cycles. The downturn in business from the North Sea oil industry in recent years led to a move away from serving this market. The yard is now earmarked as a key business in the development of the whole Arnish Point industrial estate and has received large amounts of funding in recent years.

In 2007 the Arnish yard was taken over by its third tenant in as many years. Cambrian Engineering fell into liquidation as did Aberdeen-owned Camcal Ltd with relatively large scale redundancies. Both firms were affected by the absence of a regular stream of orders and left a chain of large debts impacting upon local suppliers. Altissimo Ltd is a new firm backed by a group of Swiss and Dutch investors, and has purchased the Camcal name from the previous operator . In December 2007, the yard won a contract to construct 49 towers for wind turbines in Turkey. This will ensure employment for around 70 employees for over six months.

On 1 January 1919, the Iolaire sank at the entrance of the harbour, one of the worst maritime disasters in Scottish or UK waters, with a death toll of 200 men.

Transport

MV Isle of Lewis

Stornoway Airport

A Caledonian Macbrayne operated ferry ( MV Isle of Lewis) sails from the harbour to Ullapool on the Scottish mainland, taking 2 hours 45 minutes. There are an average of two return crossings a day, with an increase and reduction in frequency in summer and winter months respectively. As ferry traffic has increased, a second ship (MV Muirneag) now provides a single early morning sailing to carry most of the island's freight lorries.

Suggestions for the possibility of an undersea tunnel linking Lewis and Harris to the Scottish mainland were raised in early 2007. One of the possible routes, between Stornoway and Ullapool, would be over 40 miles long and hence become the longest road tunnel in the world.

Stornoway is also the public transport hub of Lewis, and bus services provides links to Point, Ness, Back and Tolsta, Uig, the West Side, Lochs and Tarbert, Harris. These services are provided by the Comhairle and several private operators as well as some community-run organisations.

The town of Stornoway also has an airport ( Stornoway Airport), 2 miles away from the town itself, and it is located next to the village of Melbost. From here services operate to Aberdeen, Benbecula, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glasgow, with flights from British Airways franchisee Loganair, Eastern Airways and Highland Airways. The airport is also the base of a HM Coastguard Search & Rescue Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, and was previously home to RAF Stornoway.

Education

Boats in Stornoway harbour

Stornoway is home to a small campus of the University of Stirling, teaching nursing, which is based in Ospadal nan Eilean (Western Isles Hospital).

There is also a further education college, Lews Castle College, which is part of the UHI Millennium Institute.

The Nicolson Institute is the only secondary school in Lewis providing a six year course, with a roll of approximately 1,100 pupils.

Sport

Football is the most popular amateur sport and Goathill Park in the town hosts special matches involving select teams and visiting clubs and other organisations. Two local teams currently participate in the Lewis and Harris Football League, Stornoway Athletic (Aths) and Stornoway United. Until the early 1990s there was also Stornoway Rovers. Shinty is not as popular as in the rest of the West of Scotland, but the Lewis Camanachd team is based around the town. Rugby Union is also popular.

The Lews Castle Grounds is the home of Stornoway Golf Club (the only 18-hole golf course in the Outer Hebrides).

Attached to the Nicolson Institute is the Ionad Spors Leòdhas (Lewis Sports Centre), which has a Sports Hall, Fitness Suite, Climbing Wall, Swimming Pool and various other facilities. It also boasts an all-weather pitch and a running track.

There is also the Stornoway Karate Club, a member of the International Japan Karate Association. The club has run for over thirty years, under the teaching of Sadashige Kato.

Culture

Stornoway Golf Club hosts the annual Hebridean Celtic Festival. This 3-day festival attracts over 10,000 visitors during July of each year. The Royal National Mod has been held in Stornoway on a number of occasions, most recently in 2001 and 2005. Large influxes of visitors such as for these events can strain the town's accommodation capacity.

Broadcasting

The radio station Isles FM is based in Stornoway and broadcasts on 103FM, featuring a mixture of Gaelic and English programming.

It is also home to a studio operated by BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, and Studio Alba, an independent television studio from where the Gaelic TV channel TeleG is broadcast.

Attractions

Lews Castle in Stornoway

Notable buildings in Stornoway include:

• Stornoway Town Hall;
• The Lewis War Memorial;
• The neo-gothic Lews Castle.

It is also home to a new arts centre, an Lanntair, containing an art gallery, auditorium for film showings, music and other performances, a restaurant and bar.

Other attractions include a museum and the Lewis Loom Centre.

Stornoway's Sabbath

Stornoway, and the northern (Protestant) Western Isles as a whole, is known throughout Scotland for its adherence to the Sabbath (Christian observance - on Sundays). While some believe this to be simply a lack of amenities and facilities for locals and tourists, others believe it to be a vital aspect of island life, a link to tradition and an alternative to the more active lifestyle prevalent on the mainland. As Stornoway, with the majority of the island's services, shops and businesses, undergoes the most visible change on a Sunday it is often seen as a focal point for the whole issue.

In recent years an increasing number of transport services have begun operating on a Sunday. The first Sunday air service began in October 2002 and was met by protests from church groups under the banner of the Lord's Day Observance Society . The Sunday air services have expanded and there are now two return flights to Inverness and one to Glasgow as well as becoming generally more accepted. Ferry travel on Sundays from Lewis and Harris is now possible after Caledonian MacBrayne introduced such a service to the timetable of the Sound of Harris ferry . The introduction of this service was not directly met with protests, but an opposing petition was signed by a significant majority of the local (South Harris) population.

The introduction of extra and new forms of service is perhaps a sign of those in favour of stricter observance's fear that each change to Sabbath lifestyle and new service introduction is eroding general Sabbath observance. Regardless, there are still marked differences between Sundays on Lewis and Harris and those else where in the UK and this particular example of Sunday observance only survives here, with the Sabbath continuing to be considered a day of rest. Opposition to a more cosmopolitan Sunday is not exclusively for religious reasons, though the strong Presbyterian (mainly Free Church) makeup of the island undoubtedly is a major force behind campaigns to retain Sunday's peaceful nature.

Hotels and restaurants are generally open along with most bars (some with shorter opening periods). A single petrol station, Engebrets, and its associated shop is open from 12 noon – 4 pm, but no other shops are open and Sunday newspapers are not available as the scheduled flights are too late in the day.

Statistics

A poll conducted in 2000 showed slightly more than 60% of islanders in favour of having ferry and air travel available on Sundays [ though a still larger majority wanted a referendum on such matters – something that has not taken place. The same poll showed a clear majority against the opening of shops, however. A more recent Poll by the Hebridean newspaper suggested that 89% of Stornoway residents would use facilities on a Sunday if they were available.

Famous people

Born in Stornoway

• Astrid (band), band from the Western Isles
• Sheilagh M. Kesting, first woman minister to be nominated to be Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
• Alyth McCormack, Gaelic singer
• Cathy MacDonald, TV presenter
• Calum MacDonald, politician
• Alexander MacKenzie, explorer, after whom the Mackenzie River in Canada is named
• Colin Mackenzie, 1st Surveyor-General of India
• Anne MacKenzie, BBC current affairs presenter and radio presenter
• Ken MacLeod, science fiction writer
• Hans Matheson, plays the title role in Granada's £8.5m serialisation of Boris Pasternak's novel, Doctor Zhivago.
• Donald Stewart, politician
• Kevin MacNeil, Poet and author
• Alasdair Smith, Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex

Links to Stornoway

• Stuart Braithwaite, lead singer of Glasgow based band Mogwai - mother was born in Stornoway.
• Angus MacAskill, the strongest man to have ever lived - born in Berneray and briefly lived in Stornoway before emigrating to Canada.
• Misbah Rana, also known as Molly Campbell, schoolgirl who recently was the focus of an international custody dispute between Scotland and Pakistan.
• Donald Trump, American billionaire - mother came from Tong, a village four miles from Stornoway.
• Derick Thomson, Scottish Gaelic poet, born elsewhere in Lewis, but educated in Stornoway.
• Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer - Mother was born and brought up in Stornoway.

Areas of the town