A Companion to the Small Isles

This book is the essential companion for those who wish to learn about and visit the Inner Hebridean islands of Eigg, Muck, Rum and Canna, known collectively as the Small Isles.

As well as focusing on history, archaeology and landscape change from earliest times to the present day, it is a fascinating account of the people who have lived there – their subsistence, legends and superstitions, interactions and the ways in which they exploited the land and the sea.

It takes the reader through prehistoric landscapes and Iron Age forts into the Age of the Saints and the incoming Vikings. The islands are rich in monastic tradition and rife with the clan feuding of the Middle Ages. Contemporary descriptions help explore population change, townships, the boom and bust of the kelp industry and the devastation brought about by the Clearances before the late 19th century, when wealthy aristocrats created great sporting estates.



John Hunter has undertaken extensive excavations in the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland and elsewhere. He is Emeritus Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Birmingham and Affiliate of the Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow. As a Royal Commissioner on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland for eleven years he was involved in its merger into Historic Environment Scotland. In 2012 he was awarded an OBE for services to scholarship.



'Thoroughly researched, engagingly written and the author's style is accessible... an excellent starting point for anyone with an interest in any of the Small Isles'