Eilean Liubhaird

The placename Dùnan on the south coast may be a reference to a little fort of some antiquity. Although Haswell-Smith suggests that the name means "yew island", the preponderance of Norse names in the Outer Hebrides suggests that the second element of "Iubhard" may be a corruption of fjord/firth. Dean Munro visited the island in 1549, and reported "pasture and schielling of store, with faire hunting of ottars out of their bouries". On 4 May 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie hid on the island with some of his men for four days. Royal Navy vessels were patrolling in the Minch at the time. They camped under a sail stretched over a "low pitiful hut" while it rained torrentially. In the early 19th…