Hello All
St Kilda was one of remotest ghost Villages in the British Isles. St Kilda (Scottish Gaelic: Hiort) is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom.
St Kilda was permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, its population probably never exceeding 180 (and certainly no more than 100 after 1851). The entire population was evacuated in 1930 due to the extreme hardship of island life of this remote island.
The predominant theme of life on St Kilda was isolation. When Martin Martin visited the islands in 1697,the only means of making the journey was by open longboat, which could take several days and nights of rowing and sailing across the open ocean and was next to impossible in autumn and winter.
In all seasons, waves up to 12 metres (40 ft) high lash the beach of Village Bay, and even on calmer days landing on the slippery rocks can be hazardous. Cut off by distance and weather, the natives knew little of the rest of the world. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, it was rumoured that Prince Charles Edward Stuart and some of his senior Jacobite aides had escaped to St Kilda.
An expedition was launched, and in due course British soldiers were ferried ashore to Hirta. They found a deserted village, as the St Kildans, fearing pirates, had fled to caves to the west. When the St Kildans were persuaded to come down, the soldiers discovered that the isolated natives knew nothing of the prince and had never heard of King George II either.
The St Kildans were fortunate in some respects, for their isolation spared them some of the evils of life elsewhere. Martin noted in 1697 that the citizens seemed "happier than the generality of mankind" as being almost the only people in the world who feel the sweetness of true liberty. No resident St Kildan is known to have fought in a war, and in four centuries of history, no serious crime committed by an islander was ever recorded there.
Perhaps there is a lesson for all of us there.
Hardluck.
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