Jura

The Paps of Jura (All Jura Images Courtesy of Ron Steenvoorden)

Measuring some 30 miles long by eight miles wide and aligned from north east to south west, Jura is the wildest and emptiest of all Scotland's inhabited islands. The population of around 190 lives in a number of tiny settlements strung out along Jura's only single track road, running up the southern two thirds of the east side of the island. Most of the rest of Jura is given over to the 6000 deer thought to live on the island.

Craighouse (All Jura Images Courtesy of Ron Steenvoorden) Jura Parish Church Jura Distillery Jura Stores Craighouse Harbour (All Jura Images Courtesy of Ron Steenvoorden)

Jura's interior and west coast are accessible only with difficulty, and the island is almost divided into two equal parts by West Loch Tarbert. The southern half of the island is dominated by the Paps of Jura, whose name very aptly describes the shape of the three 2500ft mountains that are by far Jura's most distinctive features when seen from Islay or from the mainland.

Ferry From Islay Approaching Feolin (All Jura Images Courtesy of Ron Steenvoorden)

Jura: Island of Deer

Jura Hotel

Jura House Walled Garden (All Jura Images Courtesy of Ron Steenvoorden)

Accounts differ about the origin of the name of Jura. Some will tell you that it comes from the Old Norse for Deer Island reflecting the wildlife. Others suggest it comes from the Old Norse for Udder Island reflecting the shape of the paps. And a third opinion is that it comes from a blend of Old Norse and Gaelic meaning Doraid's Island. This third view finds support in the name of the island being recorded as Doraid Eilinn in AD678, the year in which Jura was said to have been the site of a major battle fought between native Picts and Scots from Ireland.

In times past Jura was a staging post for droves of cattle en route from Islay to the mainland: and there have also been occasional proposals to have traffic bound for Islay routed via a ferry to Jura from the mainland. But today's visitor to Jura must first travel to Islay, before catching the ferry from Port Askaig across the half mile wide Sound of Islay to Feolin at the south west tip of Jura. Timetable and fare information for the Jura ferry can be found here.

With only one road on the island, visitors to Jura have little chance of getting lost, or of bypassing any of the main attractions. Near the southernmost tip of the island the road passes Jura House, the seat of the Campbells of Jura built in the years around 1880. This has an extremely attractive walled garden that is open to visitors throughout the year from 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Further on, the road reaches Jura's main village at Craighouse looking out to a broad bay protected by the Small Isles. Craighouse is home to the 18 room Jura Hotel, a Post Office and shop, a village hall, and Jura Parish Church.

Craighouse is also where you find the Jura Distillery. This was established in 1810 and rebuilt in 1876. Most of what you see today dates back to the early 1960s and an expansion in the 1970s. It is open for tours all year, by appointment only, Monday to Thursday 9.00am to 4.00pm and Friday 9.00am to 1.00pm. Tours times are flexible by appointment and free. Phone 01496 820240.

The conservation village of Keils lies just to the north of Craighouse and contains both traditional crofthouses and their more modern equivalents. The nearby cemetery at Killearnadil is the location of a mausoleum erected to commemorate the Campbell family. It is also the last resting place of Gillour MacCraine, said to have been 180 years old when he died in the 1640s.

Beyond Craighouse the road continues along the east coast to Lagg. This was once the terminus for a drovers' ferry to Knapdale on the mainland, which used the slipway and pier built here in 1810. The nearby drovers' inn is now a farmhouse. An account from the mid 1800s suggests this quiet spot was once frequently the site of riotous drinking as drovers waited for weather delayed ferries to sail.

Jura's road becomes a track near Ardlussa, and further progress up the coast is best accomplished on foot. A little over six miles beyond the end of the road the track passes Barnhill. This is the farmhouse where George Orwell lived when he was writing his novel 1984 in 1948. Another couple of miles brings you to the northernmost tip of Jura, overlooking the narrow Gulf of Corryvreckan which separates it from the neighbouring island of Scarba. This is home to a notorious whirlpool which renders the passage between the two islands officially unnavigable and whose roaring waters can, when conditions are right, be heard a dozen miles away.