Fladda
There are a few islands called Fladda or Fladday. The name comes from
Old Norse, meaning ‘flat island’.
I was on one of them recently. It is off the north-west shore of
Raasay. There is a narrow channel between Fladda and Raasay. But it’s
not possible to sail through it in a boat with a large keel. The two
islands are connected to each other by a tidal causeway. For a while
every day, at high tide, Fladda becomes a proper island, with seawater
surrounding it entirely.
If you want to walk there, you have to leave the car at the end of
Calum’s Road at Torran in Raasay. A walking track two miles long then
goes to the causeway.
Fladda is a nice island. It’s a mile and a half in length and a bit
over half a mile in width. It’s somewhat level – as would be expected –
with a loch in the middle. There’s plenty of boggy terrain there. But,
around the settlement, where the population was living, it’s relatively
fertile. I’d say the Fladda folk were planting potatoes and oats and
barley there at one time. And they had a good harbour for their boats.
At the end of the nineteenth century, fifty people were living there.
But they couldn’t get across the channel at high tide. In the 1920s,
the people of the island asked Inverness County Council to build a
bridge or causeway between Fladda and Raasay. The Council refused the
request but they built a school in Fladda itself.
At the beginning of the sixties there were only a dozen people living on
Fladda. They were applying for a causeway, piped water and grid
electricity. But they got fed up of waiting. They all left the island
before 1965 was out. There are still three houses on the island but they
are only used in summer for holidays.
Flada
Tha grunn eileanan air a bheil an t-ainm – Flada no Fladaigh. Tha an t-ainm
a’ tighinn bhon t-Seann Lochlannais, a’ ciallachadh ‘eilean còmhnard’.
Bha mi air fear dhiubh o chionn ghoirid. Tha e far cladach an iar-thuath
Ratharsair. Tha caolas cumhang ann eadar Flada agus Ratharsair. Ach chan
urrainn seòladh troimhe ann am bàta le druim mòr. Tha an dà eilean
ceangailte ri chèile le dòirlinn. Airson greis gach latha, aig àm an làin,
bidh Flada na eilean ceart, agus sàl ga chuairteachadh gu lèir.
Ma tha sibh ag iarraidh coiseachd ann, feumaidh sibh an carbad fhàgail aig
ceann Rathad Chaluim aig an Torran ann an Ratharsair. Tha ceum coiseachd dà
mhìle a dh’fhaid an uair sin a’ dol chun na dòirlinn.
ʼS e eilean snog a tha ann am Flada. Tha e mìle gu leth ann am fad agus
beagan is leth-mhìle ann an leud. Tha e car còmhnard – mar a bhiodh dùil –
le loch anns a’ mheadhan. Tha boglaichean is mòinteach gu leòr ann. Ach,
timcheall a’ bhaile, far an robh an sluagh a’ fuireach, tha e rudeigin
torrach. Chanainn gun robh na Fladaich a’ cur buntàta is coirce is eòrna an
sin uaireigin. Agus bha cala math aca airson an cuid eathraichean.
Aig deireadh an naoidheamh linn deug, bha caogad duine a’ fuireach ann. Ach
cha b’ urrainn dhaibh fhaighinn thar a’ chaolais aig àm an làin. Anns na
ficheadan dhen fhicheadamh linn, dh’iarr muinntir an eilein air Comhairle
Siorrachd Inbhir Nis drochaid no cabhsair a thogail eadar Flada is
Ratharsair. Dhiùlt a’ Chomhairle an t-iarrtas ach thog iad sgoil ann am
Flada fhèin.
Aig toiseach nan seasgadan cha robh ach dusan duine a’ fuireach ann am
Flada. Bha iad a’ tagradh airson cabhsair, uisge na pìob agus cumhachd an
dealain. Ach dh’fhàs iad sgìth de bhith a’ feitheamh. Dh’fhàg iad uile an
t-eilean mus robh a’ bhliadhna seasgad ʼs a còig (1965) a-mach. Tha trì
taighean anns an eilean fhathast ach tha iad air an cur gu feum a-mhàin as
t-samhradh airson làithean-saora.
