St Kilda
St Kilda is one of the most remote and remarkable places in the British Isles, an archipelago of sea-girt rock columns and cliffs lying 65 kilometres west of the Outer Hebrides in the North Atlantic, the last outpost of land before the open ocean that stretches to Canada. The main island of Hirta, and its dramatic satellites Boreray, Stac Lee and Stac an Armin, support the largest colony of northern gannets in the world and some of the most astonishing seabird densities anywhere on the planet. The place has a quality of absolute geological and biological scale that is genuinely overwhelming. The human history of St Kilda is one of the most extraordinary stories in British history. A small community of between 30 and 100 people inhabited Hirta for at least 2,000 years, surviving in conditions of near-complete isolation on a diet composed almost entirely of seabirds, their eggs and their fat. The community developed unique skills and traditions shaped entirely by their environment: the ability to climb the nearly vertical cliffs of Stac Lee and Boreray using only bare feet and primitive ropes to harvest gannets was passed down through generations and represents a physical achievement matched by very few people in history. Their social organisation, the Village Parliament that met daily to decide the work of the community, reflected a democratic tradition born of absolute necessity. The last permanent residents evacuated St Kilda on 29 August 1930, overwhelmed by the cumulative pressures of disease, emigration and the impossibility of maintaining an economically viable community in such extreme isolation. The evacuation was largely voluntary and the evacuation ship's departure was met with a mixture of relief and grief that neither the evacuees nor subsequent observers have ever quite resolved. The ruins of the village street on Hirta and the restored buildings managed by the National Trust for Scotland preserve this haunting legacy. St Kilda is designated both a World Heritage Site for its natural value and a World Heritage Site for its cultural value, one of very few places in the world to hold dual designation. Access is by passenger vessel from the Outer Hebrides during the summer months, with the journey taking several hours depending on conditions. Day visits allow exploration of the village and the extraordinary seabird spectacle. A small National Trust for Scotland working party is based on the island throughout the summer season.