The list of islands and their jurisdictions is extensive, so much so it is on this separate page. There are over 5000 islands making up the British Isles, stretching from the Faeroe Isles to the Plateau des Minquiers.
This may be helpful and then again it may not. It is best used by using the automatic-search function on your Browser to find the placename your are looking for and going from what you find there. All variants, alternative names, and localities are listed, so you're bound to find something.
Uninhabited islands and wildlife reserves generally not mentioned.
There are lot of small islands, the greater number in the smaller.
I'm just glad I'm not a Norwegian Cartographer, that's all.
Advice for North Americans: The British Isles are 32 times
smaller than the USA, but contain only a quarter as many people, making them
8 times more densely populated, so don't ask the English abroad if
they've met the Queen, okay? Have you met the President? If you want a
rural-dominated landscape with lots of greenery, visit the Irish Republic.
Certainly don't drive over minor country road junctions without looking,
as one tourist couple did, assuming all Britain was like the idyllic
backwater they found themselves in at the time. At the first main road they
crossed, they were squashed flat by a large truck. True story. So beware of
your assumptions. And be careful.
What you define as an island or a community is very much subjective. Some points disappear at high tide and others are only large enough for a single seagull. Do you count these? I don't here.
What's a community? An inhabited place, clearly, but one individual is not a community, not even if they have schizophrenia.
A small crew of a vessel, or a small company of a dozen or so, or
even a fairly large transient population may not be a community.
Even when there is a community of people, they may not be big enough
to host a prison/police/garrison/whatever.
Small crews will have brigs and the power of citizens' arrest, and will
fumble along like that until they can send for help. Maritime Law, quiet
literally a law unto itself, can come into play under some circumstances.
Some other vessels are run by the military, and have their own rules (and
guns!). Gun ownership on remote outposts is less frowned-upon as on the
mainland, even if it is largely aimed at the local wildlife.
Aswell as all that, the outposts that support them can (and do) include the following:
These may be off-shore of the larger islands, joined by a bridge, causeway, narrow strip of land, pipeline, or exposed mudflats at low tide.
Some may be further out, the most remote, Rockall, being 220 miles away from any other British landmass (, or any landmass at all, for that matter.
Some may move. Hopefully these are only the artificial ones.
Many small islands are privately-owned, by companies and individuals. Most have British or Irish Sovereignty, but a few are partially or fully independent. The IOM only replies on the UK in matters of Defence, for instance.
Irritating questions arising from avoiding the Political British territory and all that stuff:
The British Isles have also variously been called IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic), and These Islands, but neither of these terms really help, and if somebody's going to misinterpret a geological term as a political one, then get offended about their own mistake, that's their own problem.
The Faeroe Isles, along with
Rockall, are part of the Rockall Rise, which are
associated with the British Isles, but distant also.
It is debatable whether they are in or not, but here I assume that they are.
The rest of the Isles are on the European Continental Shelf; The Rockall Rise
is not part of the shelf proper, but it's sort of merged into it.
Extending it further, does this include Iceland? No. Iceland is geographically part of Greenland. There is a deep basin separating it from the Rockall Rise.
So really these are North European Western Islands ("NEW Islands"(?)). Presto! [Accidentally] another IONA. Nuts.
The large one on the right is Great Britain, and the smaller one on the left is Ireland.
Irritatingly, this seemed to no name, and is the larger of the main
islands on the east. It contains Scotland, England, and Wales. I call
it the Sceptred Isle; Shakespeare.
Note that Great Britain is not a country, but a landmass;
Britain is the country. This means Britain is bigger than Great Britain.
It contains 157 state prisons.
Scotland is a British province occupying the northern third of Great Britain.
A straight line drawn between
NI, Northern Scotland, and
Norway, reveals a similar fragmented geography.
This seems to be something to do with northern glacial retreat during the
last ice age, and these places being near the edge of the Continental Shelf.
The proper Scottish islands fall into two main groups: The Northern Isles (Orkneys and Shetlands (over 100)) and the Hebrides archipelago (Inner and Outer, around 500).
Splitting the Scottish Highlands down the middle between
Fort William and Inverness is the Great Glen, consisting mainly of
Loch Ness. The gaps are joined by the Caledonian Canal, effectively
creating a hidden island.
The Crinan Canal cuts off the Kintyre peninsula in a similar fashion,
between Jura Sound at Crinan and Loch Fyne at Lochgilphead.
I thought this had no name either, largely thanks to the split personality
of Northern Ireland and Eire. I call it the Emerald Isle, but infact
it is simply called Ireland, with the poetic name "Erin"
- As distinguished from Ēire (Ireland in Irish),
which is the country of Ireland, which is not Ireland although it is
contained within it: Who think's up this stuff?
Ie, Ireland is a landmass, not a country. The Republic of Ireland or
Southern Ireland is, and so is Northern Ireland or NI. Southern Ireland is
never called SI, and extends further north than Northern Ireland. I wish I
hadn't started looking into this.
It contains 17 state prisons.
Also called Manx; see dedicated entry.
If no man is an island, where does this leave the Isle of Man?
Actually has a (tiny) prison and a police service.
Now it transpares the tiny prison is only to show tourists.
Their real prison is HMP JERSEY.
Near the smaller Sark and Herm.
One prison: GUERNSEY STATES PRISON.
This is marked on my Atlas as British Territory. Don't ask me why it's got a French name. The name means "Fishmonger".
Only 5 islands out of 140 in this group are inhabited.
In Plymouth Sound.
Isn't an island.
'Isn't a peninsula either.
A natural tidal formation; classification unknown.
The map guide call's it a single bank, so they don't know either.
It's a "strip". Uninhabited, except by hardy/stupid tourists and
fishermen tramping up and down it all day.
Isn't an island. A peninsula they call an island just to annoy.
In Poole Harbour. Enforced as a rural zone by the Scouts. Lord of the Flies territory, but no real anything.
Is an island, but not considered to be one, probably due to being next to the naval stronghold of Portsmouth. Considered to be administratively part of Hampshire. Often abbreviated to IOW. Contains 3 English state Prisons: HMP ALBANY, HMP CAMP HILL, and HMP PARKHURST.
Completely urbanised and largely militarised. Contains most of Portsmouth. Might as well not be an island, even though plugged in by only one main road-bridge. Separating channel only a few meters wide. Contains 1 English state Prison, HMP KINGSTON.
Connected by bridges to the mainland; not considered to be islands.
Bridge, administratively part of Kent. 3 English state Prisons: HMP ELMLEY, HMP STANDFORD HILL, and HMP SWALESIDE.
By the sound of their names, there could be a danger of sinking into them
if anybody set foot there(?).
Between Gillingham and Sheerness.
Not an island, just inaccessible other than by bridges across channels of water. Improbably contains a largish town, Grain.
In the River Thames 10 miles SW of central London.
Originally three islands, artificially merged.
The former Eel Pie Island Hotel was built in 1830AD,
which served eel in pastry and the name stuck. Due to pollution the pies are
no longer made, and the hotel burnt down.
Inhabited by rich artistes &c. Recording Studios.
Sustains a boat-building and craft workshop community.
Considered to part of Twickenham, connected to it by pesdestrian bridge.
Artificially cut off by the Docklands development; London. Part of London.
Bridges, considered part of Essex. Large oil refinery.
Bridges, considered part of Essex. Quickmud.(??)
Narrow-neck peninsula containing a village, "The Stone".
Part of the delta of the River Blackwater.
Part of the delta of the River Blackwater.
National Trust owned.
Bridges, considered part of Essex.
Near South Ferriby, in the [River] Humber.
-fort?
Cluster of small islands near Bamburgh.
aka Lindisfarne. Causeway/Ford at low tide. Popular Pub. "Sorry, we can't get back today, the tide cut us off..." National Trust Castle, disintegrated Priory, golf course. Clearly well used.
In the Firth of Forth. Has series of forts which guard/guarded Edinburgh.
Priory.
Nr. North Berwick. Castle.
North of Inverness. Not an island.
Crossed by Motorway. Rail links. Popular with [mad] commuters.
Nr. John 'O' Groats, two small settlements.
Uninhabited, except by tourists. Boat to Tarbet.
Many (aprox. 100) small islands and islets lying in the mouth of
Loch Broom, near Ullapool.
Considered to be part of Ross-Shire.
www.summer-isles.com
Largest and only inhabited island of the Summer Isles.
1.5 miles from Achiltibuie. Plentiful fresh water, deep sheltered anchorage
and high lookout points.
One settlement, Aird-na-Goine. Small café, and Post Office, which
sells unique Summer Isles stamps. Pitched at photographers and tourists.
Boats from Achiltibuie.
Bridged, part of the Highlands.
Hidden in Loch Linnhe
Offshore from Oban, small settlement.
Bridged, part of Argyle and Bute.
Between Luing and Jura, small settlement.
A long peninsula, not an island.
Ferry to Largs. Part of Renfrewshire.
I don't believe I've ever heard of that county before.
Peninsula near Kirkcudbright.
aka Barrow.
Partially occupied by Barrow-In-Furness.
Vast stretches of sand/mud.
Bridge, consider to be in Cumbria.
Peninsulas near Barrow-In-Furness.
Near Humprey Head Point, rising out of the very wet sand dunes of
Cartmel Wharf.
Uninhabited, but unnamed. I just think it's odd, that's all, after
all these named islands that aren't really islands.
Large island near Bangor, NW
Wales.
Bridges, part of NW Wales, but it's own county.
Offshore and considered as part of Anglesey. Bridge.
Abbey.
Bridge, urbanised, part of Barry, Vale Of Glamorgan.
Industrialised Terminus of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal,
on the East side of the Bristol Channel, near Berkley.
Bridges & Docks.
aka Ynys Hafren.
Near to Steep Holm, in the Bristol Channel.
Considered to be Welsh.
An early radio signal sent by Marconi from Lavernock Point on the mainland
was received here.
Now uninhabited, the former site of a cholera sanatorium.
Tourist retreat?
Boats from Barry.
Near to Flat Holm, in the Bristol Channel.
Considered to be a part of NW Somerset.
Tourist retreat?
Inhabited, quiet retreat. Flat-topped with sharp cliffs, over which the wind often blows sheep into the sea. Boat from Bideford or Ilfracombe.
Capital, Kirkwall. Ferry port, Stromness.
Mountainous, high cliffs.
Intensively farmed, large castle.
Airport called "London Airport".
Hilarously, the largest settlement is named Whitehall.
Tallest land-based lighthouse in Britain. Northermost Orkney Isle.
aka Papay. Oldest stone buildings in Europe (Two houses there built 3500BC), and shortest flight in World (to Westray; 2 minutes).
The World's last Great Auk was shot here in 1813AD, in much the same manner as the last Dodo on Mauritius in the late 17th century. The Little Auk still survives, probably because it can fly, which always help's in a bird.
Uninhabited, but connected to other land by the Churchill Barriers.
Closer to Norway than to Great Britain.
Draughty.
Cars require no MOTs and provisional licences are sufficent.
Capital and only town in the Shetlands, Lerwick.
Former capital, Scalloway, with pet fortress.
Densely populated for it's size.
Heavy fishing, industrialised.
aka Out Skerries.
Richest and remotest of the Shetlands, reputed to be the ideal sort of place
for sociologists, dropouts, and travel writers.
Housay and Bruray connected by a bridge, and owned by Cussons soap.
Ferry to Lerwick.
Main island.
Joint main island.
Apparently for sale @ £40,000.
Has museum, so there must be some people there.
Northermost Shetland Isle.
Further north are Muckle Flugga Rocks (with lighthouse),
and Out Stack, northern limit of British Isles, if
you don't count the Faeroe Isles, which I do.
Fertile soil, mostly wasted on yet another bird sanctuary.
Uninhabited since 1939AD.
The (70) Outer Hebrides are also called The Western Isles.
Everything closed on a Sunday.
Nothing open the rest of the week, mind.
The same island. Lewis northern half, Harris southern.
Separated by mountain range.
Prehistoric chambered cairn [formerly] used for human sacrifice.
Whales and sharks visit.
Main settlement, Stornoway. Ferries to Scottish mainland from.
Here be Oil Tankers taking a short cut.
Many Rigs plug into the Shetlands and Tankers take
the oil from there.
Mountainous with fjords and lochans.
Tiny island between North and South Uist.
Spoken Gaelic, written Norse.
Big military base, serves missile range on South Uist.
Controversial missile range in the north.
Crofters.
The Inner Hebrides have three main clusters: Skye, Mull, and Islay.
Several mountains, many peat bogs and icy-cold streams.
Hence this is an intense whisky production area.
Bridged, but still considered to be island largely due to ferocious
toll.
Large, many settlements.
Skye has a peninsula north of Portree, called Trotternish.
Nearish the A855, a stone pinnacle named The Prison, which it isn't,
although it could be [used as one].
Small islands off Skye.
(Large island.)
Off Mull.
Large monastery, small village.
Fingal's Cave.
Not the dangly thing at the back of your throat, but another Mullish isle.
Ferry to Tayinloan.
Rugged landscape popular with deer and mountain goats but less so with people.
Two islands connected by a common beach, more of a special boxed set from the Inner Hebrides. Joined at low tide.
Part of North Ayrshire.
Bridged, part of [the] Argyle and Bute [region].
Note: Northern Ireland is not part of Ireland, and the Southern part of
Ireland extends further north than Northern Ireland.
Nonetheless, here are listed islands off the coast of the not-entirely-Irish
Island of Ireland.
Peninsula Nr. Whitehead.
Pop. 100. Lighthouse reserves.
Robert the Bruce sheltered here in a cave, in
1306AD.
Nearby whirlpool.
Part of Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Ferries to Ballycastle in the summer.
Peninsula.
Peninsula Nr. (London)derry.
Residents pay no tax, thanks to a happy accident in
1884AD.
Erratic boat service from Bunbeg.
Separate from Aran Islands, near Dunglow. Sizable but rocky.
Pop. 700. Pub opening hours noted for being exceptionally flexible.
Monastery.
Peninsula that looks like an island but isn't called one.
Another peninsula that looks like an island but still isn't called one.
An island, with several small towns, that definatly is an island,
but doesn't look like one.
Bridge to the Corraun Peninsula.
Ruined castle used to be a cromwellian garrison.
The exiled St. Colman, abbot of Lindisfarne,
took refuge here in the 7th century.
As if Lindisfarne wasn't remote enough.
Ferry from Celggan.
Series of bridges, near the R336 in Kilkteran Bay.
The eroded remnants of a limestone ridge near Galway Bay.
A full airport each, very posh.
Overrun with tourists and horse dung, famous for knitted sweaters.
Intermittent ferries available all down the chain of islands, from
Galway on one end to Doolin off the other. Rough crossing.
aka Deer Island
Bridge, castle. Nr. Ballylongford.
Includes Illauntanig Religious Institution.
Bridge from Portmagee.
Lighthouse and Religious Institution.
Near Castletown Bearhaven.
Nr. Bantry, sheltered in Bantry Bay.
Improbably, contains a Youth Hostel, and (apparently) nothing else. Pop. 150.
Islet, considered to be part of County Cork.
The most southerly point of Ireland.
30m High, 4 miles off Cape Clear, in deep water.
Hosts a large famous lighthouse and is the furthest leg of the Fastnet Cup, a biennial yacht race from the IOW. Hundreds of craft take part.
Fastnet Lighthouse is known as The Teardrop of Ireland, in much the same vein as the white cliffs of Dover.
Nestling well inside Cork harbour.
Containing the small town of Cobh.
Bridge over Eire.
Nr. Ringaskiddy, contains Eire's only island prison,
FORT MITCHEL (now closed).
Urbanised, bridge, Part of Dublin.
Could be a peninsula??
Off Southern tip of Isle of Man.
These include, large moored vessels (eg lightships, Radio Caroline), lighthouses, oil rigs, and forts.
Many forts around Portsmouth.
One fort near Harwich and marked on many maps as a lighthouse, was taken over and has become the Independent Principality of Sealand.
Harbour-helper in Plymouth Sound.
World Heritage Site.
The secondmost remote western outpost until evacuated in 1930AD.
Several military bases.
World Heritage Site.
"An island off an island off an island."
aka Faroe Islands, or Færøerne
Isles.
Part of the British Isles run by Denmark; nobody talks about this
- why?
Up until 1468AD the Danes owned
Orkney and Shetland as
well.
Ferries to Aberdeen (Scotland) and seasonally to Bergen (Norway).
One token inhabitant, keeping the middle of nowhere British under
International Law.
Islet in the Atlantic, 220 miles west of the
Outer Hebrides.
The most remote part of the British Isles.
Make's St. Kilda look cosy.
Nr. Plymouth.
Near the Mull of Kintyre.
Equidistant from the Mull of Kintyre, the Island of
Arran, and the town of Girvan.
Castle.
Small remote island to the west of the Shetland group.
Midway between Shetland and
Orkney.
Many sheep.
Near Waterford City, contains a golf course; and (apparently) nothing
else.
Strand your favourite golfing fanatic here.
aka Island Vryk or, imaginatively,
"The Island".
Private island, 310 Acres.
Nr. Ballinakill, Nr. Waterford City, Eire.
Waterford Castle Hotel and Golf Club.
24Hr Chain-linked private car ferry.
Once home to the FitzGerald Family, who virtually started the Troubles, by helping the Earl of Pembroke, during the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1160AD, on this very island. It is a popular place in spite of all that.
The Fitzgerald's stayed until 1958AD, when the ferry
was built. Castle opened to the public as a Hotel in
1988AD.
www.waterfordcastle.com
Near-ish Limerick. Substantial religious pilgrimage site.
By Kinross, Junction 6, M90.
Castle.
Religious Institution.
Near Castleton.
Near Lochawe.
Near Port of Menteith.
Maybe also called Inchmahome Island.
In Lake of Menteith, Scotland's only "lake" as opposed to
"loch".
The ruins of Inchmahome Priory (Augustine).
Robert the Bruce came here three times.
Considered to be part of Perthshire.
Boat from the pier at the Port of Menteith.
Near Balmaha.
A small lake near Oakham. Artificial. C-shaped Reservoir.
In the Chew Valley Lake, which is a reservoir at the foot of the Mendip
Hills, formed when Bristol Water damned the [River] Chew in 1956AD.
'Rather shallow for a reservoir, averaging only 14 feet
deep with a maximum of just 37 feet.
Near Chew Stoke, variety of boats available for hire.
This Island Gazetteer is associated with a much-better-presented
list of British Prisons.