Pabbay online...

Pabbay is an uninhabited island to the west of Berneray. Using wireless (bluetooth) technology on July 22nd 2005, Andrew Ross - a resident of Berneray - sent probably the first email from Pabbay.

The email...

"For an uninhabited island, there seem to be a lot of people around. There are the group who came over with us from Berneray this morning in Domhnall Beag's boat, plus a family who are staying here in the owner's house. Not to mention about 1000 sheep, seemingly several hundred deer and a couple of little dogs that follow us around. There are also within sight a number of lobster fishing boats plying the waters between here and Shillay - the island where the seals breed.

The story of Pabbay is one of the most savage of the clearances. Until 1846 it was a thriving community of around 350 people, 65 households, who distilled illegal whiskey, paid their taxes and bothered no-one. However the landowner's decision to create a sheep farm here led to the entire population, bar six people, being forcibly evicted, some to neighbouring Berneray, some to the mainland and many to Nova Scotia where they joined the the Gaelic diaspora in the New World. Today all that remains is peace and quiet among the ruins.

From here just to the west of the distinctive pointed summit of the hill on Pabbay I can see the islands of Uist to the left, Heisker further out, and beyond that the distinctive volcanic forms of St Kilda group 40 miles further out into the Atlantic. To the right are the mountains of Harris and nearby Taransay. From time to time the howls of the seals down below are carried up by the wind even to top of the hill."