Isle Martin

Isle Martin lies in Loch Broom on Scotland’s west coast, the nearest of the Summer Isles to Ullapool. The island has no permanent residents today and is managed as a bird sanctuary by a community trust. Its name comes from an old word for pine martens, not the saint, and records from the sixteenth century call it Ellan Mertack. A monastery is said to have stood here between the fourth and seventh centuries, marked by a stone carved with a triple cross. The ruins of a post-Reformation chapel and an old street of houses remain near the current jetty. A flour mill operated on the site from 1939 until 1948, when its buildings were taken down. The island’s past includes crofting, fishing and a short-lived milling trade that supplied bakeries across northern Scotland. In the 1960s Monica Goldsmith bought the island and gave it to the RSPB in 1980 for conservation. Writer Andro Linklater lived in the Mill House while working on his biography of Compton Mackenzie between 1980 and 1985. Bernard Planterose, an RSPB officer, lived on the island in the 1980s and led woodland regeneration projects behind rabbit fencing. By 1996 the RSPB found it hard to meet its aims here, and in 1999 the island passed to the Isle Martin Trust created by local communities. Visitors reach the island by a seasonal ferry from Ardmair Bay on the mainland. A new pontoon installed in 2007 makes landing easier, and some houses have been refurbished for rent. Guided walks and events are organised to show the island’s history and wildlife. The shoreline and open ground attract breeding and visiting birds, while the restored buildings recall the island’s working past.