The Islands That Roofed the World

Over the 200 year old bridge which crosses the Atlantic to the charming, yet scarred, Inner Hebridean Slate Islands.

The Slate Islands lie off the west coast of Argyll. Slate has been taken from their shores from earliest recorded history and the richness and quality of the deposits meant that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries slate quarrying was one of the most important industries in Scotland.
The Breadalbane family owned the land of Easdale and its surrounds for over four hundred years and of course roofed their own buildings in slate as well as many important buildings, including Cawdor Castle in Invernesshire and Glasgow Cathedral. Their eighteenth century ownership of Nova Scotia ensured international trade, and it is therefore unsurprising to find public buildings in eastern Canada roofed in Easdale slate.

The geology, the industry, the people and their way of life: this is the story of the Slate Islands past, present and future, told by the Easdale Folk Museum archivist, with affection and admiration. Easdale remains unique, an island that has no roads and cannot support heavy vehicular traffic. The islanders today are working to retain its delicate environmental and economic balance in a way that is feasible in the modern world.