Holy Island
- Not to be confused with Holy Island or Lindisfarne in Northumberland.
Holy Island (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean MoLaise) is a small island just east of the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It's two miles long by half-a-mile mile wide, with a rocky ridge down its spine. It's a nature reserve but is known for its community of volunteer lay people who run the interfaith centre at the North end called The centre for world peace and health.
Understand
Originally called Inis Shroin (House of the Water Spirit), the Holy Island is so-named for its spiritual significance. In the late 6th century Saint Molaise lived here as a hermit: he went on to be the abbot of Leighlin Monastery near Leighlinbridge in Ireland, dying in 639 AD. The place was thus called Eilean Molaise, which morphed into "Lamlash", which morphed into the name of the village on Arran by which you get here. Lamlash is sheltered by Holy Island and has the safest anchorage, so it was the arrival point and main settlement of Arran until the ferry port re-located in modern times to Brodick.
The medieval monastery on Holy Island was already decrepit by the 1560s Reformation. The place was farmland with distant landlords; sheep greatly outnumbered people, especially after the 18th- and 19th-century "Clearances". In the 1960s the UFAW (Universities Federation for Animal Welfare) bought the island to preserve rare breeds such as Saanan goats, Soay sheep and Eriskay ponies. These beasts ate the UFAW out of house and home so they had to sell up: the island was bought in 1984 by James and Catherine Morris, who modernised the farmhouse. In 1987 they too tried to sell, but it dragged on the market for three years until Mrs Morris approached Lama Yeshe of Samye Ling Buddhist Monastery in Eskdalemuir 20 miles north of Lockerbie. The legend invokes a vision of the Virgin Mary, who perhaps helped the negotiation get down to a third of the asking price, and the sale went through in 1992.
That monastery had taken shape from 1967, to predictable guffaws ("How will they grow macrobiotic brown rice up there in the sleet?") in a decade burgeoning with "new religions" - Hare Krishna, the Scientologists, Divine Light Mission, millionaire Hindu gurus, and so on. An early leader Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche practised a form of Buddhism involving heavy drinking and sleeping with his under-age students. He was ousted, to go and form his own schools and centres in North America, no doubt as thoroughly reformed as disgraced priests of other religions have proved when shifted elsewhere. But after that great start, the monastery settled down and has lasted, earning respect as much for its longevity as its obvious sincerity and commitment. David Bowie and Leonard Cohen are among those who studied there before abandoning the maroon robe. The monks follow the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, but their outpost on Holy Island was never intended as a monastery. So what is it? Umm, a centre for world peace and health and sort of eco and inter-faith harmony within a Buddhist tradition and animal welfare and sort of eco, like the spiel of a contestant for Miss World.
Visitor information
Get in
Calmac ferries from Ardrossan on the Scottish mainland sail to Brodick, from where you drive or take Bus 323 to Lamlash pier. See Arran for practicalities. With your own boat you can tie up at North Landing but strictly not at the South landing at the lighthouse. There is no overnight mooring on Holy Island. The island is within easy kayaking / SUP distance of Lamlash.
1 North Landing is the arrival point of the little ferry from Lamlash Old Pier. It sails Apr-Oct at least three times a day, with hourly sailings mid-summer, and takes 10 min. This trip gives you approximately 4 hours to explore beautiful Holy Isle before returning to Lamlash. They schedule dates up to 2 weeks in advance for online booking. A day trip in 2023 costs £22 adult, £12 child. It's a small boat easily blown out by winds, and sailing times vary with the tides and with demand.
No fires and No dogs please, they may disturb the rare breeds.
Get around
This small island has no paved roads, and walking is the only way to get around. Don't bring a bike unless you plan to up-end it and decorate its wheels with the mantra Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ (ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ).
See
- Centre for World Peace and Health is by North Landing. The centre itself is off-limits but you can look at the organic garden, and information centre in the former boathouse.
- Stupas are the white structures outside the Centre. Those here in the Tibetan tradition are called chorten and resemble big chess pieces; those of, say, Sri Lanka have hemispherical tops and may be huge. Their square lower parts symbolise the limited physical world and their upper circular parts the eternal spiritual world.
- Flags: Dar cho are little pennant prayer flags, and the wind helpfully blows prayers and blessings off them to the rest of the world. Banners display the six colours of the aura that emanated from the Buddha when he achieved enlightenment. Karmapa flags display blue for heaven and yellow for earth, weaved together by the Buddha's teaching.
- Buddhist art adorns the cliff face along the trail from the Centre down the west coast. Look for depictions of White and Green Tara, Milarepa, Marpa, Gampopa, Shakyamuni the Buddha himself higher up, and Dusum Khyenpa, plus various symbols.
- 1 St Molaise Cave is a D-shaped paved recess in the cliffs on the west coast. It has early Christian etchings and graffiti runes, both perhaps by 12th- and 13th-century Vikings: Nikolas from Haeni, Sveinn, Onundr, Olafr, John, and Vigleikr the marshal must have formed a queue outside with their blades. The Vikings were Christian by then, and may have visited as pilgrims while primarily here as warriors. Their fleet anchored in Lamlash Bay before the Battle of Largs in 1263, which broke their power in Scotland.
- 2 Mullach Mòr ("Big Summit") is the island's highest point at 314 m / 1030 ft.
- 3 Inner lighthouse is a stubby navigation light built in 1877 by the Stevensons and known as "Wee Donald", no-one knows why. Flashing green every 3 seconds, it was electrified and automated in 1977, which saved a lot of labour with oil barrels. You can't visit this lighthouse as it's close to the private retreat.
- The Retreat is in the lighthouse keepers' cottages next to the Inner lighthouse. Female monks (bhikkhunī) live here in seclusion for several months, sometimes years (the "long retreat") and you can't visit. "The inner light" also signifies their spiritual quest, in a way that "Wee Donald somehow wouldn't. The men have a retreat on Arran main island.
- 4 Outer lighthouse (or Pillar Rock) is a square tower built in 1905 by the Stevensons and automated in 1977.
- Wildlife: the signature feral animals are Eriskay ponies, Soay sheep, and Saanen goats a Swiss dairy breed. The Highland cattle have been removed.
Do
- Hike the ridge: a path from the Centre ascends to the lower peak of Mullach Beag, then over Mullach Mòr, before descending to the track between inner and outer lighthouses. You can return by the track along the west coast.
- Pradakhshina is the practise of walking around a stupa clockwise in a contemplative way, usually after completing temple rituals. Big stupas have a dedicated path for this, here it suffices to follow the damp groove in the grass, and it will be considered OTT to prostrate yourself at every step. Hindu theology specifies different numbers of circuits for different deities but teaches that 21 will keep them all sweet, which won't take long here - but stay contemplative! The ultimate circuit is of Mount Kailash in Tibet, 52 km at 5000 m altitude, but any loss of contemplation en route or flicker of pride at completing it damns you to relegation in the enlightenment stakes. And doing it by stepwise prostration takes longer than any available visitor visa.
- Study Buddhism and consider whether it might be for you, and if so does the Tibetan or some other variety most appeal. There's lots of literature available. However the Centre here is not an entry portal, its leaders practice Buddhism but don't teach or preach it. They also emphasise that they're not a rehab or treatment facility.
- Volunteers are welcome to apply via email for various house-keeping, kitchen and garden duties. It's optional whether you join the daily meditation sessions.
Buy
The information centre in the boathouse at North Landing sells shawls, gifts, incense and other Tibetan Buddhist souvenirs.
Eat
There's no catering for non-residents so bring over any packed lunch you might need. The Co-op in Lamlash sells sandwiches.
Drink
The information centre will offer you a free cup of tea or coffee.
Do not bring alcohol or tobacco to the island, using these will get you ejected.
Sleep
- The Centre, ☏ +44 1770 601100. This accommodation is only available for those taking residential courses and volunteer work (typically for one week) or retreats (perhaps two months). For 2024: ingle room £66 per night, twin room £98 (£49 per person) per night, dorm bed £37 per night.
- Wild camping on Holy Island is a legal right yet strongly discouraged by the monks. They are the landowners and make reasonable arguments about the need to protect their spiritual tranquillity (in outdoor spaces as much as indoors) and the wildlife. But any grouse-blasting castle owner could make similar claims, and they surely go too far in attempting a blanket ban, and in their hostility (albeit non-violent) to kayakers who make their own way ashore and pitch up. It may take a legal test case to resolve this, so in the interests of global tranquillity nobody has yet launched one.
Connect
As of Oct 2023, there is no mobile signal on Holy Island. Finish any important calls before you take the boat from Lamlash.
Go next
- You have to return to Lamlash on the main Isle of Arran.
- Lindisfarne is the other well-known Holy Isle of Britain. It's on the Northumberland coast and you drive across at low tide.
- Many other islands had ancient religious settlements, but most fell into ruin at the Reformation. Iona in the Hebrides has been revived.