Uig also known as Sgìr' Ùig, is a civil parish

Civil parishes in Scotland

In Scotland, parishes, as units of local government, were abolished by the Local Government Act 1929. The geographical area is sometimes still referred to, however, for statistical purposes....

 and community

Community council

A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies...

 on the western coast of the island of Lewis

Lewis

Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....

 in the Outer Hebrides

Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It consists of scattered settlements around the bay of Camas Uig

Camas Uig

Camas Uig is a bay on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The Lewis Chessmen were discovered in the dunes behind the beach....

 and the Bhaltos peninsula. The name derives from the Norse word Vik meaning 'a bay'.

Settlements

Uig Beach is surrounded by the villages of Cradhlasta (Crowlista), Tuimisgearraidh (Timsgarry)

Timsgarry

Timsgarry is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the parish of Uig, Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland....

, Eadar Dhà Fhadhail (Ardroil)

Ardroil

Ardroil is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles, Scotland....

 and Càrnais (Carnish).

Bhaltos (Valtos) is the largest village in Uig and is home to about 35 people. Since 1999 the land on the Bhaltos peninsula, comprising also the smaller villages of Cliobh (Cliff), Cnìp (Kneep)

Kneep

Kneep is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the parish of Uig, Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland....

, Riof (Reef) and Na h-Ùigean (Uigen), has been owned by the community and managed by the Bhaltos Community Trust.

Beach

Uig Beach is best known as the site where the Lewis Chessmen

Lewis chessmen

The Lewis Chessmen are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces, most of which are carved in walrus ivory...

  were found. Before 1831, a local crofter discovered a buried hoard of chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 pieces, uncovered following a storm. The chessmen are now in the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 with an overseas exhibit in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and replicas in the Uig Heritage Centre in Tuimisgearraidh. They are mostly carved from walrus

Walrus

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

 tusks and probably originated in Norway sometime in the 12th century, although when and how they came to be in Uig is unknown.

The beach is one of Scotland's leading kite-buggy locations, being large, flat, and frequently subject to suitable winds.

People

According to Lewis tradition, Uig is the birthplace of Coinneach Odhar, the Brahan Seer

Brahan Seer

The Brahan Seer, known in his native Scottish Gaelic as Coinneach Odhar. Some have questioned whether he really existed at all. He is thought to have come from Uig on lands owned by the Seaforths, and to have been a Mackenzie, although both these details are in themselves questioned...

, a Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...

-type figure of the 16th century.

Archaeology

A well preserved wheelhouse at Cnìp

Kneep

Kneep is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the parish of Uig, Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland....

, and two nearby broch

Broch

A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created, and belong to the classification "complex Atlantic Roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s....

s, make the area important archaeologically. In 1979 a rich female Viking burial was discovered on Kneep headland. Uig was the place of discovery of the Lewis Chessmen

Lewis chessmen

The Lewis Chessmen are a group of 78 12th-century chess pieces, most of which are carved in walrus ivory...

 in 1831.

Distillery

The Abhainn Dearg Distillery, which began distilling in 2009, is located at Carnish in Uig, and is the only working distillery in the Western Isles. The distillery released the first single malt Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky is whisky made in Scotland.Scotch whisky is divided into five distinct categories: Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Single Grain Scotch Whisky, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky , Blended Grain Scotch Whisky, and Blended Scotch Whisky.All Scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for at least three...

to leave the island for over 170 years on 14th October 2011.

External links

• Lewis Chessmen at the British Museum.
• Brahan Seer Legend on BBC Website
• Archaeology in Uig
• Comann Eachdraigh Uig (Uig Historical Society)