Private Scottish island with castle up for sale for £5.5m
The 1100-acre Shuna Island, in the Inner Hebrides, is up for sale for £5.5m - and it is the first time the island has been up for sale in almost a century.
The island is three miles long and a mile and a half wide, and is part of a group called the Slate Islands, which is also home to Seil, Easdale, Luing and Torsa.
In the centre of the island lie the remains of Shuna Castle, an early 20th-century structure with panoramic coastal views.
(Image: Nicola Lang) According to Sotheby's International Realty, who are handling the sale, the site has the potential for redevelopment.
The island's previous owners were Viscountess Selby and her son Edward Gully, whose family have owned it for 80 years.
Their main residence has been the Shuna Farmhouse, while there are also a number of holiday cottages spread across the island.
READ MORE: Man to appear in court after armed police sealed off Edinburgh street
In total, there are eight properties which are able to house 52 people on the island.
There is also the possibility for livestock farming, as the island has 81 acres of permanent pasture, 640 acres of rough grazing, and more than 300 acres of native woodland and foreshore.
Sotheby's International Realty said a flock of around 220 Beulah sheep also roam the land, while there is also the potential for cattle grazing.
The island is "teeming" with life, the real estate agent said, with deer, eagles and porpoises all frequently spotted.
Shuna's history spans more than 9000 years and features both Stone Age burial mounds and Iron Age sites.
The island's earliest mention is reportedly in the Vita Columbae, recounting Saint Columba and his crew being delayed on "Sainean Island", which is believed to be Shuna.
Over centuries, the island belonged to Dal Riata's Gaelic kingdom and later passed on to the Maclean clan after Robert the Bruce gifted Lorne to Clan Campbell in 1321.
By the 18th century, it was a thriving lime production centre with kilns and up to 100 residents, The Scotsman reports.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
10 hours ago
- Scotsman
Aberdeen land new multi-million pound investment and name 'major factor' in Pittodrie transfer plans
Aberdeen has secured a huge new investment. Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Aberdeen have announced they have secured an £8million investment that will see their Cormack Park training complex given a major overhaul. Following the Dons AGM in December 2024, chairman Dave Cormack confirmed his plans to build a brand new indoor pitch located at the club's Westhill training base, and those intentions are now set to be given the go ahead after a cash injection from Cormack, director Tom Crotty and further investment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Scottish Cup winners will now undergo work on creating a 4G pitch that will be used by the Aberdeen senior teams, both men and women, the Dons academy teams and Aberdeen FC Community Trust programme. On the forthcoming plans, chief executive Alan Burrows said: 'This latest injection of funding, approved at our last Annual General Meeting, takes the total investment from Dave, Tom and their colleagues to over £25 million in the last few years. We're incredibly grateful to our investors for the new funds, which will provide a significant portion of the capital required for these improvements at Cormack Park and our stadium, while also being able to continue to invest in the squad and the football operation. Aberdeen CEO Alan Burrows (right), chairman Dave Cormack (centre) and director of football Steven Gunn celebrate winning the Scottish Cup against Celtic in May. | SNS Group 'Our training facility at Cormack Park is fantastic, and the addition of a full-sized, indoor arena and additional operational space will take it to a whole new level, opening new possibilities for our men's, women's, academy and community programmes. In addition, we have recently been able to more than double the investment in our scouting and talent ID department across the continent. This is only possible with the support we get from our investors and our fans through AberDNA memberships.' Head coach Jimmy Thelin has already been active in the transfer window, agreeing deals for Nicolas Milanovic, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Kusini Yengi and Nick Suman, as he approaches the Scottish Premiership opener against Hearts at Tynecastle on August 4. However, with the Dons playing European football this term, Burrows has confirmed the club is planning for future additions, with Swedish teenager Elias Pihlstrom linked to Pittodrie in recent days. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Scotsman
16 hours ago
- Scotsman
Emma Hybrid Premium Mattress just £149 in Wowcher refurbished deal
Emma mattresses are made on an ethos of sustainability | Wowcher A premium hybrid mattress for just £149? Thanks to this refurbished Wowcher deal on the award-winning Emma range, it's now possible – and sizes are going fast. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... This might be the cheapest way to start your summer on a brand new premium mattress - it's a deal we've spotted on Wowcher for an award-winning Emma Hybrid Premium Mattress and it's a saving of 58%. It's a mattress that normally costs £359, but it's down to £149 for as long as the deal is available. The saving is so significant because this is a refurbished item, brought back to fresh by Emma's "Second Life" department, which aims to cut down on waste and offer cheaper options to customers. The mattresses undergo meticulous cleaning and sanitisation processes, ensuring they meet the highest hygiene standards, but buying this way can save a lot of money. Refurbished mattresses go through a rigorous sanitation process | Wowcher In case you didn't fancy going the refurbished route, there is the option of a new mattress - and that's also discounted, down to £259. But paying just £149 for a high-end mattress is enough to tempt a lot of people, because they're selling fast. The £149 offer is for a single mattress, but a double costs just £50 more, and the popular king size option is only £239. Emma's Hybrid Premium Mattress is built up with Halo Memory Foam, Point Elastic Airgocell, and seven-zone pocket springs. It also contains technology aimed at ensuring you stay cool all night, and pressure is spread evenly across the body shape, ensuring it's ideal for people who need an orthopaedic mattress. Emma's new mattresses are covered by a 10-year manufacturer warranty, while refurbished models which include a six month warranty.
Scotsman
18 hours ago
- Scotsman
Startup guidance more accelerative than capital alone
Nick Freer looks at a new tech founder fund aiming to help young companies increase their global reach Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Having been ensconced in the world of corporate PR for more years than I'd care to admit, including during the dotcom era where I advised tech startups as a consultant with an agency in London, I take a keen interest in how press announcements resonate after hitting the headlines. In March, one such announcement around the launch of a new tech founder fund caught my attention, in no small part because of the mixed reception it received across the startup and investor scene. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Project Europe', a €10m fund backed by Berlin and New York VC firms and over 120 founders who have 'been there, done that' (essentially built and exited startups), was heralded in the tech press and as one leading publication framed it at the time, had the 'European VC set buzzing'. The Project Europe fund aims to help entrepreneurs under the age of 25 by providing mentorship and investment in return for a stake (Picture: Shutterstock) The Project Europe fund aims to help entrepreneurs under the age of 25 by providing mentorship and investing in up to 20 of them, offering €200,000 in exchange for 6.66 per cent of equity. While there were many plaudits for the initiative, particularly around the involvement of so many successful founders, there was also a good helping of naysayers; some termed the age limit shortsighted, others took issue with the level of equity being taken, and an overriding criticism was over the size of the fund itself. According to those behind the fund, the rationale for its creation stemmed from a less supportive US vis-a-vis Europe in current political times and a collective desire to create more tech titans in the region. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Bringing things back to the Scottish startup scene, much respected scaleup C-suite Richard Lennox says the fund raises some interesting questions for ambitious founders based here: 'Everyone recognises that the angel and syndicate network in Scotland is good for early stage, but Scottish companies need to leave Scotland for the next rounds.' Nick Freer knows his way around the world of corporate PR Richard's point was best illustrated earlier this month, when Edinburgh-headquartered Wordsmith AI announced a $25m series A investment led by global venture capital firm Index Ventures, which itself has backed other storied startups including $45bn fintech Revolut and Mistral, Europe's most valuable AI startup. As an agency, we worked with Wordsmith CEO and founder Ross McNairn, like Richard Lennox a former Skyscanner executive, and Index on the announcement. On the flip side, as Aberdeen-based CCU International CEO and co-founder Beena Sharma wrote in a LinkedIn post this week, not all success stories come with a funding announcement. As Sharma put it: 'Sometimes, choosing not to raise, or walking away from a term sheet is the bravest and most values-driven decision a founder can make'. Supporting Glasgow-headquartered Simple Online Healthcare, one the UK's fastest-growing digital healthcare scaleups, around its annual results announcement this week, CEO Addy Mohammed drew attention to how the decade-old company remains self-funded, while reporting revenue tripling to £66 million. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Like many of Scotland's most successful startups, it's no surprise that Simple Online has a Skycanner connection of its own, with former CFO Shane Corstorphine sitting on its board. Further demonstration that experienced guidance and support is significantly more accelerative than capital alone.
