- Where
- North Atlantic, about 65 km WNW of North Uist
Outer Hebrides, Scotland - Coordinates
- 57.8120° N
8.5700° W - Left
- 29 August 1930
the last 36 islanders - Cleitean
- More than 1,200 on Hirta
about 1,400 in all (National Trust for Scotland) - Status
- World Heritage, natural and cultural
National Trust for Scotland since 1957 - Getting there
- Day boat from Leverburgh, Harris
about 2¾ hours each way - Best visited
- Late April to August, on the day boats
- Advisory
- United Kingdom Level 2
A long morning of grey swell, then cliffs so high the birds on them looked like salt. In the bay stood one curved street of stone cottages, most with no roofs, and above them the whole green hill was dotted with little stone huts in caps of turf. Small brown sheep looked out of their doorways. I walked the street slowly, house by house, and said nothing for a while.
The short answer
St Kilda (Gaelic: Hiort) is a group of islands in the North Atlantic about 65 kilometres west-northwest of North Uist, the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Wikipedia describes them as the remains of a long-extinct ring volcano. The largest, Hirta, holds the old village above Village Bay; Soay, Boreray and Dùn and the sea stacks Stac an Armin and Stac Lee make up most of the rest. People lived here for two thousand years or more, Wikipedia records, until 1930. The National Trust for Scotland has owned the whole archipelago since 1957, and UNESCO lists it as a World Heritage Site for its natural and its cultural values together, which Wikipedia notes few places in the world share.
Why it's worth knowing
A village that decided to leave. The population was probably never more than 180, by Wikipedia’s account, and after the First World War it fell fast: from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928, as most of the young men left the island, four men died of influenza in 1926 and the crops failed through the decade. Wikipedia describes the death of a young woman, Mary Gillies, who was taken ill in January 1930 and died on the mainland, as the last straw. On 29 August 1930 the ship HMS Harebell carried the remaining 36 islanders to Morvern on the Scottish mainland, a decision, Wikipedia records, that they took collectively themselves; UNESCO describes two millennia of life here “discontinued in 1930 when the islanders decided to leave”. By tradition, each household left an open Bible and a small pile of oats in the house.
A thousand stone larders. All over the hill above the village stand cleitean: small drystone huts with domed lids of turf, built, Wikipedia explains, with gaps between the stones so the wind could pass through while the turf kept off the rain. The islanders stored and dried birds, eggs, feathers, crops and peat in them. Wikipedia counts 1,260 on Hirta and 170 more on the other islands and stacks; the National Trust for Scotland gives around 1,400 in all, and calls them unique to St Kilda.
The field notes
A parliament in the street
Every morning after prayers, Wikipedia records, the adult men met in the village street to decide the day’s work, with no leader and every man free to speak; the islanders called it the parliament. Messages to the rest of the world went by bonfire on the summit of Conachair, or, after a journalist named John Sands tried it in 1877 to rescue nine shipwrecked Austrian sailors, by the “St Kilda mailboat”: a piece of wood shaped like a boat, tied to a sheepskin float, with a letter in a tin, launched when the wind blew from the north-west. Wikipedia reports that about two-thirds of them were found on the west coast of Scotland or in Norway.
Cliffs, stacks and birds
The north face of Conachair drops about 427 metres straight into the sea, the highest sea cliff in the United Kingdom, and Stac an Armin (196 metres) and Stac Lee (172 metres) are the highest sea stacks in Britain, by Wikipedia’s figures. The islands hold about 30,000 pairs of northern gannets, which Wikipedia puts at 24 per cent of the world’s population, about 136,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins and 67,000 pairs of fulmars. Two animals live nowhere else, the St Kilda wren and the St Kilda field mouse, both subspecies. The small brown Soay sheep, a Neolithic type, run wild on Hirta and Soay and have been studied for decades; the Boreray sheep left on Boreray in 1930 are now a breed of their own. The last great auk seen in Britain was killed on Stac an Armin in July 1840.
Who is there now
Nobody has lived on St Kilda permanently since 1930, but Hirta is not empty. A military tracking station has stood by the shore since 1957, staffed year-round on rotation by civilians from the defence contractor QinetiQ, and in summer the National Trust for Scotland’s ranger, volunteer work parties and scientists come and go, Wikipedia records. The Trust has re-roofed cottages on the street, restored the church and re-stacked fallen cleitean; one cottage is a small museum. Its ranger meets visitors at the pier with a welcome talk.
The Street: restored cottages and roofless houses in a line, June 2007.
Photograph: Gajtalbot · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Soay sheep among stone walls beside a turf-roofed cleit, July 2023.
Photograph: Hugh Venables · Soay sheep, Hirta - geograph.org.uk - 7560286 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Boreray, Stac an Armin and Stac Lee seen from Hirta, July 2018.
Photograph: Thomas Fuhrmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Conachair above the village, seen across the bay, June 2007.
Photograph: Gajtalbot · Conachair Village Bay St Kilda · CC BY 2.0
- Keep a second day free when you book the boat. The sea decides which of the two you get.
- Shake out your bags and the soles of your boots before you board. Nothing small and hungry should come ashore with you.
- Families lived in these houses. Go along the street at a visitor’s pace, stay on the track between the houses, and move no stone, not even a small one.
- Count the little stone huts on the hill. I made it an item, then two items, then gave up and wrote ‘many’ across the page in large letters.
- Heading home, stay out on deck while the boat circles the tall white stacks, and let the noise of them follow you a long way out.
A cleit. A small drystone hut on the hillside above Village Bay, its walls built with gaps on purpose so the wind could pass through, its domed roof capped with turf to keep off the rain. St Kildans stored and dried their seabirds, eggs, feathers, crops and peat in huts like it from prehistory until 1930, Wikipedia records, and more than twelve hundred still stand on Hirta, many of them re-stacked by the National Trust for Scotland’s work parties.
Tally, in the marginFor some time I sheltered behind it from the weather, before it dawned on me that the wind was going straight through between the stones, and that the hut did not mind at all.
Getting there
How to get there. By boat; there is no other way. Day trips sail in summer from Leverburgh on Harris. Kilda Cruises, for one, leaves Leverburgh at 8 am and reaches St Kilda at about 10.45; passengers have the island until mid-afternoon, then the boat circles the stacks and Boreray and is back at about 7.30 pm. Its 2026 fare was £310 a person (£280 under 14). Other operators sail from Harris and from Skye. To reach Leverburgh from Skye, CalMac’s ferry from Uig to Tarbert takes 1 hour 40 minutes, then it is a drive to the south of Harris. Every visitor lands at the small pier in Village Bay; the National Trust for Scotland asks those on their own boats to come ashore by open tender in daylight, so that no rats come with them.
When to go. Late April to August. Kilda Cruises’ 2026 season ran from 27 April to 29 August, and it describes trips from about mid-April to mid-September in a usual year. Every sailing depends on the sea: Wikipedia notes that swells of five metres often make landing difficult or impossible at any time of year.
What to arrange ahead. Two days, not one. Kilda Cruises keeps a back-up day for every booking and asks passengers to be free on both; it confirms the night before. A bed on Harris either side, warm and waterproof layers, and food for the day. The Trust lists public toilets, a drinking-water tap and a small shop in the manse on the island; it also warns that travel to St Kilda is erratic, so leave room in your plans.
Safety. The State Department has the United Kingdom at Level 2, exercise increased caution, because of terrorism (9 September 2026), with a further note on dissident groups in Northern Ireland. On Hirta the hazards are the place’s own: the open Atlantic crossing, sheer sea cliffs, and an unstable landslide on the slopes of Conachair that the National Trust for Scotland warns about. Follow the ranger’s directions.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where is St Kilda?
St Kilda is a group of islands in the North Atlantic about 65 kilometres west-northwest of North Uist, the westernmost islands of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. Its main island is Hirta. It is not St Kilda in Melbourne, a suburb that Wikipedia records took its name from a ship, the Lady of St Kilda.
Why did people leave St Kilda in 1930?
After the First World War, St Kilda’s population fell from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928, as young men left, four men died of influenza and crops failed. On 29 August 1930 the last 36 islanders sailed for the Scottish mainland on HMS Harebell, a decision Wikipedia records they took collectively themselves.
How do you get to St Kilda?
By day boat in summer, mostly from Leverburgh on Harris. Kilda Cruises leaves Leverburgh at 8 am, reaches St Kilda at about 10.45 and returns at about 7.30 pm; its 2026 fare was £310. Landing at the pier in Village Bay depends on the sea, so operators keep a back-up day.
Does anyone live on St Kilda today?
Not permanently. Since 1957 a military tracking station on Hirta, St Kilda’s main island, has been staffed on rotation by civilian contractors, and in summer the National Trust for Scotland’s ranger, volunteers and scientists stay there. Nobody has lived on St Kilda permanently since its islanders left in 1930.
What is a cleit?
A cleit is a small drystone hut with a domed turf roof, found only on St Kilda, built with gaps between the stones so the wind could dry what was stored inside. St Kildans kept birds, eggs, feathers, crops and peat in them. Wikipedia counts 1,260 on Hirta; the National Trust for Scotland gives about 1,400 across the islands.
Why is St Kilda a World Heritage Site?
St Kilda is listed by UNESCO for both natural and cultural values. It was inscribed in 1986 for its landscape and wildlife, extended to the surrounding sea in 2004, and recognised in 2005 for two millennia of island life, including its village, field systems and cleitean. It holds one of the world’s largest gannet colonies.
Where does the name St Kilda come from?
Nobody knows for certain; there is no saint called Kilda. Wikipedia records that the name first appears in a Dutch pilot book of 1592, and gives two leading theories: a copying error for Skildar, a name on an earlier map (A. B. Taylor), or a well on Hirta called Tobar Childa (William J. Watson).
What seabirds nest on St Kilda?
Wikipedia gives St Kilda about 30,000 pairs of northern gannets, some 24 per cent of the world’s population, as well as about 136,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins, 67,000 pairs of northern fulmars and 49,000 pairs of Leach’s petrels. Dùn has Britain’s largest fulmar colony.