title: Ultima (series)

text: Britannian runes are the most commonly seen script. In many of the games of the series, most signs are written in runic. The runes are based on Germanic runes, but closer to Dwarven runes in Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", which creator Richard Garriott has stated he has read. They gained steadier use since "", which was the first game in the series to use a runic font for in-game signs. Runes in earlier games were mostly found in hard copy materials, such as maps and the decorative covers of booklets. Runes appear less in "" and in later games.


title: Ultima (series)

text: Gargish is the language of the gargoyles of Britannia and the language used in spellcasting within the game. Unlike the runic script, which is usually used simply as a visual cipher for English, the Gargish script encodes a genuine constructed language, based on (but expanding greatly upon) the magical words of power that first saw use in "", as well as the mantras for each of the Shrines of Virtue, which had remained consistent since "". The lexicon mostly comprises deformed or truncated Latinate stems ("flam" "fire" ← Latin "flamma"; "lap" "stone" ← Latin "lapis"; "leg" "to read" ← Latin "legō"), but other origins are also apparent ("uis" "wisdom" ← English "wise"; "kas" "helmet" ← French "casque"). But the grammar is "de novo" and bears little resemblance to Latin, being largely analytic in structure instead. Gargish uses suffixes to denote grammatical tense and aspect, and also in some forms of derivation. The Gargish alphabet is featured in "", though it is seen only in specific game contexts. "" and onward does not feature anything written in the alphabet, with the sole exception of some books to be found in the gargoyle colony in the underwater city of Ambrosia in "". The Gargish language and alphabet were designed by Herman Miller.


title: Ultima (series)

text: The Ophidian alphabet, featured in "Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle", was used by the Ophidian civilization that inhabited the Serpent Isle. It is based on various snake forms. Ophidian lettering was quite difficult to read, so the game included a "Translation" spell that made the letters look like Latin letters.


title: Ultima (series)

text: In the United States, the first five "Ultima" games had collectively sold more than copies for home computers by 1990. In Japan, total sales of Pony Canyon's Japanese versions of the "Ultima" series had reached nearly 100,000 copies on home computers and over 300,000 units on the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System), by 1990.


title: Ultima (series)

text: In 1996, "Next Generation" ranked the "Ultima" series as collectively the 55th top game of all time, commenting that, "While the graphics and playing style change with the technological leaps of the day, [it] has been the most consistent source of roleplaying excitement in history." In 1999, "Next Generation" listed the "Ultima" series as number 18 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Most PC RPGs are about hacking and slashing through anything that moves, usually while crawling through a dungeon. The "Ultima" series, however, has always been firmly grounded in a world where a character's virtues are as important as their armor class in determining success." In 2000, Britannia was included in GameSpot's list of the ten best game worlds, called "the oldest and one of the most historically rich gameworlds."


title: Ultima (series)

text: Many innovations of the early "Ultimas" – in particular "" (1983) – eventually became standard among later RPGs, such as the use of tiled graphics and party-based combat, its mix of fantasy and science-fiction elements, and the introduction of time travel as a plot device. In turn, some of these elements were inspired by "Wizardry", specifically the party-based combat. "Exodus" was also revolutionary in its use of a written narrative to convey a larger story than the typically minimal plots that were common at the time. Most video games – including Garriott's own "Ultima I" and "II" and "Akalabeth" – tended to focus primarily on things like combat without venturing much further. In addition, Garriott would introduce in "Ultima IV" a theme that would persist throughout later "Ultimas" – a system of chivalry and code of conduct in which the player, or "Avatar", is tested periodically (in both obvious and unseen ways) and judged according to his or her actions. This system of morals and ethics was unique, in that in other video games players could for the most part act and do as they wished without having to consider the consequences of their actions.


title: Ultima (series)

text: "Ultima III" would go on to be released for many other platforms and influence the development of such RPGs as "Excalibur" and "Dragon Quest"; and many consider the game to be the first modern CRPG.


title: Ultima (series)

text: On June 30, 2020, Garriott said he was turned down by EA for any attempts to revive or remaster the Ultima series.


title: Ultima (series)

text: Richard Garriott's new company Portalarium developed an RPG/MMORPG that Garriott has described as a clear spiritual successor of the "Ultima" series. On March 8, 2013, Portalarium launched a Kickstarter campaign for "". "Forsaken Virtues" is the first of five full-length episodic installments in "Shroud of the Avatar" and was designed as a "Selective Multiplayer Game". This allowed the player to determine his or her level of multiplayer involvement that ranges from MMO to single player offline. Despite original plans to launch in Summer 2017, with Episodes 2 through 5 estimated for subsequent yearly releases, the first episode would ultimately be released on March 27, 2018 to mixed reception. Further episodes have not yet been released.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Two manga adaptations were published, one each by ASCII Media Works and Square Enix. A light novel was published by Nitroplus in April 2012, titled "Guilty Crown: Princess of Deadpool". A spin-off visual novel for Windows, named "Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas", was also developed by Nitroplus, which came bundled with a 15-minute original video animation (OVA) titled "Guilty Crown: Lost Christmas".


title: Guilty Crown

text: Before the events of the main story, on December 24, 2029, a biological hazard known as the Apocalypse Virus brought on by an impact event plunges Japan into a state of chaos. This event is later named the Lost Christmas incident. Unable to contain the threat, Japan sought international help and the United Nations dispatches an organization known as the GHQ to their aid. The GHQ successfully contains the outbreak and restores a level of normality at the cost of Japan's independence. Ten years later, a resistance organization known as the Funeral Parlor wages a campaign against the GHQ to liberate Japan once more.


title: Guilty Crown

text: In the Roppongi district of Tokyo, high school student Shu Ouma encounters a wounded girl named Inori Yuzuriha, the vocalist of a popular internet group Egoist, taking refuge at his film club's workshop. The GHQ Anti Bodies storm the workshop and arrest her for involvement with Funeral Parlor. Shu follows the coordinates of Inori's robot to a drop zone where he meets Funeral Parlor's leader, Gai Tsutsugami, who asks him to safeguard a vial. As the Anti-Bodies begin attacking the Roppongi area looking for the vial, it shatters as Shu goes to rescue Inori when she becomes threatened by GHQ Endlave mechs. The vial contains the Void Genome, a powerful genetic weapon derived from the Apocalypse Virus that grants Shu the "Power of the King", an ability that allows his right hand to extract Voids, weapons of people's psyche given physical form. Shu then extracts Inori's Void and destroys the attacking Endlaves.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Upon deciding to join Funeral Parlor, Shu begins to fall in love with Inori, who bears a striking resemblance to his late sister, Mana. However, he deserts the group after causing the death of a classmate's younger brother during one of his missions. In Shu's absence, Funeral Parlor attempt to steal from GHQ the meteorite that originally caused the Apocalypse Virus outbreak. In the process, Gai and his forces fall into a trap as the Anti-Bodies decimate their ranks with a "genetic resonance" broadcast that unleashes the Virus throughout Tokyo. Amidst the chaos, the Anti-Bodies' leader, Shūichirō Keido, seizes control of the GHQ and directs his attention towards wiping out the remains of Funeral Parlor.


title: Guilty Crown

text: After learning his former comrades are in imminent danger of annihilation, Shu races to the center of Tokyo to rescue them. With the help of his classmates, he breaks through the barricade where they are being pinned down. Meanwhile, Inori begins to reverse the effects of the outbreak through a resonance broadcast channeled by one of her songs. This sudden change in fortune proves only temporary when Yu, a mysterious boy possessing the "Power of the King", appears out of thin air and kidnaps Inori, causing the outbreak to resume with full force.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Shu finds Inori being held captive by Keido, who is using her as part of a "marriage ceremony" to resurrect Mana. Keido explains Inori was created to provide a physical body for Mana's soul so she could give birth to a new human race once the present population was destroyed by the Apocalypse Virus. Shu's repressed memories suddenly return, causing him to remember how Mana was the first to be infected by the virus, and her mental breakdown resulted in the events of Lost Christmas. Shu also recalls from his past that Gai is none other than Triton, a childhood friend he first met ten years ago when Mana rescued him from the sea. With Gai's help, Shu frees Inori from Keido's grasp before stabbing Mana's stasis pod. Shu's actions save the world from the Virus, but Gai is killed in the process.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Two weeks later, the GHQ under Keido's leadership seals off the area surrounding Roppongi, now called Loop 7, before proceeding to systematically eliminate the inhabitants within. A large number of teenagers take refuge at Tennouzu High School along with Funeral Parlor members Shu, Inori, Ayase and Tsugumi. With food and vaccine supplies running low, Shu is elected the new student council president. Despite initially aspiring to provide just governance to those under his charge, his leadership grows increasingly despotic and cynical after his initial refusal to adopt the exclusionary Voids-Ranking system leads to the death of his close friend and love interest, Hare Menjou.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Shu and the others eventually break out of Loop 7. However, upon their escape, a resurrected Gai suddenly appears and severs Shu's right arm before transferring the Void Genome to himself. In order to insure Shu's escape, Inori single-handedly holds off GHQ until their forces overwhelm her. Shortly thereafter, Shu's stepmother, Haruka Ohma, betrays the GHQ and steals the third Void Genome. Shu ultimately injects himself with it before assuming command of Funeral Parlor to rescue Inori and free Japan once and for all.


title: Guilty Crown

text: After Gai broadcasts a message to the world not to interfere with GHQ's actions in Japan, he joins Yu and Keido in preparing Mana's resurrection in Inori's body. It is revealed that GHQ is merely serving as a front for Da'ath, an ancient cult seeking to forcefully bring about mankind's evolution with the Apocalypse Virus. As the virus begins spreading across the planet from Tokyo Tower, Funeral Parlor and its allies mount a massive offensive against Tokyo Bay to save the world.


title: Guilty Crown

text: In the series' climactic final battle, Shu manages to defeat Yu and Gai while Funeral Parlor destroys GHQ's forces. Seeing his plans ruined beyond repair, Keido commits suicide by injecting himself with the virus. A dying Gai explains to Shu that he helped Da'ath so Mana could fulfill her cursed role as the Fourth Apocalypse's Eve. With her role completed, he says that Mana is finally able to rest in peace. Gai also admits that he is fully aware his actions were also wrong, and that being hated by his comrades and Shu wanting to kill him makes it fair and square. He chooses to die with Mana as the Virus envelops them both. Upon coming across a heavily infected Inori, Shu embraces her and activates his Void to absorb all traces of the Apocalypse Virus into himself. Before he is consumed, Inori saves Shu by sacrificing her body to destroy the virus permanently. With the virus finally eradicated, the GHQ Tower collapses and everyone escapes. Some years later, Ayase, Tsugumi, Yahiro, Kanon, Souta and a now blind Shu celebrate Hare's birthday in a rebuilt Tokyo.


title: Guilty Crown

text: In the making of the series, the staff wanted to make "the next generation of anime with this show." For this they wanted it to be an original anime rather than an adaptation. The staff also wanted it to be a "two-season show" regardless of possible difficulties. The basic concept of the show is in a "Japanese style, a Japanese concept, and that is what makes it more original than other shows." When asked about similarities between Shu and "Neon Genesis Evangelion"s lead Shinji Ikari, the staff answered they are both passive characters although they found Shinji more passive.


title: Guilty Crown

text: When asked what circumstances led to his involvement, Redjuice responded that the production staff's illustrators and animators felt that his concept art exhibited a sense of compatibility with the final product. While Ryo of Supercell was providing the insert songs for the show, Redjuice himself was not participating in the project as a member of Supercell. Besides liking Inori, the main heroine of "Guilty Crown", Redjuice stated that he had done many drawings of Tsugumi. The staff had no qualms with the catlike ears of Tsugumi so Redjuice feels that he has slipped his personal tastes into the series. Redjuice also likes Kanon although she was not originally written into the scenario. As Redjuice has not worked with 3D CG much, he was able to learn a lot from the staff at Production I.G.


title: Guilty Crown

text: The music used in the "Guilty Crown" anime is composed by Hiroyuki Sawano. Both the opening and ending themes of "Guilty Crown" are written by Supercell. The first opening theme is titled "My Dearest" and is performed by Koeda. The CD single for "My Dearest" was released on November 23, 2011. The first ending theme is titled and is performed by Egoist, a fictional band from the series. The single for "Departures (Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta)" was released on November 30, 2011. A 17-year-old artist named Chelly provided the vocals. Chelly was picked by Ryo of Supercell after an audition of 2,000 candidates. Chelly also sang the insert songs in "Guilty Crown". The second opening theme is "The Everlasting Guilty Crown" by Egoist and the second ending theme is by Supercell.


title: Guilty Crown

text: "Guilty Crown" was directed by Tetsuro Araki with the series' script supervision being handled by Hiroyuki Yoshino and assisted by Ichirō Ōkouchi. Jin Hanegaya from Nitroplus will also be assisting with the screenplay. The mechanical designs were done by Atsushi Takeuchi and prop designs handled by Yō Moriyama. The original character designs were drawn by Redjuice, with Hiromi Katō providing the character designs for the anime. Yusuke Takeda was the anime's art director. The animation production was done by Production I.G's Division 6.


title: Guilty Crown

text: An Internet radio show named "Guilty Crown Radio Council" to promote "Guilty Crown" began airing every other Friday starting on October 7, 2011. The show is hosted by Yūki Kaji, the voice actor of Shu Ouma, and Ai Kayano, the voice actress of Inori Yuzuriha.


title: Guilty Crown

text: New York Anime Festival screened the first two episodes of "Guilty Crown" on October 15, 2011. The screening of the second episode was a world premiere as the episode did not air in Japan until October 20, 2011. At Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011, Funimation announced that it would simulcast the series in October, followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release in 2012. "Guilty Crown" was later available on Netflix.


title: Guilty Crown

text: A manga adaptation titled "Guilty Crown", written by Yōsuke Miyagi and illustrated by Shion Mizuki, was serialized in Square Enix's "Monthly Shōnen Gangan" between the November 2011 and December 2013 issues. Square Enix released seven "tankōbon" volumes between January 21, 2012, and December 21, 2013. The manga adpatation is based first half anime with second half anime both some elements and storylines. A second manga titled "Guilty Crown: Dancing Endlaves", written by Gan Sunaaku and illustrated by Ryōsuke Fukai, was serialized in ASCII Media Works' "Dengeki G's Magazine" between the July 2012 and May 2014 issues. Three volumes were released between January 26, 2013, and May 27, 2014.


title: Guilty Crown

text: A side story novel titled "Guilty Crown: Princess of Deadpool" was written by Gan Sunaaku from Nitroplus, with illustrations done by a Production I.G and Nitroplus collaboration. A special version that came along with a special book cover was first sold at Anime Contents Expo 2012 in between March 31 and April 1, while the official release was on April 25. The first chapter was put up for public reading.


title: Guilty Crown

text: Nitroplus developed a spin-off visual novel for Windows, named . The visual novel was previously known as "Lost X". The scenario writer for this game is Jin Hanegaya, who also penned "Demonbane". The game focuses on the "Lost Christmas" incident. The full version of the game includes a short 10-minute anime.


title: Guilty Crown

text: The series received mixed critical reaction. Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network commended the series' bravery on reinventing its plot but described the plot as jumbled and continued the trend of weak characters and clichés. Aiden Foote of THEM Anime Reviews agreed with Kimlinger on the presentation and plot and added that the characters are unsympathetic with back stories that do not add depth to them. On the other hand, Foote remarks the aesthetics and the musical appeal, stating that "Guilty Crown is its own jewel in terms of music, visual flare and design from the characters to the setting, to the set pieces." Chris Beveridge from The Fandom Post commented "While it goes big and throws a lot at us, the end result that defines the rest of the season is one that works fantastically well for me because it introduces radical change into the series." He praised Shu's character development as well as the setting chosen for its second half.


title: Guilty Crown

text: DVD Talk's Kyle Mills gave the series more praise, noting that despite small criticism "the 1st 11 episodes of the series are great." He praised the story and setting but criticized the development of certain characters comparing them to "flaws" "Gurren Lagann" made. UK Anime Network commented on the series' second half that the series "bites off more than it can chew, and at times the fervent mastication that comes from this leaves certain aspects of its narrative as something of a sloppy mess, but there's still an interesting story being told here and much of it is delivered in an enjoyable fashion thanks to a superb soundtrack, slick action set pieces, and some strong ideas that make good use of the show's cast of characters." Despite criticism, Andy Hanley of UK Anime Network praised the animation as "visually eye-catching."


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai (Tamil: "Tiruvaṇṇāmalai" IPA: , otherwise spelt "Thiruvannamalai"; is a city, a spiritual, cultural, economic hub and also the administrative headquarters of Tiruvannamalai District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city is home to the renowned "Annamalaiyar temple"", Annamalai hill, Girivalam" and the "Karthigai deepam" festival. Being a prominent tourist destination which attracts considerable foreign visitors. The city is one of the cities featured in lonely planet. the city has a thriving service sector industry including retail, resorts and recreation activities. Apart from the service sector, the city is also the hub for many industrial setups including "SIDCO", spinning mills and premier educational institutions. The city is administered by the Tiruvanamalai Municipality, originally constituted in the year 1886. The city has a good network of roadways and railways and a popular getaway to the Megacities of Chennai and Bengaluru. The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation is considering setting up a new airport at Tiruvannamalai.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: In Hinduism, Parvati, wife of Shiva, once closed the eyes of her husband playfully in a flower garden at their abode atop Mount Kailash. Although only a moment for the gods, all light was taken from the universe, and the earth, in turn, was submerged in darkness for years. Parvati performed penance with other devotees of Shiva, and her husband appeared as a big column of fire at the top of Annamalai hills, returning light to the world. He then merged with Parvati to form Ardhanarishvara, the half-female, half-male form of Shiva. The Annamalai, or red mountain, lies behind the Annamalaiyar temple, and is associated with the temple of its namesake. The hill is sacred and considered a "lingam", or iconic representation of Shiva, in itself.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Another legend is that once, while Vishnu and Brahma contested for superiority, Shiva appeared as a flame, and challenged them to find his source. Brahma took the form of a swan, and flew to the sky to see the top of the flame, while Vishnu became the boar Varaha, and sought its base. The scene is called "lingothbava", and is represented in the western wall at the sanctum of most Shiva temples. Neither Brahma nor Vishnu could find the source, and while Vishnu conceded his defeat, Brahma lied and said he had found the pinnacle. In punishment, Shiva ordained that Brahma would never have temples on earth in his worship. In Tamil, the word "Arunam" means red or fire and "Asalam" means hill. Since Shiva manifested himself in the form of fire in this place, this name Arunachalam came to be associated with Annamalai hill and the city. The first mention of "Annamalai" is found in "Tevaram", the seventh century Tamil Saiva canonical work by Appar and Tirugnanasambandar.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The history of Tiruvannamalai revolves around the Annamalaiyar Temple. The recorded history of the city dates back to the ninth century, as seen from a Chola inscriptions in the temple. Further inscriptions made before ninth century indicate the rule of Pallava kings, whose capital was Kanchipuram. The seventh century Nayanar saints Sambandar and Appar wrote of the temple in their poetic work, "Tevaram". Sekkizhar, the author of the "Periyapuranam" records both Appar and Sambandar worshiped Annamalaiyar in the temple. The Chola Kings ruled over the region for more than four centuries, from 850 to 1280, and were temple patrons. The inscriptions from the Chola king record various gifts like land, sheep, cow and oil to the temple commemorating various victories of the dynasty.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Hoysala kings used Tiruvannamalai as their capital beginning in 1328 as their empire in Karnataka was annexed by the Delhi Sultanate and fought off the invasions from Madurai Sultans and Sultanate governors in the Deccan until 1346. There are 48 inscriptions from the Sangama Dynasty (1336–1485), two inscriptions from Saluva Dynasty (1485-1405), and 55 inscriptions from Tuluva Dynasty (1505–1571) of the Vijayanagara Empire, reflecting gifts to the temple from their rulers. There are also inscriptions from the rule of Krishnadeva Raya (1509–1529), the most powerful Vijayanagara emperor, indicating further patronage. Most of the Vijayanagara inscriptions were written in Tamil, with some in Kannada and Sanskrit. The inscriptions in the temple from the Vijayanagara kings indicate emphasis on administrative matters and local concerns, which contrasts the inscriptions of the same rulers in other temples like Tirupathi. The majority of the gift related inscriptions are for land endowments, followed by goods, cash endowments, cows and oil for lighting lamps. The city of Tiruvannamalai was at a strategic crossroads during the Vijayanagara Empire, connecting sacred centers of pilgrimage and military routes. There are inscriptions that show the area as an urban center before the precolonial period, with the city developing around the temple, similar to the Nayak ruled cities like Madurai.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: During the 18th century, Tiruvannamalai came under the dominion of the Nawab of the Carnatic. As the Mughal empire came to an end, the Nawab lost control of the city, with confusion and chaos ensuing after 1753. Subsequently, there were periods of both Hindu and Muslim stewardship of the temple, with Muraru Raya, Krishna Raya, Mrithis Ali Khan, and Burkat Ullakhan besieging the temple in succession. As European incursions progressed, Tiruvannamalai was attacked by French Soupries, Sambrinet, and the English Captain Stephen Smith. While some were repelled, others were victorious. The French occupied the city in 1757 and it came under the control of the British in 1760. In 1790, Tiruvannamalai city was captured by Tippu Sultan, who ruled from 1782 to 1799. During the first half of the 19th century, the city came under British rule.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai is situated from the state capital Chennai and from Bangalore. The height of the Annamalai hill is approximately . Tiruvannamalai is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is located to the east of Eastern Ghats. The topography of Tiruvannamalai is almost plain sloping from west to east. The temperature ranges from a maximum of to a minimum of . Like the rest of the state, April to June are the hottest months and December to January are the coldest. Tiruvannamalai receives scanty rainfall with an average of annually, which is lesser than the state average of . The southwest monsoon with an onset in June and lasting up to August brings scanty rainfall. Bulk of the rainfall is received during the northeast monsoon in the months of October, November and December. The average humidity of the city is 77% and varies between 67% to 86%. During the summer months of April to June, the humidity ranges from 47% to 63%. The municipality covers an area of


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: According to the provisional population totals of the 2011 census, Tiruvannamalai UA had a population of 145278, with 72406 males and 72872 females. The sex ratio of the city was 1,000 and the child sex ratio stood at 960. Tiruvannamalai had an average literacy rate of 81.64% with male literacy being 85.6%, and female literacy being 77.7%. A total of 14,530 of the population of the city was under 6 years of age.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: According to 2011 census, Tiruvannamalai had a population of 145,278 with a sex-ratio of 1,006 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 15,524 were under the age of six, constituting 7,930 males and 7,594 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 12.37% and 1.22% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the city was 78.38%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The city had a total of 33,514 households. There were a total of 50,722 workers, comprising 583 cultivators, 580 main agricultural labourers, 994 in house hold industries, 44,535 other workers, 4,030 marginal workers, 84 marginal cultivators, 105 marginal agricultural labourers, 421 marginal workers in household industries and 3,420 other marginal workers. As per the religious census of 2011, Tiruvannamalai had 82.57% Hindus, 14.07% Muslims, 2.79% Christians, 0.01% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, 0.4% Jains, 0.13% following other religions and 0.01% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The maximum decadal growth of population in Tiruvannamalai was observed during 1971–81 and had reduced growth rate from 1981 due to the increased amount of industrial activity that took place outside the city. The density of the city was 45 per hectare during 1971 and increased to 90 during 1999. A total (32.75%) of the land is used for residential, (3.58%) for commercial, (1.63%) for industrial, (2.88%) for public & semi public, (2.22%) for educational and (56.94%) for non-urban purposes.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai is a temple city and a major pilgrimage centre in Tamil Nadu. The city is the marketing and service city for the surrounding places. Being the administrative headquarters of the Tiruvannamalai district, Tiruvannamalai has a lot of tertiary sector activities. Trade and commerce and service activities are the major contributors to the economy of the city. In 1991, 7.93% of the population was involved in primary sector, 21.34% in secondary sector and 70.73% in tertiary sector activities. The city had a female work participation of 11%. Due to the urbanisation from 1971, there has been dip in primary sector activities and a proportional increase in the tertiary sector activities. There is limited agricultural activity within the city limits. The secondary sector involves manufacturing and construction, whose growth has remained stable over the decades. There are a number of oil mills, rice mills and agro based industries within the Tiruvannamalai city limits. The tertiary sector activities of trade, commerce, transport, storage, communication and other services has been increasing due to the increasing number of tourists to the city. The patronage to Girivalam has increased informal economic activities around the city. The major commercial activities are concentrated around Car Street, Thiruvoodal Street, Kadambarayan Street, Asaliamman Koil Street, Sivanpada Street and Polur Road.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: All major nationalised banks such as State Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, Union Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, DBS Bank, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Karur Vysya Bank and City Union Bank have their branches in Tiruvannamalai. All these banks have their automated teller machines located in various parts of the city. Apart from major banks the city also has many small finance banks and their automated teller machines.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Annamalaiyar Temple is the most prominent landmark of Tiruvannamalai. The temple complex covers an area of , and is one of the largest temples in India. It houses four gateway towers known as "gopurams". The tallest is the eastern tower, with 11 stories and a height of , making it one of the tallest temple towers in India. The temple has numerous shrines, with those of Annamalaiyar and Unnamulai Amman being the most prominent. The temple complex houses many halls; the most notable is the thousand-pillared hall built during the Vijayanagar period.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Annamalaiyar temple is one of the "Pancha Bhoota Stala"s, or five Shiva temples, with each a manifestation of a natural element: land, water, air, sky or fire. In Annamalaiyar temple, Shiva is said to have manifested himself as a massive column of fire, whose crown and feet could not be found by the Hindu gods, Brahma and Vishnu. "Aathara Stala" are Shiva temples which are considered to be personifications of the Tantric chakras of human anatomy. The Annamalaiyar temple is called the "Manipooraga stalam", and is associated with the "Manipooraga" chakra. The temple is revered in "Tevaram", the Tamil Saiva canon and classified as "Paadal Petra Sthalam", one of the 276 temples that find mention in the Saiva canon.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The most important festival of the Annamalaiyar temple is celebrated during the Tamil month of "Karthikai", between November and December, concluding with the celebration of Karthikai Deepam. A huge lamp is lit in a cauldron, containing three tons of ghee, at the top of the Annamalai hills during the Deepam. To mark the occasion, the festival deity of Annamalaiyar circumambulates the mountain. Inscriptions indicate that the festival was celebrated as early as the Chola period (850–1280) and was expanded to ten days in the twentieth century.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Every full moon, tens of thousands of pilgrims worship Annamalaiyar by circumambulating the Annamalai hill barefoot. The circumambulation covers a distance of , and is referred as "Girivalam". According to Hindu legend, the walk removes sins, fulfils desires and helps achieve freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Offerings are made in a string of tanks, shrines, pillared meditation halls, springs and caves around the hill.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tirumalai is an ancient Jain temple complex in the outskirts of Tiruvannamalai that houses three Jain caves, four Jain temples and a high sculpture of Neminatha dated from the 12th century and the tallest Jain image in Tamil Nadu.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Ramana Ashram and ashram of Yogi Ramsuratkumar, located around the Annamalai hill are popular visitor attractions of Tiruvannamalai. The Sathanur Dam over the Thenpennai river located southwest of the city is a prominent picnic spot. This 786.37 m Dam is 44.81m high and can store 7,321,000,000 cu ft or 207,300,000 cubic meters of water. A scenic park is also present adjacent to this dam. Ulagalantha Perumal Temple in Tirukoilur, situated south of Tiruvannamalai and Thiruvarangam are prominent Vishnu temples that are located around Tiruvannamalai.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Tindivanam – Krishnagiri national highway, NH 77 and the Vellore – Tuticorin Port National highway NH 38 pass through Tiruvannamalai. The city has eight arterial roads that connects it to other towns. The Tiruvannamalai municipality maintains a total length of . The city has concrete roads, BT roads, of WBM roads and earthen roads. A total of 452 roads is maintained by the State Highways Department.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai is served by the city bus service operated by the TNSTC, which provides connectivity within the city and the suburbs. There are private operated mini-bus services that cater to the local transport needs of the city. The main bus stand covers an area of and is located in the heart of the city. There are regular inter-city bus services to Tiruvannamalai. The TNSTC operates daily services connecting various cities to Tiruvannamalai. The corporation operates a computerised reservation centre in the bus stand of the city. The SETC operates long-distance buses connecting the city to important cities like Chennai, Puducherry and Bengaluru. The major inter city bus routes from the city are to cities and towns like Chennai, Bengaluru, Vettavalam, Villupuram, Puducherry, Arani, Tindivanam, Tirukoilur, Avalurpet, Kanchipuram, Chengam, Sathanur, Sankarapuram and Manalurpet.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai railway station is located in the rail head from Katpadi to Villupuram and falls under the Tiruchchirapalli division of the Southern Railway. The Rameshwaram-Tirupati bi-weekly expresses connects Tiruvannamalai to the cities of Madurai and Tirupati in either directions. There are also passenger trains running either side from Katpadi to Villupuram.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: The Tiruvannamalai municipality was established in 1886 during British times. It was promoted to a second-grade municipal municipality in 1959, first grade in 1974, selection grade in 1998 and special grade in 2008. The municipality has 39 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those wards. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT). All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 39 members, one each from the 39 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected chairperson assisted by a deputy chairperson.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Tiruvannamalai comes under the Tiruvannamalai assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years. From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) seven times during the 1977, 1989, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections, the Indian National Congress party three times during the 1980, 1984 and 1991 elections. The current MLA of the constituency is E.V. Velu from DMK.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: During the 1957 elections, Tiruvannamalai was a part of Tiruvannamalai parliamentary constituency and was held by an independent. From the 1962 to 2004 elections, the city was part of Tirupattur constituency. The Dravida Muneetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the seat nine times during the 1962, 1967, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 elections and the Indian National Congress won it three times during the 1984, 1989 and 1991 elections and AIADMK once during the 2014 elections. From the 2009 elections, Tiruvannamalai is a part of the Tiruvannamalai (Lok Sabha constituency) – it has the following six assembly constituencies – Jolarpet, Tirupattur, Chengam (SC), Tiruvannamalai, Kilpennathur and Kalasapakkam. The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is C N Annadurai from the DMK party.


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: Law and order in the city is maintained by the Tiruvannamalai sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Deputy Superintendent (DSP). There are three police stations in the city, one of them being an all-women police station. There are special units like prohibition enforcement, district crime, social justice and human rights, district crime records and special branch that operate at the district level police division headed by a Superintendent of Police (SP).


title: Tiruvannamalai

text: There are 45 elementary schools, 12 high schools and 28 higher secondary schools in Tiruvannamalai. There are seven arts & science colleges, six engineering colleges, 1 law college and 2 medical college in the city. Electricity supply to Tiruvannamalai is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city along with its suburbs forms the Tiruvannamalai Electricity Distribution Circle. Water supply is provided by the municipality of Tiruvannamalai from the Thenpennai river and Samuthiram through feeders located in various parts of the city. In the period 2000–2001, a total of 12.5 million litres of water was supplied every day for households in the city. About 52 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from Tiruvannamalai every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the municipality. The coverage of solid waste management had an efficiency of 75% in 2001. The city has underground drainage system which came to existence fully in the year 2013–2014 and the sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks, open drains and public conveniences. The municipality maintains a total of of storm water drains in Tiruvannamalai. There is three government hospitals, one southern railway hospital, two municipal maternity hospital, two Siddha hospitals, five health centres and 126 private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health care needs of the citizens. There are a total of 13,570 street lamps in Tiruvannamalai: 2,496 sodium lamps, 1061 mercury vapour lamps, 10,010 tube lights and 112 high mast beam lamp. The municipality operates seven markets, namely the Jothi flower market, vegetable market and uzhavar santhai, poomalai market, Angalamman koil market, Perumbakkam road market that cater to the needs of the city and the rural areas around it.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: St Kilda () is an isolated archipelago situated west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom; three other islands (Dùn, Soay and Boreray) were also used for grazing and seabird hunting. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The origin of the name "St Kilda" is a matter of conjecture. The islands' human heritage includes numerous unique architectural features from the historic and prehistoric periods, although the earliest written records of island life date from the Late Middle Ages. The medieval village on Hirta was rebuilt in the 19th century, but illnesses brought by increased external contacts through tourism, and the upheaval of the First World War contributed to the island's evacuation in 1930. The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including Michael Powell's film "The Edge of the World" and an opera.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Permanent habitation on the islands possibly extends back two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180; its peak was in the late 17th century. The population was 112 in 1851. According to the 1861 census, there were 71 inhabitants at that time; over subsequent years, the population ebbed and waned, eventually dropping to 36 as of May 1930. Virtually all of the population lived on Hirta. The entire remaining population was evacuated from Hirta, the only inhabited island, in 1930.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The islands house a unique form of stone structure known as . A cleit is a stone storage hut or bothy; while many still exist, they are slowly falling into disrepair. There are known to be 1,260 on Hirta and a further 170 on the other group islands. Currently, the only year-round residents are military personnel; a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It became one of Scotland's six World Heritage Sites in 1986, and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for both its natural and cultural qualities. Parties of volunteers work on the islands in the summer to restore the many ruined buildings that the native St Kildans left behind. They share the island with a small military base established in 1957.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Two different early sheep types have survived on these remote islands, the Soay, a Neolithic type, and the Boreray, an Iron Age type. The islands are a breeding ground for many important seabird species including northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, and northern fulmars. The St Kilda wren and St Kilda field mouse are endemic subspecies.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Various theories have been proposed for the origin of the word "Kilda", which dates from the late 16th century. No saint is known by the name. Haswell-Smith (2004) notes that the full name "St Kilda" first appears on a Dutch map dated 1666, and that it might have been derived from Norse "sunt kelda" ("sweet wellwater") or from a mistaken Dutch assumption that the spring "Tobar Childa" was dedicated to a saint. ("Tobar Childa" is a tautological placename, consisting of the Gaelic and Norse words for "well", i.e., "well well"). Martin Martin, who visited in 1697, believed that the name "is taken from one Kilder, who lived here; and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Maclean (1972) similarly suggests it comes from a corruption of the Old Norse name for the spring on Hirta, "Childa", and states that a 1588 map identifies the archipelago as "Kilda". He also speculates that it refers to the "Culdees", anchorites who might have brought Christianity to the island, or be a corruption of the Gaelic name, Hirta, for the main island of the group, since the islanders tended to pronounce "r" as "l", and thus habitually referred to the island as "Hilta." Steel (1988) adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the "H" with a "somewhat guttural quality", making the sound they used for "Hirta" "almost" "Kilta". Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, leniting to /h/, e.g. "ann an Tirte" () and "gu Hirte" ().


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Maclean (1972) further suggests that the Dutch simply made a cartographical error, and confused Hirta with "Skildar", the old name for Haskeir island much nearer the main Outer Hebrides archipelago. Quine (2000) hypothesises that the name is derived from a series of cartographical errors, starting with the use of the Old Icelandic "Skildir" ("shields") and appearing as "Skildar" on a map by Nicholas de Nicolay (1583). This, so the hypothesis goes, was transcribed in error by the Dutch cartographer Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing "r" and with a full stop after the "S", creating "S.Kilda". This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by others, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, "St Kilda".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The origin of "Hirta", which long pre-dates "St Kilda", is similarly open to interpretation. Martin (1703) avers that "Hirta is taken from the Irish "Ier", which in that language signifies west". Maclean offers several options, including an (unspecified) Celtic word meaning "gloom" or "death", or the Scots Gaelic "h-Iar-Tìr" ("westland"). Drawing on an Icelandic saga describing an early 13th-century voyage to Ireland that mentions a visit to the islands of "Hirtir", he speculates that the shape of Hirta resembles a stag, ("Hirtir" meaning "stags" in Norse). Steel (1998) quotes the view of Reverend Neil Mackenzie, who lived there from 1829 to 1844, that the name is derived from the Gaelic "Ì Àrd" ("high island"), and a further possibility that it is from the Norse "Hirt" ("shepherd"). In a similar vein, Murray (1966) speculates that the Norse "Hirðö", pronounced 'Hirtha' ("herd island"), could be another origin of the name. All the names of and on the islands are fully discussed by Coates (1990).


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The islands are composed of Tertiary igneous formations of granites and gabbro, heavily weathered by the elements. The archipelago represents the remnants of a long-extinct ring volcano rising from a seabed plateau approximately below sea level.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: At in extent, Hirta is the largest island in the group and comprises more than 78% of the land area of the archipelago. Next in size are Soay (English: "sheep island") at and Boreray ('the fortified isle'), which measures . Soay is north-west of Hirta, Boreray 6 kilometres (4 mi) to the northeast. Smaller islets and stacks in the group include Stac an Armin ('warrior's stack'), Stac Lee ('grey stack') and Stac Levenish ('stream' or 'torrent'). The island of Dùn ('fort'), which protects Village Bay from the prevailing southwesterly winds, was at one time joined to Hirta by a natural arch. MacLean (1972) suggests that the arch was broken when struck by a galleon fleeing the defeat of the Spanish Armada, but other sources, such as Mitchell (1992) and Fleming (2005), suggest that the arch was simply swept away by one of the many fierce storms that batter the islands every winter.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The highest point in the archipelago, Conachair ('the beacon') at , is on Hirta, immediately north of the village. In the southeast is Oiseval ('east fell'), which reaches , and Mullach Mòr ('big hill summit') 361 metres (1,185 ft) is due west of Conachair. Ruival ('red fell') and Mullach Bi ('pillar summit') dominate the western cliffs. Boreray reaches and Soay . The extraordinary Stac an Armin reaches , and Stac Lee, , making them the highest sea stacks in Britain.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In modern times, St Kilda's only settlement was at Village Bay ( or ) on the east side of Hirta. Gleann Mòr on the north coast of Hirta and Boreray also contain the remains of earlier habitations. The sea approach to Hirta into Village Bay suggests a small settlement flanked by high rolling hills in a semicircle behind it. This is misleading. The whole north face of Conachair is a vertical cliff up to high, falling sheer into the sea and constituting the highest sea cliff in the UK.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The archipelago is the site of many of the most spectacular sea cliffs in the British Isles. Baxter and Crumley (1988) suggest that St Kilda: "...is a mad, imperfect God's hoard of all unnecessary lavish landscape luxuries he ever devised in his madness. These he has scattered at random in Atlantic isolation 100 miles from the corrupting influences of the mainland, 40 miles west of the westmost Western Isles. He has kept for himself only the best pieces and woven around them a plot as evidence of his madness."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Although from the nearest land, St Kilda is visible from as far as the summit ridges of the Skye Cuillin, some distant. The climate is oceanic with high rainfall, , and high humidity. Temperatures are generally cool, averaging in January and in July. The prevailing winds, especially strong in winter, are southerly and southwesterly. Wind speeds average approximately 85 percent of the time and more than more than 30 percent of the time. Gale-force winds occur less than 2 percent of the time, but gusts of and more occur regularly on the high tops, and speeds of have occasionally been recorded near sea level. The tidal range is , and ocean swells of frequently occur, which can make landings difficult or impossible at any time of year. The oceanic location protects the islands from snow, which lies for only about a dozen days per year.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The archipelago's remote location and oceanic climate are matched in the UK only by a few smaller outlying islands such as the Flannan Isles, North Rona, Sula Sgeir, and the Bishop's Isles at the southern edge of the Outer Hebrides. Administratively, St Kilda was part of the parish of Harris in the traditional county of Inverness-shire. Today it is incorporated in the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles) unitary authority.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: It has been known for some time that St Kilda was continuously inhabited for two millennia or more, from the Bronze Age to the 20th century. In 2015, the first direct evidence of earlier Neolithic settlement emerged, shards of pottery of the Hebridean ware style, found to the east of the village. The subsequent discovery of a quarry for stone tools on Mullach Sgar above Village Bay led to finds of numerous stone hoe-blades, grinders and Skaill knives in the Village Bay "cleitean", unique stone storage buildings (see below). These tools are also probably of Neolithic origin. The pottery sherds appear to have been made of local material, rather than material brought from other islands in the Hebrides, suggesting that the islands were settled in the 4th millennium BC.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Archeologists working at the archipelago between 2017 and 2019 confirmed habitation as long as 2,000 years ago. Finds included Iron Age pottery and some shards that might be from Bronze Age pottery. The director of the project told BBC News that the work "revealed that the eastern end of Village Bay on St Kilda was occupied fairly intensively during the Iron Age period, although no house structures were found".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The first written record of St Kilda may date from 1202 when an Icelandic cleric wrote of taking shelter on "the islands that are called Hirtir". Early reports mentioned finds of brooches, an iron sword and Danish coins, and the enduring Norse place names indicate a sustained Viking presence on Hirta, but the visible evidence has been lost. In the late 14th century John of Fordun referred to it as 'the isle of Irte ("insula de Irte"), which is agreed to be under the Circius and on the margins of the world'. The islands were historically part of the domain of the MacLeods of Harris, whose steward was responsible for the collection of rents in kind and other duties. The first detailed report of a visit to the islands dates from 1549, when Donald Munro suggested that: "The inhabitants thereof simple poor people, scarce in religion, but M'Cloyd of Herray, his , or he he in sic office, in the at midsummer, with some chaplaine to baptize ."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: At this time the islanders' isolation and dependence on the bounty of the natural world meant their philosophy bore as much relationship to Druidism as it did to Christianity. Macauley (1764) reported the existence of five druidic altars, including a large circle of stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground near the Stallir House on Boreray.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Coll MacDonald of Colonsay raided Hirta in 1615, removing 30 sheep and a quantity of barley. Thereafter, the islands developed a reputation for abundance. At the time of Martin's visit in 1697 the population was 180 and the steward travelled with a "company" of up to 60 persons to which he "elected the most 'meagre' among his friends in the neighbouring islands, to that number and took them periodically to St. Kilda to enjoy the nourishing and plentiful, if primitive, fare of the island, and so be restored to their wonted health and strength."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Visiting ships in the 18th century brought cholera and smallpox. In 1727, the loss of life was so high that too few residents remained to man the boats, and new families were brought in from Harris to replace them. By 1758 the population had risen to 88 and reached just under 100 by the end of the century. This figure remained fairly constant from the 18th century until 1851, when 36 islanders emigrated to Australia on board the "Priscilla", a loss from which the island never fully recovered. The emigration was in part a response to the laird's closure of the church and manse for several years during the Disruption that created the Free Church of Scotland.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: A missionary called Alexander Buchan went to St Kilda in 1705, but despite his long stay, the idea of organised religion did not take hold. This changed when Rev. John MacDonald, the "Apostle of the North", arrived in 1822. He set about his mission with zeal, preaching 13 lengthy sermons during his first 11 days. He returned regularly and raised funds on behalf of the St Kildans, although privately he was appalled by their lack of religious knowledge. The islanders took to him with enthusiasm and wept when he left for the last time eight years later. His successor, who arrived on 3 July 1830, was Rev. Neil Mackenzie, a resident Church of Scotland minister who greatly improved the conditions of the inhabitants. He reorganised island agriculture, was instrumental in the rebuilding of the village (see below) and supervised the building of a new church and manse. With help from the Gaelic School Society, MacKenzie and his wife introduced formal education to Hirta, beginning a daily school to teach reading, writing and arithmetic and a Sunday school for religious education.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Mackenzie left in 1844. No new minister was appointed for a decade and as a result, the school closed on the MacKenzie's departure and although he had achieved a great deal, the weakness of the St Kildans' dependence on external authority was exposed in 1865 with the arrival of Rev. John Mackay. Despite their fondness for Mackenzie, who stayed in the Church of Scotland, the St Kildans declared in favour of the new Free Church of Scotland during the Great Disruption. Mackay, the new Free Church minister, placed an uncommon emphasis on religious observance. He introduced a routine of three two-to-three-hour services on Sunday at which attendance was effectively compulsory. One visitor noted in 1875 that: "The Sabbath was a day of intolerable gloom. At the clink of the bell, the whole flock hurry to Church with sorrowful looks and eyes bent upon the ground. It is considered sinful to look to the right or to the left."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Time spent in religious gatherings interfered seriously with the practical routines of the island. Old ladies and children who made noise in church were lectured at length and warned of dire punishments in the afterworld. During a period of food shortages on the island, a relief vessel arrived on a Saturday, but the minister said that the islanders had to spend the day preparing for church on the Sabbath, and it was Monday before supplies were landed. Children were forbidden to play games and required to carry a Bible wherever they went. Mackay remained minister on St Kilda for 24 years.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Most modern commentators feel that the predominant theme of life on St Kilda was isolation. When Martin Martin visited the islands in 1697, the only means of making the journey was by open boat, which could take several days and nights of rowing and sailing across the ocean and was next to impossible in autumn and winter. According to a St Kilda diarist writing in 1908, vicious storms could be expected at any time between September and March. More modern records from the National Trust for Scotland record gales for 75 days a year with peak winds around whilst peak wave heights on the Scottish west coast have been recorded at .


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Separated by distance and weather, the natives knew little of mainland and international politics. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, it was rumoured that Prince Charles Edward Stuart and some of his senior Jacobite aides had escaped to St Kilda. An expedition was launched, and in due course British soldiers were ferried ashore to Hirta. They found a deserted village, as the St Kildans, fearing pirates, had fled to caves to the west. When the St Kildans were persuaded to come down, the soldiers discovered that the isolated natives knew nothing of the prince and had never heard of King George II either.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Even in the late 19th century, the islanders could communicate with the rest of the world only by lighting a bonfire on the summit of Conachair which would, weather permitting, be visible to those on the isles of Harris and the Uists, or by using the "St Kilda mailboat". This was the invention of John Sands, who visited in 1877. During his stay, a shipwreck left nine Austrian sailors marooned there, and by February supplies were running low. Sands attached a message to a lifebuoy salvaged from the "Peti Dubrovacki" and threw it into the sea. Nine days later it was picked up in Birsay, Orkney, and a rescue was arranged. The St Kildans, building on this idea, would fashion a piece of wood into the shape of a boat, attach it to a bladder made of sheepskin, and place in it a small bottle or tin containing a message. Launched when the wind came from the north-west, two-thirds of the messages were later found on the west coast of Scotland or in Norway.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Another significant feature of St Kilda life was diet. The islanders kept sheep and some cattle, and were able to grow a limited amount of food crops such as barley and potatoes on the better-drained land in Village Bay; in many ways the islands can be seen as a large mixed farm. Samuel Johnson reported in the 18th century that sheep's milk was made "into small cheeses" by the St Kildans. They generally eschewed fishing because of the heavy, northern seas and unpredictable weather. The mainstay of their food supplies was the profusion of island birds, especially gannet and fulmar. These they harvested as eggs and young birds and ate both fresh and cured. Adult puffins were also caught by using fowling rods. A 1764 census described a daily consumption by the 90 inhabitants of "36 wildfoul eggs and 18 wildfoul" (i.e. seabirds).


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: This feature of island life came at a price. When Henry Brougham visited in 1799 he noted that "the air is infected by a stench almost insupportable – a compound of rotten fish, filth of all sorts and stinking seafowl". An excavation of the "Taigh an t-Sithiche" (the "house of the faeries" – see below) in 1877 by Sands unearthed the remains of gannet, sheep, cattle, and limpets amidst various stone tools. The building is between 1,700 and 2,500 years old, which suggests that the St Kildan diet had changed little over the millennia. Indeed, the tools were recognised by the St Kildans, who could put names to them as similar devices were still in use.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Razorbill, Guillemot, and Fulmar eggs were collected before the late 1920s in St Kilda’s islands by their men scaling the cliffs. The eggs were buried in St Kilda peat ash to be eaten through the cold, northern winters. The eggs were considered to taste like duck eggs in taste and nourishment.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: These fowling activities involved considerable skills in climbing, especially on the precipitous sea stacks. An important island tradition involved the 'Mistress Stone', a door-shaped opening in the rocks northwest of Ruival over-hanging a gully. Young men of the island had to undertake a ritual there to prove themselves on the crags and worthy of taking a wife. Martin Martin wrote:


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Another important aspect of St Kildan life was the daily "parliament". This was a meeting held in the street every morning after prayers and attended by all the adult males during the course of which they would decide upon the day's activities. No one led the meeting, and all men had the right to speak. According to Steel (1988), "Discussion frequently spread discord, but never in recorded history were feuds so bitter as to bring about a permanent division in the community". This notion of a free society influenced Enric Miralles' vision for the new Scottish Parliament Building, opened in October 2004.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Whatever the privations, the St Kildans were fortunate in some respects, for their isolation spared them some of the evils of life elsewhere. Martin noted in 1697 that the citizens seemed "happier than the generality of mankind as being almost the only people in the world who feel the sweetness of true liberty", and in the 19th century their health and well being was contrasted favourably with conditions elsewhere in the Hebrides. Theirs was not a utopian society; the islanders had ingenious wooden locks for their property, and financial penalties were exacted for misdemeanours. Nonetheless, no resident St Kildan is known to have fought in a war, and in four centuries of history, no serious crime committed by an islander was recorded there.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In 1898 and again in 1899 Norman Heathcote visited the islands and wrote a book about his experiences. During the 19th century, steamers had begun to visit Hirta, enabling the islanders to earn money from the sale of tweeds and birds' eggs but at the expense of their self-esteem as the tourists regarded them as curiosities. It is also clear that the St Kildans were not so naïve as they sometimes appeared. "For example, when they boarded a yacht they would pretend they thought all the polished brass was gold, and that the owner must be enormously wealthy". The boats brought other previously unknown diseases, especially "tetanus infantum", which resulted in infant mortality rates as high as 80 per cent during the late 19th century. The "cnatan na gall" or boat-cough, an illness that struck after the arrival of a ship off Hirta, became a regular feature of life.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: By the early 20th century, formal schooling had again become a feature of the islands, and in 1906 the church was extended to make a schoolhouse. The children all now learned English and their native Gaelic. Improved midwifery skills, denied to the island by John Mackay, reduced the problems of childhood tetanus. From the 1880s, trawlers fishing the north Atlantic made regular visits, bringing additional trade. Talk of an evacuation occurred in 1875 during MacKay's time as minister, but despite occasional food shortages and a flu epidemic in 1913, the population was stable at between 75 and 80, and no obvious sign existed that within a few years the millennia-old occupation of the island was to end.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Early in the First World War, the Royal Navy erected a signal station on Hirta, and daily communications with the mainland were established for the first time in the history of the islands. In a belated response, the German submarine SM U-90 arrived in Village Bay on the morning of 15 May 1918 and, after issuing a warning, started shelling the island. Seventy-two shells were fired, and the wireless station was destroyed. The manse, church, and jetty storehouse were damaged, but there was no loss of life. One eyewitness recalled: "It wasn't what you would call a bad submarine because it could have blowed every house down because they were all in a row there. He only wanted Admiralty property. One lamb was killed... all the cattle ran from one side of the island to the other when they heard the shots."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: As a result of this attack, a 4-inch Mark III QF gun was erected on a promontory overlooking Village Bay, but it never saw action against the enemy. Of greater long-term significance to the islanders were the introduction of regular contact with the outside world and the slow development of a money-based economy. This made life easier for the St Kildans but also made them less self-reliant. Both were factors in the evacuation of the island little more than a decade later.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: "Ironically, things improved with the war, which brought a naval detachment and regular deliveries of mail and food from naval supply vessels. But when these services were withdrawn at end of the war, the sense of isolation increased. Able bodied young islanders left for a better life, resulting in a breakdown of the island economy".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Numerous factors led to the evacuation of St Kilda. The islands' inhabitants had existed for centuries in relative isolation until tourism and the presence of the military during the First World War led the islanders to seek alternatives to privations they routinely suffered. The changes made to the island by visitors in the nineteenth century disconnected the islanders from the way of life that had allowed their forebears to survive in this unique environment. Despite the construction of a small jetty in 1902, the islands remained at the weather's mercy.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: After the War, most of the young men left the island, and the population fell from 73 in 1920 to 37 in 1928. After the death of four men from influenza in 1926, there was a succession of crop failures in the 1920s. Investigations by the University of Aberdeen into the soil where crops had been grown have shown that there had been contamination by lead and other pollutants, caused by the use of seabird carcasses and peat ash in the manure used on the fields. This occurred over a lengthy period of time, as manuring practices became more intensive, and may have been a factor in the evacuation.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The last straw came with the death of a young woman, Mary Gillies, who fell ill with appendicitis in January 1930 and was taken to the mainland for treatment. She later died in hospital. For many years it was assumed that she had died of appendicitis, but her son Norman John Gillies discovered in 1991 that she had in fact died of pneumonia, having given birth to a daughter who also died. All the cattle and sheep were taken off the island two days before the evacuation by the tourist boat "Dunara Castle" for sale on the mainland. However, all the island's working dogs were drowned in the bay because they could not be taken. On 29 August 1930, the ship "Harebell" took the remaining 36 inhabitants to Morvern on the Scottish mainland, a decision they took collectively themselves.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The morning of the evacuation promised a perfect day. The sun rose out of a calm and sparkling sea and warmed the impassive cliffs of Oiseval. The sky was hopelessly blue and the sight of Hirta, green and pleasant as the island of so many careless dreams, made parting all the more difficult. Observing tradition the islanders left an open Bible and a small pile of oats in each house, locked all the doors and at 7 am boarded the "Harebell". Although exhausted by the strain and hard work of the last few days, they were reported to have stayed cheerful throughout the operation. But as the long antler of Dun fell back onto the horizon and the familiar outline of the island grew faint, the severing of an ancient tie became a reality and the St Kildans gave way to tears.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The last of the native St Kildans, Rachel Johnson, died in April 2016 at the age of 93, having been evacuated at the age of 8.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In 1931, the islands' laird, Sir Reginald MacLeod of MacLeod, sold them to Lord Dumfries, who later became the 5th Marquess of Bute. For the next 26 years they saw few people, save for the occasional summer visitors or a returning St Kildan family.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The islands saw no military activity during the Second World War, remaining uninhabited, but three aircraft crash sites remain from that period. A Beaufighter LX798 based at Port Ellen on Islay crashed into Conachair within of the summit on the night of 3–4 June 1943. A year later, just before midnight on 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day, a Sunderland flying boat ML858 was wrecked at the head of Gleann Mòr. A small plaque in the church is dedicated to those who died in this accident.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: A Wellington bomber crashed on the south coast of Soay in 1942 or 1943. Not until 1978 was any formal attempt made to investigate the wreck, and its identity has not been absolutely determined. Amongst the wreckage, a Royal Canadian Air Force cap badge was discovered, which suggests it may have been HX448 of 7 Operational Training Unit which went missing on a navigation exercise on 28 September 1942. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the Wellington is LA995 of 303 Ferry Training Unit which was lost on 23 February 1943.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In 1955 the British government decided to incorporate St Kilda into a missile tracking range based in Benbecula, where test firings and flights are carried out. Thus in 1957 St Kilda became permanently inhabited once again. A variety of military buildings and masts have since been erected, including a canteen (which is not open to the public), the Puff Inn. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) leases St Kilda from the National Trust for Scotland for a nominal fee.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Hirta is still occupied year-round by a small number of civilians employed by defence contractor QinetiQ working in the military base (Deep Sea Range) on a monthly rotation. In 2009 the MoD announced that it was considering closing down its missile testing ranges in the Western Isles, potentially leaving the Hirta base unmanned. In 2015 the base had to be temporarily evacuated due to adverse weather conditions.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In summer 2018, the MOD facilities were being restored as part of building a new base; one report stated that the project included "replacing aged generators and accommodation blocks". With no permanent population, the island population can vary between 20 and 70, most living here temporarily. These inhabitants include: MoD employees, National Trust for Scotland employees, and several scientists working on a Soay sheep research project.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Visits to St Kilda were encouraged until facilities closed due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020; as of early February 2021 the toilets, campsite and shopping facilities on Hirta were all closed.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The NTS has improved the village on Hirta over the years. "They have reroofed the cottages on the main street, restored the church, and re-stacked stones that years of gales had toppled from the cleits, or bothies, that dot the volcanic landscape". One cottage, #3 on "The Street" has been more extensively restored and turned into the museum. However, a full restoration of the other cottages is not expected. The Historic Environment Scotland website states that "the plain, two-bay church, with the schoolroom added to its north west in 1898" was "restored as they might have appeared in the 1920s". The site also explains that the "arrangement of St Kilda Village along a curving street is the result of mid-19th century improvement ... Distinctive drystone storage structures, known as cleitan, are scattered throughout the landscape. There are over 1,400 cleitan known throughout the St Kilda archipelago, but they are concentrated in the area around the village".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The NTS suggest that there is a great deal of interest in diving in the area as well as viewing of seabirds in "Europe’s most important seabird colony, and one of the major seabird breeding stations in the North Atlantic. Before the closure, day trips for tourists were readily available, by boat, leaving from Stein Jetty, Skye. A review of St Kilda, written before facilities closed, warned that landing at the pier can be difficult in rough seas.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The oldest structures on St Kilda are the most enigmatic. Large sheepfolds lie inland from the existing village at "An Lag Bho'n Tuath" (English: the hollow in the north) and contain curious 'boat-shaped' stone rings, or 'settings'. Soil samples suggest a date of 1850 BC, but they are unique to St Kilda, and their purpose is unknown. In Gleann Mòr, (north-west of Village Bay beyond Hirta's central ridge), there are 20 'horned structures', essentially ruined buildings with a main court measuring about , two or more smaller cells and a forecourt formed by two curved or horn-shaped walls. Again, nothing like them exists anywhere else in Europe, and their original use is unknown. Also in Gleann Mòr is "Taigh na Banaghaisgeich", the 'Amazon's House'. As Martin (1703) reported, many St Kilda tales are told about this female warrior.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: This Amazon is famous in their traditions: her house or dairy of stone is yet extant; some of the inhabitants dwell in it all summer, though it be some hundred years old; the whole is built of stone, without any wood, lime, earth, or mortar to cement it, and is built in form of a circle pyramid-wise towards the top, having a vent in it, the fire being always in the centre of the floor; the stones are long and thin, which supplies the defect of wood; the body of this house contains not above nine persons sitting; there are three beds or low vaults that go off the side of the wall, a pillar betwixt each bed, which contains five men apiece; at the entry to one of these low vaults is a stone standing upon one end fix’d; upon this they say she ordinarily laid her helmet; there are two stones on the other side, upon which she is reported to have laid her sword: she is said to have been much addicted to hunting, and that in her time all the space betwixt this isle and that of Harries, was one continued tract of dry land.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Similar stories of a female warrior who hunted the now-submerged land between the Outer Hebrides and St Kilda are reported from Harris. The structure's forecourt is akin to the other 'horned structures' in the immediate area, but like Martin's "Amazon" its original purpose is the stuff of legend rather than archaeological fact.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Much more is known of the hundreds of unique "cleitean" that decorate the archipelago. These dome-shaped structures are constructed of flat boulders with a cap of turf on the top. This enables the wind to pass through the cavities in the wall but keeps the rain out. They were used for storing peat, nets, grain, preserved flesh and eggs, manure, and hay, and as a shelter for lambs in winter. The date of origin of this St Kildan invention is unknown, but they were in continuous use from prehistoric times until the 1930 evacuation. More than 1,200 ruined or intact "cleitean" remain on Hirta and a further 170 on the neighbouring islands. House no. 16 in the modern village has an early Christian stone cross built into the front wall, which may date from the 7th century.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: A medieval village lay near Tobar Childa, about from the shore, at the foot of the slopes of Conachair. The oldest building is an underground passage with two small annexes called "Taigh an t-Sithiche" (house of the faeries) which dates to between 500 BC and 300 AD. The St Kildans believed it was a house or hiding place, although a more recent theory suggests that it was an ice house.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Extensive ruins of field walls and "cleitean" and the remnants of a medieval 'house' with a beehive-shaped annexe remain. Nearby is the 'Bull's House', a roofless rectangular structure in which the island's bull was kept during winter. Tobar Childa itself is supplied by two springs that lie just outside the Head Wall that was constructed around the Village to prevent sheep and cattle gaining access to the cultivated areas within its boundary. There were 25 to 30 houses altogether. Most were blackhouses of typical Hebridean design, but some older buildings were made of corbelled stone and turfed rather than thatched. The turf was used to prevent the ingress of wind and rain, and the older "beehive" buildings resembled green hillocks rather than dwellings.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The Head Wall was built in 1834 when the medieval village was abandoned and a new one planned between Tobar Childa and the sea some down the slope. This came about as the result of a visit by Sir Thomas Dyke Ackland, one of the Members of Parliament for Devon. Appalled by the primitive conditions, he gave money for the building of a completely new settlement of thirty new blackhouses. These houses were made of dry stone, had thick walls, and were roofed with turf. Each typically had only one tiny window and a small opening for letting out smoke from the peat fire that burnt in the middle of the room. As a result, the interiors were blackened by soot. The cattle occupied one end of the house in winter, and once a year the straw from the floor was stripped out and spread on the ground.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In October 1860, several of the new dwellings were damaged by a severe gale, and repairs were sufficient only to make them suitable for use as byres. According to Alasdair MacGregor's analysis of the settlement, the sixteen modern, zinc-roofed cottages amidst the black houses and new Factor's house seen in most photographs of the native islanders were constructed around 1862.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: One of the more poignant ruins on Hirta is the site of 'Lady Grange's House'. Lady Grange had been married to the Jacobite sympathiser James Erskine, Lord Grange, for 25 years when he decided that she might have overheard too many of his treasonable plottings. He had her kidnapped and secretly confined in Edinburgh for six months. From there she was sent to the Monach Isles, where she lived in isolation for two years. She was then taken to Hirta from 1734 to 1740, which she described as "a vile neasty, stinking poor isle". After a failed rescue attempt, she was removed on her husband's orders to the Isle of Skye, where she died. The "house" on Hirta which carries her name is a large cleit in the Village meadows.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Boswell and Johnson discussed the subject during their 1773 tour of the Hebrides. Boswell wrote: "After dinner to-day, we talked of the extraordinary fact of Lady Grange’s being sent to St Kilda, and confined there for several years, without any means of relief. Dr Johnson said, if M’Leod would let it be known that he had such a place for naughty ladies, he might make it a very profitable island."


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In the 1860s unsuccessful attempts were made to improve the landing area by blasting rocks. A small jetty was erected in 1877, but it was washed away in a storm two years later. In 1883 representations to the Napier Commission suggested the building of a replacement, but it was 1901 before the Congested Districts Board provided an engineer to enable one to be completed the following year. Nearby on the shoreline are some huge boulders which were known throughout the Highlands and Islands in the 19th century as "Doirneagan Hirt", Hirta's pebbles.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: At one time, three churches stood on Hirta. Christ Church, in the site of the graveyard at the centre of the village, was in use in 1697 and was the largest, but this thatched-roof structure was too small to hold the entire population, and most of the congregation had to gather in the churchyard during services. St Brendan's Church lay over a kilometre away on the slopes of Ruival, and St Columba's at the west end of the village street, but little is left of these buildings. A new kirk and manse were erected at the east end of the village in 1830 and a Factor's house in 1860.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Dùn means "fort", and there is but a single ruined wall of a structure said to have been built in the far-distant past by the Fir Bolg. The only "habitation" is "Sean Taigh" (old house), a natural cavern sometimes used as a shelter by the St Kildans when they were tending the sheep or catching birds. Soay has a primitive hut known as "Taigh Dugan" (Dugan's house). This is little more than an excavated hole under a massive stone with two crude walls on the sides. The story of its creation relates to two sheep-stealing brothers from Lewis who came to St Kilda only to cause further trouble. Dugan was exiled to Soay, where he died; the other, called Fearchar Mòr, was sent to Stac an Armin, where he found life so intolerable he cast himself into the sea.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Boreray boasts the "Cleitean MacPhàidein", a "cleit village" of three small bothies used on a regular basis during fowling expeditions. Here too are the ruins of "Taigh Stallar" (the steward's house), which was similar to the Amazon's house in Gleann Mòr although somewhat larger, and which had six bed spaces. The local tradition was that it was built by the "Man of the Rocks", who led a rebellion against the landlord's steward. It may be an example of an Iron Age wheelhouse and the associated remains of an agricultural field system were discovered in 2011. As a result of a smallpox outbreak on Hirta in 1724, three men and eight boys were marooned on Boreray until the following May. No fewer than 78 storage "cleitean" exist on Stac an Armin and a small bothy. A small bothy exists on the precipitous Stac Lee too, also used by fowlers.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: St Kilda is a breeding ground for many important seabird species. One of the world's largest colonies of northern gannets, totalling 30,000 pairs, amount to 24 per cent of the global population. There are 49,000 breeding pairs of Leach's petrels, up to 90 per cent of the European population; 136,000 pairs of Atlantic puffins, about 30 per cent of the UK total breeding population, and 67,000 northern fulmar pairs, about 13 per cent of the UK total. Dùn is home to the largest colony of fulmars in Britain. Before 1828, St Kilda was their only UK breeding ground, but they have since spread and established colonies elsewhere, such as Fowlsheugh. The last great auk ("Pinguinus impennis") seen in Britain was killed on Stac an Armin in July 1840. Unusual behaviour by St Kilda's bonxies was recorded in 2007 during research into recent falls in the Leach's petrel population. Using night-vision gear, ecologists observed the skuas hunting petrels at night, a remarkable strategy for a seabird. The St Kilda archipelago has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International for its seabird colonies.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Two wild animal taxa are unique to St Kilda: the St Kilda wren ("Troglodytes troglodytes hirtensis"), which is a subspecies of the Eurasian wren, and a subspecies of wood mouse known as the St Kilda field mouse ("Apodemus sylvaticus hirtensis"). A third taxon endemic to St Kilda, a subspecies of house mouse known as the St Kilda house mouse ("Mus musculus muralis"), vanished entirely after the departure of human inhabitants, as it was strictly associated with settlements and buildings. It had several traits in common with a sub-species ("Mus musculus mykinessiensis") found on Mykines island in the Faroe Islands. The grey seal ("Halichoerus grypus") now breeds on Hirta but did not do so before the 1930 evacuation.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The archipelago's isolation has resulted in a lack of biodiversity. The most successful colonists with nearly two hundred species are the flies followed by beetles with approximately 140 species. There are no bees on the islands, so flies are probably important pollinators of plants. One beetle, the rare and endangered weevil, "Ceutorhynchus insularis", is known from only Dùn and the Westmann Islands, an archipelago off the south-west coast of Iceland. Less than one hundred species of butterfly and moth occur, compared to 367 recorded on the Western Isles. Red admiral ("Vanessa atalanta") and painted lady ("Vanessa cardui") are two of only seven species of butterflies, both well known and common migrants. Common summer moths are the antler ("Cerapteryx graminis"), dark arches ("Apamea monoglypha") and the migrant silver Y ("Autographa gamma"). One unusual moth recorded is the least carpet ("Idaea rusticata"), an occasional migrant, and in the UK, usually recorded in the south-east of England. On 4 September 2014 a rare vagrant oleander hawk-moth ("Daphnis nerii") was recorded. Oleander is not found in the UK every year, and the larva has never been recorded in Britain.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: Its plant life is heavily influenced by island's natural environment such as the salt spray, strong winds and acidic peaty soils. No trees grow on the archipelago, although there are more than 130 different flowering plants, 162 species of fungi and 160 bryophytes. Several rarities exist amongst the 194 lichen species. Kelp thrives in the surrounding seas, which contain a diversity of unusual marine invertebrates. The St Kilda dandelion ("Taraxacum pankhurstianum") is an endemic species of dandelion, identified in 2012.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The beach at Village Bay is unusual in that its short stretch of summer sand recedes in winter, exposing the large boulders on which it rests. A survey of the beach in 1953 found only a single resident species, the crustacean isopod "Eurydice pulchra".


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: On the inaccessible island of Soay are sheep of a unique type, which lived as feral animals and belonged to the owner of the islands, not to the islanders. These Soay sheep are believed to be remnants of the earliest sheep kept in Europe in the Neolithic Era, and are small, short-tailed, usually brown with white bellies, and have naturally moulting fleeces. About 200 Soay sheep remain on Soay itself, and soon after the evacuation a second feral population of them was established on Hirta, which at that time had no sheep; in 1994 these numbered between 600 and 1,700. A few Soays have been exported to form breeding populations in other parts of the world, where they are valued for their hardiness, small size and unusual appearance. On Hirta and Soay, the sheep prefer the "Plantago" pastures, which grow well in locations exposed to sea spray and include red fescue ("Festuca rubra"), sea plantain ("Plantago maritima") and sea pink ("Armeria maritima").


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: The St Kildans kept up to 2,000 of a different type of sheep on the islands of Hirta and Boreray. These were a Hebridean variety of the Scottish Dunface, a primitive sheep probably similar to those kept throughout Britain during the Iron Age. During the evacuation, all the islanders' sheep were removed from Hirta, but those on Boreray were left to become feral. These sheep are now regarded as a breed in their own right, the Boreray. The Boreray is one of the rarest British sheep and is one of the few remaining descendants of the Dunface (although some Scottish Blackface blood was introduced in the nineteenth century).


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: On his death on 14 August 1956, the Marquess of Bute's will bequeathed the archipelago to the National Trust for Scotland provided they accepted the offer within six months. After much soul-searching, the executive committee agreed to do so in January 1957. The slow renovation and conservation of the village began, much of it undertaken by summer volunteer work parties. In addition, scientific research began on the feral Soay sheep population and other aspects of the natural environment. In 1957 the area was designated a national nature reserve.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: In 1986 the islands became the first place in Scotland to be inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for its terrestrial natural features. In 2004, the WHS was extended to include a large amount of the surrounding marine features as well as the islands themselves. In 2005 St Kilda became one of only two dozen global locations to be awarded mixed World Heritage Status for both 'natural' and 'cultural' significance. The islands share this honour with internationally important sites such as Machu Picchu in Peru, Mount Athos in Greece and the Ukhahlamba/Drakensberg Park in South Africa.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: St Kilda is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, a National Scenic Area, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and was a European Union Special Protection Area. Visiting yachts may find shelter in Village Bay, but those wishing to land are told to contact the National Trust for Scotland in advance. Concern exists about the introduction of non-native animal and plant species into such a fragile environment. In 2008 the National Trust for Scotland received the support of Scotland's Minister for Environment, Michael Russell for their plan to ensure no rats came ashore from the "Spinningdale", a UK-registered/Spanish-owned fishing vessel which grounded on Hirta. There was concern that bird life on the island could be seriously affected. Fortunately, potential contaminants from the vessel including fuel, oils, bait and stores were successfully removed by Dutch salvage company Mammoet before the bird breeding season in early April.


title: St Kilda, Scotland

text: St Kilda's marine environment of underwater caves, arches and chasms, offers a very challenging but superlative diving experience. Such is the power of the North Atlantic swell that the effects of the waves can be detected below sea level.


title: Maloof family

text: The Maloof family is a prominent American family based in Las Vegas, Nevada, who are owners of numerous business properties in the Western United States. The original spelling of the family name is Maalouf. The family is of Lebanese descent via their paternal grandfather.


title: Maloof family

text: Originally from New Mexico, the family's success began with the distribution rights for Coors Brewing Company in the Southwest region of the US in 1937. The Maloofs were the owners of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1998 until 2013 and are minority owners of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). Notable family members include George J. Maloof Sr., Adrienne Maloof, and George J. Maloof Jr.


title: Maloof family

text: The family owned the NBA's Sacramento Kings from 1998 until 2013. The Maloofs acquired a minority interest in the Kings in 1998 and took majority control the following year, with Joe and Gavin operating the franchise. As part of the purchase of the Kings, they also acquired the team's sister franchise in the WNBA, the Sacramento Monarchs. The Maloofs operated the Monarchs until 2009, when the WNBA was unable to find a new owner and the team folded. In 2013, the family sold its 65% stake for $347 million to a Sacramento group led by Vivek Ranadive that was committed to building a new arena in downtown Sacramento that had previously been rebuked by the Maloofs.


title: Maloof family

text: Prior to the sale of the team, a deal had been reached to sell the Kings to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and investor Chris Hansen, who hoped to move the team to Seattle. This sale was nullified on May 15, 2013, when the NBA Board of Governors denied the relocation in a vote of 22-8. The Maloof family also owned the Houston Rockets from 1979-1982, and the Rockets made the NBA Finals in 1981 before the team was sold to Charlie Thomas in 1982. The Maloofs are also the minority owners of the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL, who made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.


title: Maloof family

text: In 1994, the Maloof family opened the Fiesta Rancho hotel-casino in North Las Vegas, and sold it in 2000 for over $185 million. The money was reinvested into the creation of the Palms Casino Resort hotel and casino.


title: Maloof family

text: The Maloofs sold their beer distribution in an unsuccessful attempt to save the Palms and Palms Towers. In 2011 a restructuring gave private equity firms TPG Inc. and Leonard Green & Partners each a 49% share, leaving the Maloofs with 2% ownership.


title: Maloof family

text: The Maloofs have expanded their business ventures into entertainment with the creation of Maloof Productions. Through its television division, Maloof Television, they have produced the reality series "Bullrun" for Spike TV in 2007, Speed Channel in 2009, and "Living Lohan", the E! reality series running in 2008. In 2008 the family was developing "Rebuilding the Kingdom" with reality television producer Mark Burnett.


title: Maloof family

text: The film division, Maloof Motion Pictures, produced the 2005 film "Feast" and as of 2007 was developing "The Big Bizarro", starring Pierce Brosnan.


title: Maloof family

text: Founded in 2008 by Joe and Gavin Maloof, the Maloof Money Cup was a competition for both professional and amateur skateboarders. The Orange County, US, dates of the contest series include the US Pro Men's and Women's Street Championships, the US Pro Vert Championships, and the Maloof Money Cup AM Championships.


title: Maloof family

text: A spring New York date and a fall South Africa date were added in 2010 and 2011 respectively. In 2012, the Maloofs focused on the South African event, entitled the Maloof Money Cup World Skateboarding Championships, and canceled the Orange County event due to logistical issues.


title: Maloof family

text: The Maloof family is also one of the main sponsors of the game Skate 3, offering a slew of different competitions.


title: Maloof family

text: The family consists of George J. Maloof Sr. deceased, and now headed by his wife Colleen, followed by their children:


title: Maloof family

text: Albert Maloof Sr., a cousin of George J. Maloof Sr., is best known for his distribution business in the Southeastern United States.


title: Maloof family

text: A proposal to build a new arena at California Exposition (the State Fairgrounds), which would include an upgrade to the fairgrounds as well as retail and housing developments was presented and accepted by the Cal Expo Board of Directors on February 27, 2009 but fell apart soon after, leaving Sacramento without a new arena.


title: Maloof family

text: In late 2001 the Maloof family began negotiating with officials in Anaheim, California in an effort to move the Kings franchise to that city, despite repeated assurances that the team would stay in Sacramento. On March 29, 2011, the City of Anaheim approved bond measures aimed at assisting the Kings move. Finally, on May 2, 2012 the NBA put a halt to the move to Anaheim, California because the current bills that were owed to the city of Sacramento gave the city just cause to keep them in Sacramento. In June 2011, the Maloof brothers, Joe and Gavin, along with successful investor Ghassan El Morabit, sold a majority share of the Palms to two lending companies (Leonard Green & Partners LP in Los Angeles and TPG Capital in Texas), allowing them to continue building their stadium.


title: Maloof family

text: Upon the news of a possible relocation, the Sacramento Kings launched a grassroots effort with pledges of over $800,000 to go to a new arena. This and other grassroots efforts, along with Mayor Kevin Johnson's presentation to the NBA Board of Governors, convinced the NBA to delay any relocation authorization for one year. Within this one-year time frame a completed arena plan, with funding, was required to be in place by March 2012. Plans were approved by the City Council in March 2012 and construction for the Kings' new arena, the Golden 1 Center, began on October 29, 2014, and it was completed prior to the start of the 2016-17 NBA season.


title: Maloof family

text: In February 2013, the Maloofs agreed to sell the Sacramento Kings to a group led by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer, who promised to relocate the team to Seattle and rename them the Seattle SuperSonics. Kevin Johnson brought a group together led by Vivek Ranadive to keep the team in Sacramento. The local fan base rallied behind him in an effort to keep the team. The new ownership group was established and a deal struck with the city to build a new arena in downtown Sacramento. On May 15, 2013, the NBA Board of Governors denied the relocation bid, effectively nullifying the sale to the Seattle group. The following day, the Maloofs agreed to sell the team to the Sacramento group.


title: Maloof family

text: During the months leading up to the sale, the Seattle group raised their offer twice and it was reported that the Maloofs would refuse to sell to the Sacramento group. At one point, the Chris Hansen group had offered to buy 20% of the team with the Maloofs retaining their majority ownership, even after the Sacramento group came together with an offer. However, Sacramento continued to work directly with the NBA, and the Maloofs' sale to the Sacramento group eventually went through.