Geography
Furthest east is the Isle of May, off the coast of Fife south of Crail. To the south in the outer Firth there is a group of islands off East Lothian near North Berwick and Gullane; from east to west they are the Bass Rock (also known simply as "The Bass"), Craigleith, The Lamb, Fidra and Eyebroughy. A second group lie in the inner Firth of Forth. Inchkeith and Inchcolm are off Kinghorn and Aberdour on the north shore, whilst Inchmickery, Cramond Island, and Inchgarvie are nearer to Edinburgh and South Queensferry on the south shore. Alloa Inch and Tullibody Inch are furthest west in the estuarine waters of the River Forth.
Only one of these islands, Inchcolm, has a resident population at present, although there have been monasteries, hermitages, lighthouses and fortifications on most of them in the past. In the late 19th century the Isle of May had a population of over 20. Many of the island names have the first element, "Inch-" (from Innis, the Gaelic word for "island").
Because of their proximity to Edinburgh, smaller towns such as Dalgety Bay and Kirkcaldy, and the Forth Bridges, the islands form a well-known part of the scenery of the Firth for many thousands of people.
Read more about this topic: Islands Of The Forth
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“Ktaadn, near which we were to pass the next day, is said to mean “Highest Land.” So much geography is there in their names.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The California fever is not likely to take us off.... There is neither romance nor glory in digging for gold after the manner of the pictures in the geography of diamond washing in Brazil.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)