85 Islands to Explore in United Kingdom

Northey Island is an island in the estuary of the River Blackwater, Essex. It is a Site of special scientific interest with a large area of undisturbed Saltmarsh. It is also the site of the Battle of the Maldon in AD991 making it Britain's oldest recorded battlefield site. Guided tours can be organised only by prior arrangement.

Oronsay is asmall tidal island south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of 543 hectares. The island has no facilities for visitors and is now privately owned. There is a small grass air strip south of the priory that "fights a losing battle with the rabbits. A beautiful natural location which was blessed with antureal beauty and also there are so many other things to see.

Osea Island, formerly also Osey, is an inhabited island in the estuary of the River Blackwater, Essex, East England. It is approximately 380 acres in size and is connected to the north bank of the river by a causeway, covered at high water. The population of the Island is included in the civil parish of Heybridge. It is accessible only via a winding tidal causeway, or helicopter.

Out Stack is the most northerly point of the United Kingdom, lying north of the Shetland Islands. It lies within the Hermaness National Nature Reserve and is little more than a rocky outcrop of land. It is uninhabited and there is no landfall directly to the north. It has been described as "the full stop at the end of Britain".

Papa Westray is one of the smallest islands in Orkney, off the far north coast of Scotland. Known to locals as Papay, this is a fascinating destination to visit and an engaging, sometimes challenging, place to live. It is the ninth largest of the Orkney Islands with an area of 918 hectares.

This small fifty-acre island off the coast of Barrow in Furness can be accessed by passenger ferry from Roa Island or by guided walks across the sands at low tide and hosts its very own King, Castle, and Pub, all steeped in history waiting to be discovered by you. The island is within the administrative boundaries of the mainland town of Barrow-in-Furness and is owned by the people of the town, having been given by the Duke of Buccleuch in the early 20th century.

Ray Mill Island is an island in the River Thames in England at Boulter's Lock near Maidenhead, Berkshire. The island is now a park administered by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. The Island has an adventure play area suitable for children between 3 and 8 years, an aviary and guinea pig enclosure, and wooden animals dotted around for an imaginative play.

Havergate Island is the only island in the county of Suffolk, England. It is found at the confluence of the River Ore and the Butley River near the village of Orford. It is a marshy nature reserve run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is known for its population of avocets and terns. It is part of the ecologically important Alde-Ore Estuary and has protected conservation status as part of a national nature reserve, SSSI, SAC, SPA, Ramsar Site and is also a part of the Suffolk

St Michael’s Mount is a tidal island and as there are no boats running this year, all visitors must access it by foot. At low tide the causeway opens and all ticket holders can walk across to the island and stay there until the tide comes back in again around four hours later. The harbour village, shops, castle lawns and takeaway outlets will be open for ticket holders to enjoy.

Scalloway is a thriving port on the "mainland" of the Shetland Islands. It was once the island's capital in the seventeenth century. Now a picturesque town of 1,200 people, Scalloway is overlooked by Scalloway Castle, built by forced labour between 1599 and 1607 on the orders of the harsh Earl Patrick Stewart.

The Slate Islands are an island group in the Inner Hebrides, lying immediately off the west coast of Scotland, north of Jura and southwest of Oban. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua. Scarba and Kerrera, which lie nearby, are not usually included. The islands from which the slate that gives rise to the name was quarried on a substantial commercial basis are Easdale, Belnahua, Luing and Seil.

A beautiful island which was within Shetland Islands and is northeast of Little Havra Island, northwest of Holm of Maywick and southeast of Kettla Ness. South Havra was once home to eight families, whose houses were built on the edge of the precipice, to enable them to use all the good land. The island had no running water, and had Shetland’s only windmill but alas this was ineffective in grinding corn and the grain was sent to the mill at Weisdale.

A beautiful inhabited island adjacent to Hoy in Orkney, Scotland. The name is a corruption of "Sooth Was", which means the "southern voes" – as with Kirkwall, it was assumed that it was a mispronunciation of "walls". It was a tidal island until a narrow causeway, was constructed over the sandbank in 1912, which was known as the Ayre, although this name has become transferred to the causeway itself.

Spike Island is an international center for the development of contemporary art and design, home to a gallery, café, and working space for artists, designers and so more. Spike Island offers visitors a year-round program of exhibitions, events, and family activities in the expansive, well-lit gallery spaces, as well as providing artists’ studios and commercial workspace for both new and established designers and creative businesses.

St Mary’s Island is a tidal island located off Curry's Point to the north of Whitley Bay, accessed by a causeway at low tide. During medieval times it was known as Bate's Island and was occupied by a small chapel dedicated to St. Helen, which burned a lamp to warn mariners of the rocks. The main feature of the island is St. Mary's Lighthouse which was built in 1898.

Staffa, uninhabited Atlantic island of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, situated 6 miles off the island of Mull and 33 miles west of Oban. The island came to prominence in the late 18th century after a visit by Sir Joseph Banks. The island’s distinctive six-sided columns of rock are formed from basalt, the same as the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The latter's Hebrides Overture brought further fame to the island, which was by then uninhabited.

The island has a long history as a sacred site, with a spring or holy well held to have healing properties, the hermit cave of 6th century monk St Molaise, and evidence of a 13th-century monastery. An old Gaelic name for the island was Eilean MoLaise, Molaise's Island; this is the origin of "Lamlash", the name of the village on Arran that faces Holy Island. There is a regular ferry service from Lamlash, and the island is popular with holiday makers staying on Arran.

The Skidbladner is a full size replica of the Gokstad ship, found in a Viking burial mound in norway in 1880. The original ship is thought to have been built during the reign of Harald Fairhar. This type of Viking ship was suitable for a variety of purposes including trade, warfare and general travel. Visitors can board the ship and feel what it was like to have been aboard a Viking vessel. It now sits alongside the re-constructed longhouse as a permanent visitor experience.

Thorney Island is a peninsula which juts out into Chichester Harbour, driving a wedge between the Emsworth Channel and Thorney Channel. It was bet known for its military airbase, but before the airbase was built there was a small but thriving village here. A coastal public footpath, part of the Sussex Border Path encircles the island, but public access to the south of the island is limited to the footpath and the church of St Nicholas at West Thorney.

Trondra is a small, narrow island that is sparsely populated. Both islands are very green and the scenery is gentler than much of Shetland. It was made up of steeply inclined dalradian rocks; mainly quartz and mica rich schists but with some crystalline limestone in the north which provide fertile soils around Cauldhame and Cutts.