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{{Short description|Village on Barra, Outer Hebrides, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name                    = Castlebay
| gaelic_name                      = Bàgh a' Chaisteil
| static_image_name                = Kisimul_and_Castlebay_Barra_%2833976033873%29.jpg
| static_image_caption             = Kisimul Castle, the ancient seat of Clan MacNeil, and part of the town as seen from Heaval
| coordinates                      = {{coord|56.955|-7.486|display=inline,title}}
| country                          = Scotland
| language                         = [[Scottish Gaelic]]
| language1                        = [[English language|English]]
| os_grid_reference                = NL665982
| edinburgh_distance_mi            = 178
| london_distance_mi               = 479
| post_town                        = ISLE OF BARRA
| postcode_area                    = HS
| postcode_district                = HS9
| dial_code                        = 01871
| civil_parish                     = [[Barra]]
| constituency_westminster         = [[Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency)|Na h-Eileanan an Iar]]
| unitary_scotland                 = [[Outer Hebrides|Na h-Eileanan Siar]]
| lieutenancy_scotland             = [[Outer Hebrides|Western Isles]]
| constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Na h-Eileanan an Iar]]
}}

'''Castlebay''' ({{langx|gd|Bàgh a' Chaisteil}} {{IPA|gd|baːɣ ə ˈxaʃtʲɪl|}}) is the main village and a [[community council]] area on the island of [[Barra]] in the [[Outer Hebrides]], Scotland. The village is located on the south coast of the island, and overlooks a bay in the Atlantic Ocean dominated by [[Kisimul Castle]], as well as nearby islands such as [[Vatersay]]. Castlebay is also within the parish of Barra.<ref name=":Details">{{cite web|url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/towndetails595.html|title=Details of Castlebay|publisher=Scottish Places|accessdate=24 December 2014}}</ref> The village is located on the [[A888 road (Great Britain)|A888]], which serves as a circular road around Barra.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A888|title=A888|publisher=Sabre|accessdate=24 December 2014}}</ref> In 1971, it had a population of 307.<ref name=":Details"/>

==Community==
{{Unsourced|section|date=January 2022}}
Castlebay is home to the majority of shops on the island. The main street forms a square with the ferry terminal and the ring road, and features several grocery shops, a bank, post office, and tourist information centre. There is a larger supermarket to the west of the village, having opened in October 2009.  There are also several hotels in the village, plus the island's medical centre, a petrol station and the police station.

===Church===
Our Lady, Star of the Sea, a Roman Catholic church, was opened in 1888 on a mound overlooking the town centre. It was designed by an architect from Oban, G. Woulfe Brenan, along with a house further down the slope for the priest to reside in. The northern gable of the church features a stained glass window depicting the [[Crucifixion]], and the southern gables depict [[Our Lady, Star of the Sea]]. Renovation works on the church were completed in early 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.barracatholic.co.uk/church-buildings/castlebay|title=The Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea|publisher=Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles|accessdate=1 March 2013}}</ref>

===Education===
The [[Castlebay Community School]] ({{langx|gd|Sgoil Bhàgh a’ Chaisteil}}), is located on the western side of Castlebay. It is the only source of secondary education on Barra. Since 2007, the school has had responsibility for the Castlebay preschool (both the English and the Gaelic Medium),<ref>[http://www.castlebayschool.org.uk/html/school_information/about_our_school.htm "Sgoil Bhàgh a’ Chaisteil"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018160623/http://www.castlebayschool.org.uk/html/school_information/about_our_school.htm |date=18 October 2007 }} Castlebay Community School. Retrieved 2 March 2008.</ref> meaning that with its Primary School division it caters for all ages of school children. 

Since 1992 Castlebay High School has provided full secondary school facilities. Until then Barra pupils studying for Highers had to board in Stornoway and attend school there.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Castlebay Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland|url=https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/barra/castlebay/index.html|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk}}</ref> 

In September 2007, the school received an [[Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education|HMIE]] report negatively criticised relationships among the secondary school's staff and management, but praised those in the primary school.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/22_01_08_castlebayreport.pdf ''Castlebay Community School''] (2008) (pdf) HM Inspectorate of Education. Retrieved 11 September 2008.</ref> 

In September 2022 the Island received £1 million for Gaelic development at the Castlebay education and health hub.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=EdTech Hub |first=EdTech Hub |date=2021-01-01 |title=Facilitating Education Through SMS: A Focus on Education for Girls |doi=10.53832/edtechhub.0059 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.53832/edtechhub.0059|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==History==
[[Kisimul Castle]] is located approximately {{convert|100|yd|-1}} away from the ferry terminal in the centre of the bay that Castlebay overlooks. Kisimul was abandoned in 1838 when the island was sold, and the castle's condition subsequently deteriorated. Some of its [[Rock (geology)|stone]] was used as ballast for fishing vessels, and some even ended up as [[sidewalk|paving]] in [[Glasgow]]. The remains of the castle, along with most of the island of Barra, were purchased in 1937 by Robert Lister MacNeil, the [[Scottish clan chief|Chief]] of [[Clan MacNeil]], who made efforts at restoration.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

In 2001, the castle was leased by the Chief of Clan MacNeil to [[Historic Scotland]] for 1,000 years for the annual sum of [[pound sterling|£]]1 and a bottle of [[whisky]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3083024.stm | work=BBC News | title=Islands gifted to residents | date=2003-09-05 | access-date=2010-05-07}}</ref> 

For the 2011 census the island on which Kismul Castle is built was classified by the [[National Records of Scotland]] as an inhabited island that "had no usual residents at the time of either the 2001 or 2011 censuses".<ref name=NRS>{{NRS1C}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|There were [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Scottish Islands/Populated Islands#Inhabited islands|93 inhabited islands]] listed in the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 census]] and [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Scottish Islands/Populated Islands#Occasionally inhabited islands|more than 20 others]] that are inhabited from time to time but are not so listed.<ref name=NRS/>|group="Note"}}
[[File:Barra banner Kisimul Castle from Castlebay.JPG|1000px|thumb|center|Kisimul castle in the bay of Castlebay]]

==Media==
Castlebay was the main setting for the 1949 [[Ealing Studios]] comedy, ''[[Whisky Galore! (1949 film)|Whisky Galore!]]'', and its 1957 sequel, 
''[[Rockets Galore!]]'', which were both filmed on Barra. The earlier film is based on the novel ''[[Whisky Galore (novel)|Whisky Galore]]'' by Sir [[Compton Mackenzie]], itself a fictionalised telling of the story of the [[SS Politician|SS ''Politician'']], which ran aground with a cargo of some 50,000 cases of whisky on board in 1941. Mackenzie, who lived near the airport and died in 1972, is buried in a grave marked by a simple cross at {{lang|gd|Cille Bharra}} cemetery, which is situated a little way up the hillside overlooking Eoligarry jetty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441458/ |title=Whisky Galore! |publisher=screenonline.org.uk |accessdate=29 March 2008 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/34803 "Grave of Compton MacKenzie, Eolaigearraidh, Barra"] Photograph NF 7007. Geograph. Retrieved 4 April 2010.</ref>

In the 2010 [[Channel 4]] programme ''Dom Joly and the Black Island'', [[Dom Joly|Joly]] and [[Tintinologist]] [[Michael Farr]] identify Castlebay and Kisimul as the locations of Kiltoch and the Ben More Castle used as settings in ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'' comic ''[[The Black Island]]'', although the scenes of reaching it by boat and exploring it on foot were filmed at [[Lochranza Castle]] on the [[Isle of Arran]].{{cn|date=January 2022}}

In 2011, 18 episodes, series 5 and 6, of [[An Island Parish]] were screened on [[BBC2]]  documenting the arrival and subsequent experiences of a new Catholic priest on the island, Father John Paul.{{cn|date=January 2022}}

== Transport ==

Castlebay is home to the main ferry terminal, which is operated by [[Caledonian MacBrayne]]. It is known that steam ferries were plying between Castlebay and [[Oban]] in the late 1800s, but travelling conditions were poor.
The first [[Roll-on/roll-off|roll-on-roll-off]] ferry was the [[MV Pentalina-B|MV Iona]] in 1974, which could load broadside on, which was necessary until the 1980s, when a purpose-built bow loading ramp for vehicles was built at Castlebay, allowing much larger ferries to dock and resulted in quicker loading times.

Between 1989 and 1998, {{MV|Lord of the Isles||2}} travelled daily between Oban, Castlebay and [[Lochboisdale]] on the island of South Uist, sometimes stopping on the Isle of Mull. In 1998, {{MV|Clansman||2}} replaced ''Lord of the Isles'' on the Oban-Castlebay-Lochboisdale run. From April 2016, the former Stornoway ferry {{MV|Isle of Lewis||2}} took over the Barra route with a new dedicated service, operating seven return sailings a week between Castlebay and Oban, allowing ''Clansman'' to operate dedicated services from Oban to Coll, Tiree and Colonsay.

From summer 2016, ''Lord of the Isles'' began a dedicated daily service between Mallaig and Lochboisdale, ending South Uist's link with Oban.

==Gallery==

<gallery>

File:Castlebay and the Heaval.jpg|Castlebay village and the heights of [[Heaval]], from [[Vatersay]]
File:Castlebay perspective.jpg|The Main Street Castlebay

</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{reflist|group=Note}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=260246 |num2=NL69NE 76 |desc=Barra, Castlebay, Barra Parish Church}}
*{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |num=170254 |num2=NL69NE 66 |desc=Barra, Castlebay, Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea |fewer-links=yes}}

{{Na h-Eileanan Siar places}}
{{Barra}}

[[Category:Villages on Barra]]
[[Category:Ports and harbours of Scotland]]