[8] Raasay House, which was visited by James Boswell and Samuel Johnson in 1773, is now a hotel, restaurant, bar and outdoor activity centre.

The related ironstone beds contain low grade oolitic siderite and chamosite ores which were worked commercially in the early 20th century.

Sites of interest include the remains of a broch, the ruins of Brochel Castle, inscribed stones, abandoned crofting communities, and many walking paths.

Following the community buyout of Raasay House, a £3.5 million refurbishment was undertaken, leading to the temporary closure of the outdoor centre.

Raasay House was officially handed over to the community in March 2013[19] and in addition to the 4 star accommodation it provides it is also now an outdoor activity centre with a restaurant, bar and cafe.

The carline thistle (Carlina vulgaris) was apparently extant in the 1970s, but a recent survey found no evidence of its continued existence.

[3][29][b] Between 1999 and 2004 a large scale archaeological project, Scotland's First Settlers, was undertaken in the Inner Sound to locate and examine sites relating to the Mesolithic period in the strait.

[30] The spread of Scots culture from Dalriada north of Ardnamurchan is poorly understood and little is recorded of Raasay's early Christian period.

[32] The Hebrides were yielded to the Kingdom of Scotland as a result of the 1266 Treaty of Perth,[c] after which time control of the islands north of Ardnamurchan was in the hands of the Earls of Ross.

There is a spring running down the face of a high rock on the east side of the isle; it petrifies into a white substance, of which very fine lime is made, and there is a great quantity of it.

There are some forts in this isle, the highest is in the south end; it is a natural strength, and in form like the crown of a hat; it is called Dun-Cann, which the natives will needs have to be from one Canne, cousin to the king of Denmark.

[38][39] In conversation with Malcolm MacLeod of Raasay during his short stay on the island the Prince confided that although his life on the run was hard, he would rather live that way for ten years than be captured as he feared assassination.

"[40] According to a 20 October 1752 letter to Robert Forbes by the Laird of Raasay, as a consequence of the island's support for the Jacobite cause and for having granted hospitality to the prince, the island was subjected to scorched earth tactics during two visits in July 1746 by troops of the Campbell of Argyll Militia under the command of General John Campbell and the Royal Navy crew of the HMS Furnace under the command of Captain John Fergussone.

[41] The Laird's allegations are confirmed by a still extant letter from Captain Fergussone to his naval superior, Commodore Thomas Smith, and by a brief entry in the HMS Furnace ship's log, "Set Raasa Isle afire.

The general air of festivity, which predominated in this place, so far remote from all those regions which the mind has been used to contemplate as the mansions of pleasure, struck the imagination with a delightful surprise, analogous to that which is felt at an unexpected emersion from darkness into light.

After supper the ladies sung Erse songs, to which I listened as an English audience to an Italian opera, delighted with the sound of words which I did not understand.

Though we had passed over not less than four-and-twenty miles of very rugged ground, and had a Highland dance on the top of Dùn Can, the highest mountain in the island, we returned in the evening not at all fatigued, and piqued ourselves at not being outdone at the nightly ball by our less active friends, who had remained at home.

My survey of Rasay did not furnish much which can interest my readers; I shall therefore put into as short a compass as I can, the observations upon it, which I find registered in my journal.

I observed, however, hardly any inclosures, except a good garden plentifully stocked with vegetables, and strawberries, raspberries, currants, &c.[44] In 1843 the last laird, John Macleod, was deep in debt and chose to emigrate to Tasmania[37] having sold Raasay for 35,000 guineas to George Rainy.

After the Highland Potato Famine of the 1840s, the new owner decided to convert as much arable land as possible to large scale sheep farming.

A 9.2 m (30 ft 2 in) vessel Spindrift is also recorded as having become jammed under the ferry pier at the sound end of the island and broken in two by the rising tide at an unspecified date.

In 1949 The Forestry Commission was granted land bringing much-needed employment, and in 1956 The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board delivered mains electricity to the island.

[53] In the 1960s Raasay House and various other properties were purchased by John Green, a doctor residing in Sussex who visited the island only once and whose lack of interest in it earned him the sobriquet "Dr No".

[57] Stead investigated the outcrop in 1909 and the subsequent analysis by Tatlock convinced Baird's to buy the island the following year (with completion in 1912).

With the introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1916 the Ministry of Munitions became concerned about the availability of foreign iron ore.[63] Baird's were one company amongst others which opened up domestic mines in order to supply the war effort.

[64] This northern part of the village was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp by the simple expedient of building a barbed wire fence around it and erecting sentry boxes and arc lamps at the corners.

[67] John MacKay, born on Raasay in 1767, was supported by the MacLeod Chief as the foremost island piper of his day and an inheritor of the MacCrimmon tradition.

MacLean's writings often combine an ancient traditional awareness, with a modernist political outlook, in which Raasay, and the areas adjacent to it are frequently referenced.

Thus, although the Clearances leave an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of those evicted or forced to emigrate, "Time, the deer, is in the Wood of Hallaig".

[68] The two miles (3 km) of road between Brochel Castle and Arnish were built using hand-tools by Calum MacLeod over ten years.