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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Lewis with Harris
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The largest and most northerly island of the Outer *Hebrides. Lewis is the larger northern part of the island, containing Stornoway, the only town. The Lewis chessmen (67 in the British Museum, 11 in the Royal Museum of Scotland) are ivory pieces of the 12C which were discovered in sand dunes on the island in 1831. They were carved from walrus tusks, almost certainly in Scandinavia (the Hebrides were ruled by Norway until the 13C), and are assumed to have been lost in a shipwreck.
Harris is separated from Lewis by a range of hills running between inlets of the sea (Loch Resort to the west, Loch Seaforth to the east). Its most famous product has been *Harris tweed.
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