l Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth, which is part of Fife, has had a colourful history, dating back to the 12th century, when people crossed the estuary by boat.
l In the 14th century, Inchkeith was repeatedly attacked by English raiders during the wars of independence.
l In 1493, King James IV directed that a mute woman and two infants be transported to the island in order to discover which language the infants would grow up to speak isolated from the rest of the world. In 1497, Inchkeith was used as an isolated refuge for victims of the
'grandcore' or syphilis.
l In 1589, Inchkeith was used to quarantine the passengers of a plague ridden ship. More plague sufferers came there from the mainland in 1609, and in 1799 Russian sailors who had died of an infectious disease were buried here.
l In 1547, the Earl of Somerset garrisoned Inchkeith, and built a fort on the site of the present day lighthouse. The garrison was later ejected from the island by a combined Franco-Scottish force.
l In the 18th century, a now uninhabited Inchkeith was visited by James Boswell and Samuel Johnson.
l In 1803, construction began on the Inchkeith Lighthouse, which became operational the following year. In 1878, construction began on three forts on Inchkeith, and in 1899, a foghorn was installed.
l In 1915 during the First World War, HMS Britannia ran aground at Inchkeith. In 1944, Operation Fortitude North was an elaborate plan used to deceive the German army into thinking that the British army was about to invade Norway, with a fictional regiment decamped to Inchkeith.
l Following the Second World War, Inchkeith was worked as farmland, and in 1986, the Northern Lighthouse Board sold the island to millionaire businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Farmer.
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