At peak population, 200 people carved out a life on Hirta, in this remote and inhospitable environment, calling ‘Main Street’ home. Frequent and severe storms meant roofs from the sixteen houses blew off, sheep fell off cliffs and life was an incredible struggle - one particular storm apparently left the locals deaf for a week. Life became even harder as the population declined, with less able bodied adults and contact with the outside world increasing in the 19th and 20th centuries - disease... See more