BARRA or BARRAY (Scand. Baraey, isle of the ocean), island, outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire, Scotland. Pop. (1931), 2,25o. It lies about 5m. S.W. of South Uist and is 8m. long and from 2 to 4m. wide, save at the sandy isthmus 2m. below Scur rival Point, where it is only a few hundred yards broad. The rock formation is gneiss. The highest hill is Heaval (I, 26of t.) and there are several small lochs. The chief village is Castlebay, with the castle of Kisamul on a rock in the bay, once the stronghold of the M'Neills of Barra, one of the oldest Highland clans. There are remains of ancient chapels, Norse duns and stone circles on the island. The parish comprises a number of smaller islands and islets and contains 4,000ac. of arable land and i8,000ac. of meadow and hill pasture. Herring and other fisheries are im portant, and the coasts abound with cockles. On Barra Head, the highest point of Berneray, and also the most southerly point of the outer Hebrides chain, is a lighthouse 58oft. above high water.