J is for...

... Jura

Island

Inner Hebrides

8

Acres: 90666, Height: 2575ft

Separated from Islay by a half of a mile, Jura is the more rugged and less inhabited of the pair of islands. Stretching for thirty miles and at most nine miles wide, Jura would be two if but for a neck of land halfway along its length. The southern half is dominated by the famous "paps" (breasts), mountains over 2500 feet high which are easily seen except on the poorest days from the Kintyre peninsula. The island has only one road, from the ferry crossing to Islay at Feolin to about two thirds up the eastern coastline. The rest of the island is virtually trackless. Off the north end of Jura lies the Corrievreckan whirlpool making the short stretch between Jura and the island of Scarba extremely dangerous.

... Johnstone

Settlement

Renfrewshire

42

Pop: 18635

In 1781 George Houston, the local laird, founded a town on the site of an earlier settlement called Brig O' Johnstone. It soon outgrew its original plan and was heavily involved in engineering throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Johnstone Castle was demolished in 1956 when the council developed the land into a housing estate although the central tower remains. Chopin stayed at the castle in 1848.