Garbh Eileach is another of many fortified islands off the coast of Argyll, which defend the Lordship of the Isles from invasion. There is a large fort on the eastern side which is occupied when there is conflict, and the island's population of two hundred people is increased by up to a thousand when the fighting men and their families arrive.

 

There is another fortified island less than a few hundred meters northeast, named Dùn Channuill, and another island, Eileach an Naoimh, is home to a church and monastery built by St Brendan the Navigator in 542.

 

The islands are further fortified by the largest whirlpool in the world (well, actually, now it is the third largest whirpool in the world), the Gulf of Corryvreckan, and underwater topography that makes some areas surrounding the islands unsafe for birlinns and other craft. Waves which may be up to thirty feet in height are often seen at high tide.