Vatersay is the southern-most inhabited jsland in the Outer Hebrides and is linked to the larger Barra by a causeway. The largest community is Bhatarsaigh, towards the southern end of the island.
The island played a part in the land reform movement. The Vatersay Raiders were impovrished inhabitants of Mingulay who built houses on the island in an attempt to gain land. The land owner, Lady Gordon Cathcart, and some of the men were jailed for two months, but in 1909 the Congested Districts Board bought the island, split into into 58 crofts and used them to rehouse the inhabitants of overcrowded Mingulay.