 The nearest permanently inhabited settlement is west of the headland of Aird an Rùnair, near the crofting township of Hogha Gearraidh on the island of North Uist at .North Uist is part of "Na h-Eileanan Siar" council area of Scotland.The exact position of Rockall and the size and shape of the Rockall Bank was first charted in 1831 by Captain A. T. E. Vidal, a Royal Navy surveyor.