Island of our forebears eerily empty (8)
I believe the answer is:
anglesey
'island' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'our forebears eerily empty' is the wordplay.
'our forebears' becomes 'angles' (ancient people of England).
'empty' suggests removing the centre.
'eerily' with its centre taken out is 'ey'.
'angles'+'ey'='ANGLESEY'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for anglesey that I've seen before include "Island of North Wales" , "Island off N.Wales" , "British island known locally as Ynys Mon" , "Welsh island" , "Island off NW tip of Wales" .)