Achiemore, Durness

Last updated

Achiemore
Empty house at Achiemore - geograph.org.uk - 497365.jpg
Empty house at Achiemore
Sutherland UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Achiemore
Location within the Sutherland area
OS grid reference NC360679
Council area
Lieutenancy area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
List of places
UK
Scotland
58°34′05″N4°49′16″W / 58.568°N 4.821°W / 58.568; -4.821

Achiemore was a crofting community located on the Cape Wrath peninsula near the village of Durness in the Scottish county of Sutherland. The hamlet is just south of the farmstead of Daill on the western shore of the Kyle of Durness. Neither place has a permanent population with the village of Durness located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the east. Inverness is around 120 miles (190 km) to the south.

Contents

Access

Achiemore is in the Highland Council area in the far north of Scotland. Access across the Kyle of Durness is by a small passenger ferry operating from Keoldale during the summer months. The hamlet is on the U70 road linking the ferry to the lighthouse at Cape Wrath which was built in the 1830s as a supply road for the newly opened lighthouse replacing a track which linked to an original slipway north of Daill. [1] [2] Quarries alongside the road at both Achiemore and Daill were used to provide material for the building of the road. [3]

History

View of the bridge at Daill on the Cape Wrath road looking east towards the Kyle of Durness View of Bridge at Daill on Cape Wrath Road - geograph.org.uk - 1393888.jpg
View of the bridge at Daill on the Cape Wrath road looking east towards the Kyle of Durness

Between 1935 and 1938, there were around 40 people living on the cape side. [4] [5] [6] The farmsteads at Daill and Achiemore consisted of two or three buildings with assorted enclosures. [7] [8] Up to 10 children from across the cape were known to attend a side school to Durness Primary School which was located at Achiemore. The school closed in 1947 and the whole area of the cape is now virtually uninhabited. [6] [9] [10] The school building stood until the early 1990s, when its roof blew off in strong winds, and its walls were taken down to strengthen the wooden bridge constructed by the Royal Marines in 1980 crossing the Daill River to the north west of Achiemore. [6] [9]

Achiemore is located just outside the Cape Wrath Training Area, a military training and live firing range which has operated on the cape since the early 20th century. A military sentry post adjacent to the site of the school restricts access to the area when the range is in use. [9]

A possible site of a promontory fort is located to the north-east of Achiemore on the shore of the Kyle of Durness where drystone and turf enclosures have been surveyed. [11] A site at Eilean nan Caorach, around 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Daill is a more likely location of a promontory fort or monastery. The site has been heavily damaged by shelling and dating is difficult as a result. [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sutherland</span> Historic county in Scotland

Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire to the south and the Atlantic to the north and west. Like its southern neighbour Ross-shire, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Wrath</span> Cape in Scotland

Cape Wrath is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durness</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Durness is a village and civil parish in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north coast of the country in the traditional county of Sutherland, around 120 miles north of Inverness. The area is remote, and the parish is huge and sparsely populated, covering an area from east of Loch Eriboll to Cape Wrath, the most north-westerly point of the Scottish mainland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer Isles</span> Archipelago in the Highland region of Scotland

The Summer Isles are an archipelago lying in the mouth of Loch Broom, in the Highland region of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loch Eriboll</span> Sea loch on the north coast of Scotland

Loch Eriboll is a 16 km (9.9 mi) long sea loch on the north coast of Scotland, which has been used for centuries as a deep water anchorage as it is safe from the often stormy seas of Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwood Bay</span>

Sandwood Bay is a natural bay in Sutherland, on the far north-west coast of mainland Scotland. It is best known for its remote 1-mile-long (1.6 km) beach and Am Buachaille, a sea stack, and lies about 5 miles south of Cape Wrath. Behind the bay's large dunes, stretches the freshwater Sandwood Loch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Wrath Lighthouse</span> Lighthouse

Cape Wrath Lighthouse at Cape Wrath was built in 1828 by Robert Stevenson and was manned until 1998, when it was converted to automatic operation by the Northern Lighthouse Board. It is located at the most North-Westerly point on the British mainland, in the traditional county of Sutherland within Highland Region. Durness is the closest village, 10 miles (16 km) to the south-east with Inverness around 120 miles (190 km) to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Dell</span> Human settlement in Scotland

South Dell is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the community of Ness, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. South Dell is within the parish of Barvas, and is situated alongside the A857. The Dell River separates South and North Dell. The artists David Greenall and Ruth O'Dell live in South Dell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scurdie Ness</span> Lighthouse

Scurdie Ness is a headland located on the South side of the River South Esk estuary, Montrose, Angus, Scotland. The River leads from the North Sea into Montrose Harbour and then into Montrose Basin. The headland has also been referred to as Scurdy Ness, Montrose point or Montroseness. The word Scurdie is a local word for the volcanic rock found there and Ness means a promontory, cape or headland. The coastline from Scurdie Ness to Rickle Craig has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balnakeil</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Balnakeil is a hamlet in the parish of Durness, Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. It is on the north coast of Scotland around 34 mile northwest of Durness. The ruins of Balnakeil Church are a scheduled monument. The Kyle of Durness is west of Balnakeil which gives its name to the 2-mile-wide (3-kilometre) Balnakeil Bay which the Kyle opens into.

Leswalt is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It lies between Portpatrick and Stranraer in the Rhins of Galloway, part of the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish covers around 8 square miles (21 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle of Durness</span>

Kyle of Durness is a coastal inlet on the north coast of Scotland in the county of Sutherland. It extends 5+12 miles inland from Balnakeil and divides the Cape Wrath peninsula from the mainland. The nearest village is Durness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyle of Tongue Bridge</span> Bridge and causeway in far north of Scotland

The Kyle of Tongue Bridge is part of the Kyle of Tongue Causeway, which crosses Kyle of Tongue sea loch on the north coast of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gadgirth Old Ha'</span>

The castle known as Gadgirth Old Ha' or Gadgirth Old Hall, was the first castle at Gadgirth, held by the Chalmer family, standing on a whinstone promontory overlooking the River Ayr in the Parish of Coylton, the old district of Kyle, now part of South Ayrshire, Scotland.

References

  1. Kyle of Durness storehouse to Cape Wrath lighthouse, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  2. Kyle of Durness, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  3. Kyle of Durness to Cape Wrath lighthouse, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  4. Cafe at the end of the universe ... where a cup of tea is guaranteed, The Herald, 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  5. Mrs Jessie Morrison, Durness Archived 20 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine , Obituary, Northern Times, 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  6. 1 2 3 Uney.G (2009) Backpacker's Britain: Northern Scotland: thirty two and three day treks, p. 86. Cicerone Press Limited. ISBN   978-1-85284-458-5 (online). Retrieved 2011-01-28.
  7. Daill, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  8. Achiemore, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  9. 1 2 3 Achiemore, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  10. Durness Schools, Education in Sutherland, 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
  11. Daill promontory fort (possible), Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
  12. Eilean nan Caorach, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.