Balnakeil
| |
---|---|
Ruined church at Balnakeil | |
Location within the Sutherland area | |
OS grid reference | NC394678 |
Council area | |
Lieutenancy area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Durness |
Postcode district | IV27 4 |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
Balnakeil is a hamlet in the parish of Durness, Sutherland, [1] Scottish Highlands, and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. It is on the north coast of Scotland around 3⁄4 mile (1.2 kilometres) northwest of Durness. The ruin of Balnakeil Church is a scheduled monument. The Kyle of Durness is west of Balnakeil which gives its name to the two-mile-wide (three-kilometre) Balnakeil Bay which the Kyle opens into. [2]
The peninsula of Faraid Head is to the north of Balnakeil. It was the site of a 1950s radar station and remains the range control for Ministry of Defence bombing operations in the Cape Wrath Training Area to the west. [3]
Three small lochs are to the south of Balnakeil: Loch Croispol, Loch Borralie and Loch Caladail. Durness Golf Course is to the southwest. [4]
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.
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 Great Britain.
Ross and Cromarty, also referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latter of which is 8,019 square kilometres in extent. Historically there has also been a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a local government county, a district of the Highland local government region and a management area of the Highland Council. The local government county is now divided between two local government areas: the Highland area and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Ross and Cromarty border Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south.
Ross is a region of Scotland. One of the provinces of Scotland from the 9th century, it gave its name to a later earldom and to the counties of Ross-shire and, later, Ross and Cromarty. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning "headland", perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. Another possible origin is the West Norse word for Orkney – Hrossey – meaning horse island; the area once belonged to the Norwegian earldom of Orkney. Ross is a historical comital region, perhaps predating the Mormaerdom of Ross. It is also a region used by the Kirk, with the Presbytery of Ross being part of the Synod of Ross, Sutherland and Caithness.
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.
Lairg is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland. It has a population of 891 and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin.
The Kyle of Lochalsh line is a primarily single-track railway line in the Scottish Highlands, from Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh. Many of the passengers are tourists, but there are also locals visiting Inverness for shopping, and commuters. All services are provided by ScotRail and run beyond Dingwall to Inverness. In the past there were some through services to and from Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. None of the line is electrified, and all trains on the line are diesel-powered, as are all other trains in the Scottish Highlands.
Faraid Head is a small peninsula on the northern coast of Sutherland, Highland, Scotland, located around 2 miles north of the hamlet of Balnakeil and 3 mi (5 km) north of Durness.
The A838 is a major road in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland. It runs generally northwest from the A836 in the Lairg area to Laxford Bridge on the west coast of Scotland, then generally northeast to Durness on the north coast, and then generally east/southeast to Tongue, where it rejoins the A836. The A836 takes a more direct route from Lairg to Tongue.
Bettyhill is a village in the parish of Farr, on the north coast of Scotland.
Achriesgill is a village that lies on the eastern bank of Loch Inchard in Lairg, Sutherland, in the Scottish council area of Highland. The village is on the road to Kinlochbervie.
Lotte Glob is a Danish ceramic artist living in the north of Scotland. She is daughter of Peter Glob.
Cape Wrath Trail is a hiking route that runs through the Scottish Highlands and along the west coast of Scotland.
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.
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.
Shiel Bridge is a hamlet on the south east shore of Loch Duich at the foot of Glen Shiel, in the Lochalsh area of the Scottish Highlands. It is in the council area of Highland.
Badcall comprises two remote hamlets, called Lower Badcall and Upper Badcall. Upper Badcall, a crofting township, is the larger of the two and is situated on the western shore of Badcall Bay. Lower Badcall is located less than 1 mile to the east on the eastern shore of Badcall Bay. Badcall is on the west coast of Sutherland, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland.
Kyle of Durness is a coastal inlet on the north coast of Scotland in the county of Sutherland. It extends 5+1⁄2 miles inland from Balnakeil and divides the Cape Wrath peninsula from the mainland. The nearest village is Durness.
The River Dionard is a river in the historic county of Sutherland in northwest Scotland. It arises as the outflow from Loch Dionard which lies below the eastern side of Foinaven and flows north-northwest through Strath Dionard below that mountain's eastern flanks for 7 km before turning north and then northeast towards the head of the Kyle of Durness. Its winding channel is exposed at low tide within the sands of this shallow firth which connects with the Atlantic Ocean on the north coast. The principal headwater stream feeding Loch Dionard is the Allt an Easain Ghill which passes through two lochans beneath Meall Horn; the upper Lochan Ulbha and the lower An Dubh-loch. The nearby Allt Eilidh a' Chleirich flows from a third lochan, Lochan Sgeireach. There are numerous other streams and lochans in the upper catchment. The Gualin National Nature Reserve has been established within the catchment.