Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to fjord, which has a more constrained sense in English. Bodies of water named "firths" tend to be more common on the Scottish east coast, or in the southwest of the country, although the Firth of Clyde is an exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous estuaries, straits, and inlets of a similar kind, but not called "firth" ; instead, these are often called sea lochs. Before about 1850, the spelling "Frith" was more common.
The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles. The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula, which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran. Within the Firth of Clyde is another major island – the Isle of Bute. Given its strategic location at the entrance to the middle and upper Clyde, Bute played a vital naval military role during World War II.
Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Its sheltered waters have played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago. It was the United Kingdom's chief naval base during the First and Second World wars, but the facility was closed in 1956.
Dunoon is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well as forming part of the council area of Argyll and Bute, Dunoon also has its own community council. Dunoon was a burgh until 1976.
Burray is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. It lies to the east of Scapa Flow and is one of a chain of islands linked by the Churchill Barriers.
Cowal is a rugged peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the west coast of Scotland. It is bounded on the west by Loch Fyne and on the east by Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde. The Kyles of Bute separate it from Bute to the south.
Sandbank is a village on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located 2.5 miles north of Dunoon on the coastal A815 or the inland A885 and sits on the southern shore of the Holy Loch, branching off the Firth of Clyde.
Cramond Island is one of several islands in the Firth of Forth in eastern Scotland, near Edinburgh. It lies off the foreshore at Cramond. It is 1⁄3 mile (0.54 km) long and covers 19.03 acres (7.70 ha). The island is part of the Dalmeny Estate, owned by the Rosebery Estates Partnership, and is let to Cramond Boat Club.
The Tail of the Bank is the name given to the anchorage in the upper Firth of Clyde immediately North of Greenock, between Inverclyde and Argyll and Bute. This area of the Firth gets its name from the deep water immediately to the west of the sandbank which marks the entrance to the navigable channel up the Estuary of the River Clyde.
Tarbat is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner of Ross and Cromarty.
Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) radars, where most CHL radars were co-located. CHL could reliably detect aircraft flying as low as 500 feet (150 m). The official name was AMES Type 2, referring to the Air Ministry Experimental Station at Bawdsey Manor where it was developed, but this name was almost never used in practice.
Royal Air Force Goldsborough or more simply RAF Goldsborough is a former Royal Air Force station located in North Yorkshire, England.
Ardhallow Battery a Palmerston Fort on the slopes of Corlarach Hill on the Cowal peninsula, around 3km south of Dunoon, on the west coast of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. Part of the local Clyde Defenses and the Scottish Coastal Defences. The construction contract was awarded to "The Aitkenhead Builders" in 1901 for a price of £16,000. The Battery is a Scheduled Monument. The site was used in both World Wars and decommissioned in 1956.
The Forth Royal Garrison Artillery and its successors were Scottish part-time coast defence units of the British Army from 1908 to 1956. Although they saw no active service, they supplied trained gunners to siege batteries engaged on the Western Front during World War I.
The Braefoot Battery was a World War I coastal defence gun battery defending the Firth of Forth. The battery was constructed in 1915 at Braefoot Point, then part of the Earl of Moray's Donibristle Estate. The site is situated between the new town of Dalgety Bay and Aberdour in Fife.
The Downing Point Battery was a World War I coastal gun battery defending the Firth of Forth. The battery was constructed in 1914 at Downing Point, then part of the Earl of Moray's Donibristle Estate. The site is now situated within the new town of Dalgety Bay in Fife.
Bent Rigg Radar Station,, was a radar site located at Bent Rigg, 0.6 miles (1 km) south of Ravenscar, North Yorkshire, England. Several radar stations had been located in the Ravenscar area from 1938, but a more permanent site was built at Bent Rigg in 1941, which was crewed by technicians and other staff from the Royal Air Force. Bent Rigg, and the wider location around Ravenscar, was deemed "attractive" for the siting of long-range finding equipment. It was originally part of the Coastal Defence/Chain Home Low (CD/CHL) system, designed to detect shipping. Later, it was upgraded with more powerful equipment as part of the Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL). The last recorded use of the station was in September 1944, and it is believed that the site closed soon afterwards.
