Machrihanish Bay

Machrihanish Bay
Machrihanish Bay
	Machrihanish Bay with headland of Machrihanish village.
	Machrihanish Bay
Location	Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Coordinates	55°26′07.9296″N5°44′1.1364″W / 55.435536000°N 5.733649000°W Coordinates: 55°26′07.9296″N5°44′1.1364″W / 55.435536000°N 5.733649000°W
Ocean/sea sources	Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	Scotland
Max. length	4 mi (6.4 km)
Max. width	3 mi (4.8 km)
Average depth	40 ft (12 m)

Last updated April 12, 2022

Machrihanish Bay is a large remote tidal north by northeast coastal facing embayment, located next to the Campbeltown Airport within Argyll and Bute, Scotland.^[1] It is located on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula. Machrihanish Bay has the longest continuous stretch of sand in Argyll.^[2]

Settlements

The closest settlement to Machrihanish Bay is the small village of Machrihanish which sits on the headland at the south end of the bay. Directly east of the bay sits Campbeltown Airport (RAF Machrihanish)^[3] and further east on the other side of the peninsula, a distance of 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) sits the town of Campbeltown. To the north of the airport and close to the northern shore of the bay, is the village of West Darlochan. The main A83 Road follows the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula, when traveling south, until it reaches the north coast of the bay, where it cuts east through the peninsula, to miss the airport, cutting through the small villages of Kilchenzie, Glencraigs, Drumore before finally meeting Campbeltown. The B842 road leaves Campbeltown traveling in a westerly direction, and passes through the small village of Stewarton, before reaching the bay as the B843.

Geography

To the north of the bay, around 2.3 nautical miles (4.3 km; 2.6 mi) lies Bellochantuy Bay. To the south of the bay, 1 nautical mile (1.9 km; 1.2 mi), lies Earadale Point, where the peninsula starts to curve inwards to the east. To the south of the bay lies the forested hill of The Slate, with the larger hill of Cnoc May which overlooks the bay, 4 miles to the northeast. The river Machrihanish Water flows into the bay.

Gallery

Images of Machrihanish Bay
Machrihanish Bay. Looking on from Cnoc Moy.
Beach & dunes at Machrihanish Bay.
Beach & dunes.
Beach at Machrihanish Bay, looking north.
Information boards at Machrihanish Bay

Related Research Articles

Argyll and Bute is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current Lord-Lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod. The administrative centre for the council area is in Lochgilphead at Kilmory Castle, a 19th-century Gothic Revival building and estate. The current Council leader is Councillor Robin Currie, a councillor for Kintyre and the Islands.

Royal Air Force Machrihanish or RAF Machrihanish is a former Royal Air Force station located near the town of Machrihanish and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Campbeltown, at the tip of the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll and Bute, in Scotland.

Campbeltown Airport is located at Machrihanish, 3 nautical miles west of Campbeltown, near the tip of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute on the west coast of Scotland. The airport was formerly known as RAF Machrihanish and hosted squadrons of the Royal Air Force and other NATO air forces as well as the United States Marine Corps. The airport is at a strategic point near the Irish Sea, and was used to guard the entrance to the Firth of Clyde where US nuclear submarines were based at Holy Loch and where Royal Navy Trident missile submarines are still based at HMNB Clyde.

Campbeltown is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Originally known as Kinlochkilkerran, it was renamed in the 17th century as Campbell's Town after Archibald Campbell was granted the site in 1667. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port.

Argyll, sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland.

Kintyre is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about 30 miles, from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately north of Kintyre is known as Knapdale.

The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second commissioned in Scotland, guides shipping in the intervening North Channel. The area has been immortalised in popular culture by the 1977 hit song "Mull of Kintyre" by Kintyre resident Paul McCartney's band of the time, Wings.

Saddell is a small Scottish village situated on the east side of the Kintyre Peninsula of Argyll and Bute, overlooking the Kilbrannan Sound and the Isle of Arran, 8 miles (13 km) from Campbeltown on the B842 road to Carradale. The name Saddell is derived from the Norse for sandy dale.

Southend is the main settlement at the southern end of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies 8 miles (13 km) south of Campbeltown, the main town in the area. The civil parish of Southend comprises the village and the surrounding land, used mainly for farming and forestry. The population of the parish is 497.

Tarbert, Kintyre Village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Tarbert is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fyne, and extends over the isthmus which links the peninsula of Kintyre to Knapdale and West Loch Tarbert. Tarbert had a recorded population of 1,338 in the 2001 Census.

The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a 2 ft 3 in narrow gauge railway in Kintyre, Scotland, between Campbeltown and the coalmining village of Machrihanish. Only three other passenger-carrying lines in the UK operated on the same gauge, all of them in Wales - the Corris Railway, the short-lived Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway and the Talyllyn Railway.

Trinity Island or Île de la Trinité or Isla Trinidad is an island 24 km (15 mi) long and 10 km (6 mi) wide in the northern part of the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. It lies 37 km (23 mi) east of Hoseason Island,72.6 km (45 mi) south of Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, and 10.3 km (6 mi) north-northwest of Cape Andreas on the Antarctic Peninsula. The island was named by Otto Nordenskiöld, leader of the 1901-1904 Swedish Antarctic Expedition (SAE) in commemoration of Edward Bransfield's "Trinity Land" of 1820.

Machrihanish is a village in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, which faces out towards Northern Ireland and the Atlantic.

Claonaig is a hamlet on the east coast of the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland, linked to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran by the CalMac ferry MV Catriona in the summer months.

Drumlemble is a small village on the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.

Tayinloan is a village situated on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The village has a sub post office, general store and a small hotel, a village hall and a play park. There is a cafe bar situated beside the ferry car park which also offers self-catering or bed and breakfast accommodation. The nearest towns are Campbeltown and Tarbert.

The Machrihanish Coalfield is a coalfield on the Kintyre peninsula in southwest Scotland. It is one of the smallest British coalfields. With the exception of a thin coal beneath the Lyoncross Limestone in the overlying Upper Limestone Formation, all of the coal-bearing strata are found within the Limestone Coal Formation, a subdivision of the Clackmannan Group; all being strata of Namurian age. There are numerous seams of which the Main Coal is the principal one, being some 3 to 4m thick. A further, higher seam known as the Kilkivan Coal has also been worked. The full sequence is:

The Gauldrons (Scottish Gaelic: Innean nan Gailleann meaning "Bay of Storms" is a bay facing the Atlantic Ocean in the village of Machrihanish in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland, a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre.

Enard Bay is a large remote tidal coastal embayment, located 10.5 miles northwest of Ullapool, in northwestern Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands in the west coast of Scotland. The mouth of the bay is about 4.5 miles across running from the head of Rubha Mòr peninsula at Rubna Na CòiGeach point to Rubna Na Brèige to the east.

The Kintyre Way is a waymarked footpath through the Kintyre peninsula of Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It runs between Machrihanish near the southern end of the peninsula's west coast, and Tarbert at the northern end of Kintyre where the peninsula is linked to Knapdale, via Campbeltown. The way is 161 kilometres (100 mi) long, and is fully waymarked. Additionally there are distance markers at 1 mile (1.6 km) intervals along the route. The route is primarily intended for walkers, but most sections can also be cycled.

References

↑ Microsoft; Nokia (1 April 2017). "Machrihanish Bay" (Map). Bing Maps . Microsoft. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
↑ Rob Humphreys; Darren (Norm) Longley; Helena Smith (1 May 2014). The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands & Islands. Rough Guides Limited. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-241-00768-6.
↑ Samer Bagaeen; Celia Clark (10 June 2016). Sustainable Regeneration of Former Military Sites. Routledge. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-317-22099-2.

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[1] Microsoft; Nokia (1 April 2017). "Machrihanish Bay" (Map). Bing Maps . Microsoft. Retrieved 1 April 2017.

[HumphreysLongley2014-2] Rob Humphreys; Darren (Norm) Longley; Helena Smith (1 May 2014). The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands & Islands. Rough Guides Limited. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-241-00768-6.

[BagaeenClark2016-3] Samer Bagaeen; Celia Clark (10 June 2016). Sustainable Regeneration of Former Military Sites. Routledge. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-317-22099-2.

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