Embo
| Embo Gaelic: Earabol | |
| Sutherland | |
|---|---|
 Embo Pier | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 57°54’-0"N, 3°58’48"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 300 (approx.) |
| Post town: | Dornoch |
| Postcode: | IV25 |
| Dialling code: | 01862 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Highland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |
Embo is a village on the east coast of Sutherland, about two miles north-east of Dornoch.
Bronze Age remains were excavated to the south of the village in 1956, other burials having previously been discovered in the area.
Nancy Dorian's research of the local East Sutherland Gaelic dialect showed that in 1964, over 100 of the village's total population of fewer than 300 still actively spoke Gaelic, and that many more had a "smattering" or were perfect passive bilinguals. This percentage even briefly increased during the 1970s with "returners" to the village. Until the end of the 1970s at least, Embo was a bilingual Gaelic and English speaking community. Brora and Golspie had much smaller percentages of Gaelic speakers at that time.
As with the entire region of East Sutherland, the end of the 19th century and the collapse of the fishing industry coincided with the decline of Gaelic as the majority language of the people.
The nearest railway stations are at Tain and Golspie, both about 10 route miles away.
