Port of Ness
| Port of Ness Gaelic: Port Nis | |
| Ross-shire | |
|---|---|
 Port of Ness, the beach and the harbour basin | |
| Location | |
| Island: | Lewis |
| Grid reference: | NB537638 |
| Location: | 58°29’35"N, 6°13’37"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Isle Of Lewis |
| Postcode: | HS2 |
| Dialling code: | 01851 810 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Na h-Eileanan Siar |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Na h-Eileanan an Iar |
Port of Ness is a village on the Isle of Lewis in the community of Ness, in the Outer Hebrides, and part of Ross-shire. Port of Ness is within the parish of Barvas.[1]
The village is close to the very northern tip of Lewis, at the end of the A857, which runs from Stornoway.[2]
The harbour was built in the early 19th century.[3] An enlargement was built in 1893, with a breakwater added the following year.[3]
Each year men from Ness district sail from the port to Sula Sgeir in the Atlantic Ocean forty miles north of Lewis in order to collect young gannets, known as 'guga', for food.[4] The event was first recorded in the 16th century,[5] and the guga harvest continues every year, the men staying for a week on that inhospitable rock. While the killing of gannets is generally banned by conservation laws, the Sula Sgeir gannet harvest is a statutory exception,[6] (which conservationists appear to hate although the suspension of the harvest in wartime saw a collapse in gannet numbers).
The Clach Stein standing stones are situated just to the north of the village.[7][8]
In literature
The boathouse at the harbour features in the Peter May novels, The Blackhouse and The Lewis Man.[9]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Port of Ness) |
- CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Canmore - Ness Trader: Port Nis, Lewis
- CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of J A Good: Ness Bay, Lewis
- Undiscovered Scotland - Port Nis
References
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Lewis, Port of Ness
- ↑ The A857 on SABRE
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Lewis, Port of Ness, Harbour
- ↑ "The Guga Hunters of Ness: creating the programme". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/nature/the_guga_hunters_of_ness_creating_the_programme.shtml. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ "The Historical Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1875-1900". Google Books. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=v2vTcDMk4SIC&pg=PT130&lpg=PT130&dq=sula+sgeir+16th+century&source=bl&ots=C0LSKBOOB7&sig=mhNtgiEoCBe_hEM5oDEPsaW-28g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rmWVVLbDJsW3Uf-fgaAL&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=sula%20sgeir%2016th%20century&f=false. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ "Cliffhanger for a bloody tradition as last of Scotland's gannet hunters set sail". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/aug/25/scotland-hebrides-gannet-hunt. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
- ↑ Megalithic Portal: Clach Stein - Standing Stones
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Lewis, Ness, Clach Stein
- ↑ "Peter May Trilogy - Port of Ness Harbour". Visit Outer Hebrides. http://www.visitouterhebrides.co.uk/see-and-do/peter-may-trilogy-port-of-ness-harbour-p543591. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
