Achiemore, Durness
| Achiemore | |
| Sutherland | |
|---|---|
 Empty house at Achiemore | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NC360679 |
| Location: | 58°34’5"N, 4°49’16"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Highland |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross |
Achiemore is a depopulated village in the north-west of Sutherland which was a crofting community. It is found on the Cape Wrath peninsula near the village of Durness, just south of the farmstead of Daill on the western shore of the Kyle of Durness.
Neither Daill nor Achiemore has a permanent population: the nearest settled village is Durness, two and a half miles to the east.
Access
Achiemore may be reached only across the Kyle of Durness, by a small passenger ferry operating from Keoldale during the summer months. The hamlet is on the U70 road linking the ferry to the Cape Wrath Lighthouse, a road built in the 1830s as a supply road for the newly opened lighthouse replacing a track which linked to an original slipway north of Daill.[1][2] Quarries alongside the road at both Achiemore and Daill were used to provide material for the building of the road.[3]
History
Between 1935 and 1938, there were around 40 people living on the cape side.[4][5][6] The farmsteads at Daill and Achiemore consisted of two or three buildings with assorted enclosures.[7][8] Up to 10 children from across the cape were known to attend a side school to Durness Primary School which was located at Achiemore.
The school closed in 1947 and the whole area of the cape is now virtually uninhabited.[6][9][10] The school building stood until the early 1990s, when its roof blew off in strong winds, and its walls were taken down to strengthen the wooden bridge constructed by the Royal Marines in 1980 crossing the Daill River to the north west of Achiemore.[6][9]
About the village
Achiemore is located just outside the Cape Wrath Training Area, a military training and live firing range which has operated on the cape since the early 20th century. A military sentry post adjacent to the site of the school restricts access to the area when the range is in use.[9]
A possible site of a promontory fort is located to the north-east of Achiemore on the shore of the Kyle of Durness where drystone and turf enclosures have been surveyed.[11]
A site at Eilean nan Caorach, around two miles north of Daill is a more likely location of a promontory fort or monastery. The site has been heavily damaged by shelling and dating is difficult as a result.[12]
See also
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Achiemore, Durness) |
- Cape Wrath tourism
- Cape Wrath ferry
- Cape Wrath Training Area, Military of Defence information, including access information and contact telephone numbers
References
- ↑ Kyle of Durness storehouse to Cape Wrath lighthouse, Royal Commission on the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Kyle of Durness
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Kyle of Durness to Cape Wrath lighthouse
- ↑ Cafe at the end of the universe ... where a cup of tea is guaranteed, The Herald, 2009-06-09. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
- ↑ Mrs Jessie Morrison, Durness, Obituary, Northern Times, 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2013-02-08.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Uney.G (2009) Backpacker's Britain: Northern Scotland: thirty two and three day treks, p.86. Cicerone Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-85284-458-5 (online)
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Daill
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Achiemore
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 RCAHMS record of Achiemore
- ↑ Durness Schools, Education in Sutherland, 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Daill promontory fort (possible)
- ↑ RCAHMS record of Eilean nan Caorach