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Loch Eriboll

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Loch Eriboll
A wide sea loch surrounded by hills
Loch Eriboll is located in Scotland
Loch Eriboll
Loch Eriboll
LocationScotland
Coordinates58°30′18″N 4°40′12″W / 58.505°N 4.670°W / 58.505; -4.670Coordinates: 58°30′18″N 4°40′12″W / 58.505°N 4.670°W / 58.505; -4.670
TypeSea loch
Basin countriesScotland
Loch Eriboll Lighthouse
Whiten Head Edit this at Wikidata
Loch Eriboll Lighthouse - geograph.org.uk - 909399.jpg
Loch Eriboll Lighthouse on the East side of Loch Eriboll.
Coordinates58°31′00″N 4°38′54″W / 58.516804°N 4.648422°W / 58.516804; -4.648422
Constructed1894 (first)
Constructionskeletal tower
Automated2003
Height5 metres (16 ft)
Shapesquare parallelepiped clad tower with white panels as daymark and light
Markingswhite tower
OperatorNorthern Lighthouse Board[1]
First lit2003 (current)
Focal height19 metres (62 ft)
Range13 nmi (24 km; 15 mi) (white), 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) (red) Edit this on Wikidata
CharacteristicFl WR 10s.

Loch Eriboll (Scottish Gaelic: "Loch Euraboil") is a 16 km (9.9 mi) long sea loch on the north coast of Scotland, which has been used for centuries as a deep water anchorage as it is safe from the often stormy seas of Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth.

Bronze Age remains can be found in the area, including a souterrain and a very well preserved wheelhouse on the hillside above the west shore. A small scale lime industry developed here in the 19th century and Ard Neakie, a promontory on the eastern shore of the loch, had four large lime kilns developed in around 1870.[2] Before the development of the coast road around the loch in 1890, the Heilam ferry ran from the quay at Portnancon on the west shore to Ard Neakie. Both Ard Neakie and Portnancon were fishing stations.[2][3]

Farmhouse at Loch Eriboll
Farmhouse at Loch Eriboll

Around the shores of the loch are the crofting townships of Eriboll, Laid, Heilam, Portnancon and Rispond.

Eilean Hoan is located at the northern, seaward end of the loch and there are various small islets in the vicinity including A' Ghoil-sgeir, An Cruachan, An Dubh-sgeir, Eilean Clùimhrig, and Pocan Smoo.[4] Today it is a largely unspoilt wilderness, in a region of high rainfall and with the lowest population density in the UK.

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Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic, also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx, developed out of Old Irish. It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by the Gaels of both Ireland and Scotland until well into the 17th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names.

Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a 96-mile (154-kilometre) border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands.

Cape Wrath

Cape Wrath

Cape Wrath is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain.

Pentland Firth

Pentland Firth

The Pentland Firth is a strait which separates the Orkney Islands from Caithness in the north of Scotland. Despite the name, it is not a firth.

Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system proposed in 1836 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies and history.

Souterrain

Souterrain

Souterrain is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the European Atlantic Iron Age.

Atlantic roundhouse

Atlantic roundhouse

In archaeology, an Atlantic roundhouse is an Iron Age stone building found in the northern and western parts of mainland Scotland, the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.

Agricultural lime

Agricultural lime

Agricultural lime, also called aglime, agricultural limestone, garden lime or liming, is a soil additive made from pulverized limestone or chalk. The primary active component is calcium carbonate. Additional chemicals vary depending on the mineral source and may include calcium oxide. Unlike the types of lime called quicklime and slaked lime, powdered limestone does not require lime burning in a lime kiln; it only requires milling. All of these types of lime are sometimes used as soil conditioners, with a common theme of providing a base to correct acidity, but lime for farm fields today is often crushed limestone. Historically, liming of farm fields in centuries past was often done with burnt lime; the difference is at least partially explained by the fact that affordable mass-production-scale fine milling of stone and ore relies on technologies developed since the mid-19th century.

Portnancon

Portnancon

Portnancon is a small remote crofting township, and former fishing station, on the west shore of Loch Eriboll in Sutherland, Scottish Highlands in the Scottish council area of Highland. The township is in the parish of Durness and Durness village lies 8 miles (13 km) west along the A838 road. The village of Laid is located 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west from Portnancon along the A838.

Eriboll

Eriboll

Eriboll is a village in Sutherland, Scotland. The village is situated on the south eastern shore of Loch Eriboll, in the northern part of the former county of Sutherland.

Laid, Sutherland

Laid, Sutherland

Laid is a remote, linear crofting township scattered along the A838 road on the western shore of the sea loch, Loch Eriboll in Sutherland in the northern Scottish Highlands. The township is close to the north coast of Scotland in the Scottish council area of Highland around 6 miles (10 km) south of the village of Durness. The township of Portnancon is located 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Laid, along the A838 road.

Eilean Hoan

Eilean Hoan

Eilean Hoan is an island in Loch Eriboll in Sutherland on the north coast of Scotland. It is about 28 hectares in extent and the highest point is 25 metres (82 ft) above sea level. Its name is of Gaelic and Old Norse derivation and means "haven island".

Naval use

The Royal Navy have been frequent visitors to the loch, particularly during World War II. There are stones arranged by sailors into the names of their warships, including HMS Hood and Amethyst, on the hillside above the hamlet of Laid. It was nicknamed "Lock ’orrible" by the British servicemen stationed here during the war because of the often inclement weather. The largest island in the loch, Eilean Choraidh, was used as a representation of the German battleship Tirpitz for aerial bombing practice by the Fleet Air Arm prior to the successful Operation Tungsten in April 1944.[5] The surviving 33 German U-boats, for example U-532 and U-295, formally surrendered here in 1945, ending the Battle of the Atlantic.[6]

A leased area of the shore and loch is classified as a Minor training area by the Defence Training Estate,[7] generally being used for amphibious and specialist training for three fortnights per year.[8]

In 2011 the loch was used as part of Exercise Joint Warrior, the largest war games staged in the UK, involving the navy's new flagship, the assault ship HMS Bulwark.[9]

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HMS Amethyst (F116)

HMS Amethyst (F116)

HMS Amethyst was a modified Black Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Linthouse, Govan, Scotland on 25 March 1942, launched on 7 May 1943 and commissioned on 2 November 1943, with the pennant number U16. After the Second World War she was modified and redesignated as a frigate, and renumbered F116.

Eilean Choraidh

Eilean Choraidh

Eilean Choraidh, also known as Horse Island is an island in Loch Eriboll in Sutherland on the north coast of Scotland. It is about 26 hectares in extent and the highest point is 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level.

Battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

German battleship Tirpitz

German battleship Tirpitz

Tirpitz was the second of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine (navy) prior to and during the Second World War. Named after Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, the architect of the Kaiserliche Marine, the ship was laid down at the Kriegsmarinewerft Wilhelmshaven in November 1936 and her hull was launched two and a half years later. Work was completed in February 1941, when she was commissioned into the German fleet. Like her sister ship, Bismarck, Tirpitz was armed with a main battery of eight 38-centimetre (15 in) guns in four twin turrets. After a series of wartime modifications she was 2000 tonnes heavier than Bismarck, making her the heaviest battleship ever built by a European navy.

Fleet Air Arm

Fleet Air Arm

The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike and the AW159 Wildcat and AW101 Merlin for commando and anti-submarine warfare.

Operation Tungsten

Operation Tungsten

Operation Tungsten was a Second World War Royal Navy air raid that targeted the German battleship Tirpitz. The operation sought to damage or destroy Tirpitz at her base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway before she could become fully operational again following a period of repairs.

German submarine U-532

German submarine U-532

German submarine U-532 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

German submarine U-295

German submarine U-295

German submarine U-295 was a Type VIIC/41 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Battle of the Atlantic

Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. The campaign peaked from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943.

Defence Training Estate

Defence Training Estate

Defence Training Estates is an organisation within the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. It is the operating division of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and is responsible for the management of the 78% of the defence estate allocated as Training Areas and Ranges. It provides sufficient and suitable estate to support the training requirements of the British Armed Forces, whilst ensuring environmental management and appropriate historical and archaeological preservation.

Exercise Joint Warrior

Exercise Joint Warrior

Exercise Joint Warrior is a major biannual multi-national military exercise which takes place in the United Kingdom, predominately in north west Scotland. It is the successor of the Neptune Warrior exercises and Joint Maritime Course.

HMS Bulwark (L15)

HMS Bulwark (L15)

HMS Bulwark is the second ship of the Royal Navy's Albion-class assault ships. She is one of the United Kingdom's two amphibious transport docks designed to put Royal Marines ashore by air and by sea.

Source: "Loch Eriboll", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 12th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Eriboll.

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See also
References
  1. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Scotland: Highlands". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b Ard Neackie, Limekilns, Quarry, Canmore. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  3. ^ Loch Eriboll, Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  4. ^ "Get-a-Map". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  5. ^ Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 203
  6. ^ Wade, Mike (10 May 2010). "How Hitler's Grey Wolves were brought to heel in a Scottish loch". The Times. London. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
  7. ^ "Defence Training Estate Training Areas and Ranges (map)" (PDF). Defence Training Estate. Ministry of Defence. July 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  8. ^ "Loch Eriboll Aquaculture Framework Plan" (PDF). The Planning and Development Service, the Highland Council. August 2000. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  9. ^ "Bulwark takes over as UK flagship". Defence News. Ministry of Defence. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
Notes

Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7.

External links


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