Tarbat Ness (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

: ''Rubha Thairbeirt'') is headland that lies at the end of the

Tarbat Tarbat (Gaelic , meaning 'a crossing or isthmus'Place-names of Ross and Cromarty, by W J Watson, publ. The Northern Counties Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd., Inverness 1904; p.45) is a civil parish in Highland, Scotland, in the north-east corner ...

peninsula in

Easter Ross Easter Ross ( gd, Ros an Ear) is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constitue ...

, Scotland. The name is from the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

''tairbeart'' meaning "

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

" and the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''ness'', meaning " headland". It lies at the south of the entrance to the

Dornoch Firth The Dornoch Firth ( gd, Caolas Dhòrnaich, ) is a firth on the east coast of Highland, in northern Scotland. It forms part of the boundary between Ross and Cromarty, to the south, and Sutherland, to the north. The firth is designated as a nat ...

Geology and geomorphology

The Upper

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

Devonian period bedrock contains fish fossils. There are examples of a range of pitting, saltspray and honeycomb erosion and "some of the best examples of differential erosion processes on tilted sandstone strata in Scotland".Hansom, J.
"Tarbat Ness"
JNCC/''Geological Conservation Review''. Volume 28: Coastal Geomorphology of Great Britain. Chapter 3: Hard-rock cliffs. Retrieved 27 January 2014. The height of the headland reaches 17m above sea level in the south and east and 10m in the north and west. The

raised beach A raised beach, coastal terrace,Pinter, N (2010): 'Coastal Terraces, Sealevel, and Active Tectonics' (educational exercise), from 2/04/2011/ref> or perched coastline is a relatively flat, horizontal or gently inclined surface of marine origin,P ...

es provide evidence of the post-glacial changes in sea level. Water depths offshore reach 10m at 300m offshore and 20m at circa offshore.

History

Tarbat ness lighthouse OS map 25inch Rosshire XXX

According to the '' Orkneyinga Saga'' the Norse

Earl of Orkney Earl of Orkney, historically Jarl of Orkney, is a title of nobility encompassing the archipelagoes of Orkney and Shetland, which comprise the Northern Isles of Scotland. Originally founded by Norse invaders, the status of the rulers of the Nort ...

Torf-Einarr Einarr Rognvaldarson ( early 890s–c. 910), often referred to by his byname Torf-Einarr (sometimes anglicised as Turf-Einar), was one of the Norse earls of Orkney. The son of the Norse '' jarl'' Rognvald Eysteinsson and a concubine, his rise ...

"was the first man to dig

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

for fuel, firewood being very scarce on the islands, at Tarbat Ness" (Torfness in the original). This is said to explain his nickname, ''torf'' meaning "peat", but it is clearly an absurd assertion. At the Battle of Tarbat Ness in the 11th century,

Thorfinn the Mighty Thorfinn Sigurdsson (1009?– 1065), also known as Thorfinn the Mighty (Old Norse: ''Þorfinnr inn riki''), was an 11th-century Jarl of Orkney. He was the youngest of five sons of Jarl Sigurd Hlodvirsson and the only one resulting from Sigur ...

defeated "

Karl Hundason Karl Hundason, also Karl Hundisson, is a personage in the '' Orkneyinga Saga''. The saga recounts a war between Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Earl of Orkney, and Karl, whom it calls king of Scots. The question of his identity and historicity has been debat ...

", possibly a Viking name for Macbeth. Further down the peninsula near the village of

Portmahomack Portmahomack ( gd, Port Mo Chalmaig; 'Haven of My .e. 'Saint'Colmóc') is a small fishing village in Easter Ross, Scotland. It is situated in the Tarbat Peninsula in the parish of Tarbat. Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is about from the village at ...

, in the 1480s the

Clan Ross Clan Ross ( gd, Clann Anndrais ) is a Highland Scottish clan. The original chiefs of the clan were the original Earls of Ross. History Origins The first recorded chief of the Clan Ross was "Fearcher Mac an t-Sagirt" which in English meant ...

slaughtered a raiding party from the

Clan Mackay Clan Mackay ( ; gd, Clann Mhic Aoidh ) is an ancient and once-powerful Highland Scottish clan from the far North of the Scottish Highlands, but with roots in the old Kingdom of Moray. They supported Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish ...

by locking them in the Tarbat Old Church and setting fire to it. This event is known as the

Battle of Tarbat The Battle of Tarbat was a Scottish clan battle fought in the 1480s on the Tarbat peninsula, in Easter Ross. The Clan Ross cornered a raiding party of Clan Mackay near the village of Portmahomack and put many of them to the sword. The surviv ...

. On 14 October 1941 a

Saro Lerwick The Saunders-Roe A.36 Lerwick was a British flying boat built by Saunders-Roe Limited (Saro). It was intended to be used with the Short Sunderland in Royal Air Force Coastal Command but it was a flawed design and only a small number were built. ...

flying boat assigned to No. 4 OTU ''L7268'' crashed into the sea near Tarbat Ness following failure of the port engine. The aircraft could not maintain altitude on single engine. Six of the crew were killed, three recovered alive.

Modern day

Tarbat Ness from across the Firth - geograph

The

Tarbat Ness Lighthouse The Tarbat Ness Lighthouse is located at the North West tip of the Tarbat Ness peninsula near the fishing village of Portmahomack on the east coast of Scotland. It was built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson and has an elevation of and 203 steps to ...

is located at the north west tip of the peninsula. It was built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson and has an elevation of and 203 steps to the top of the tower."Tarbat Ness Lighthouse"
Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 27 January 2014. The restored Ballone Castle lies at the south east end of the peninsula north of the village of Rockfield.

Notes

References

* * * * * Thomson, William P. L. (2008) ''The New History of Orkney''. Edinburgh. Birlinn. {{coord, 57, 51, 59, N, 3, 46, 27, W, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:2000, display=title Orkneyinga saga places Ross and Cromarty Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Scotland Headlands of Scotland Landforms of Highland (council area)