Ceannabeinne (gaelic for ''the end of the mountains'') is a ruined village within the parish of

Durness Durness ( gd, Diùranais) is a village and civil parish in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north coast of the country in the traditional county of Sutherland, around north of Inverness. The area is remote, and the parish is ...

, in the county of

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

, in the far north of the Highlands of

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 border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Archaeology

Amongst the ruins of Ceannabeinne there are the remains of what is thought to be a

Monastic settlement Monastic settlements are areas built up in and around the development of monasteries with the spread of Christianity. To understand Christian monastic settlements, we must understand a brief history of Christian monasticism. Monasticism was a moveme ...

, possibly dating from early medieval times. Also charcoal remains have been dated to 370-100 BC by

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

, which suggest an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

fort.

History

Ceannabeinne is said to have been a thriving "township" until the

Highland Clearances The Highland Clearances ( gd, Fuadaichean nan Gàidheal , the "eviction of the Gaels") were the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, mostly in two phases from 1750 to 1860. The first phase resulte ...

of 1842, which resulted in rioting. There were once fourteen houses in the village of Ceanabeinne, all of which are now ruined. The only remaining building is the old school which is now a holiday home.

Township trail

People are able to walk through the ruins of the township of Ceannabeinne on an official township trail that is marked with information boards and directional instructions.

References

{{authority control Ceannabeinne Ceannabeinne Ceannabeinne Former populated places in Scotland