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 huge and sparsely populated, covering an area from east of Loch Eriboll to Cape Wrath, the most north-westerly point of the Scottish mainland.

The population is dispersed and includes a number of townships including Kempie, Eriboll, Laid, , Sangobeg, Leirinmore, Smoo, Sangomore, Durine, Balnakeil and Keoldale.

Etymology

The name could be Norse "Dyrnes", meaning "deer/animal headland". No one knows for sure where the name derives; it has variously been translated as from "Dorainn nis" tempest point, or "Dhu thir nis" the point of the black land; or from the Norse for deerpoint. Or even from the main village "Durine" which would translate as "Dubh Rinn" the black (or fertile) promontory, with the Norse "ness" tacked onto an existing Gaelic name.

Prehistory

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. To the south of the village at the former township of Cnocbreac can be seen the remains of two parallel turf dykes of Neolithic origin, the purpose of which is unknown. Archaeological investigations in 1995 turned up Neolithic, Norse and Iron Age artifacts in four caves (Smoo Cave, Glassknapper's Cave, Antler Cave and Wetweather Cave) a few hundred meters from Durness. The majority of the artifacts from the cave were related to Viking/Norse or medieval activity. Fish bones, marine shells, plant remains and mammal and bird bones indicated the processing and consumption of marine and terrestrial foods. Iron slag and boat nails led the archaeologists to surmise that boats were repaired in the sheltered inlet. Four radiocarbon dates from Smoo Cave and Glassknapper's Cave provide evidence for use of these sites between the eighth and 11th centuries AD. In May 1991, the body of a young Viking boy was discovered exposed by the erosion of the sand dunes at Faraid Head. At Sangobeg beach, a probably Viking settlement and the body of a prehistoric (170 BC - 30 AD) child was discovered in 2000.

History

Durness was formerly a part of the bishopric of Caithness and the old house at Balnakeil was originally the bishop's summer residence. The church at Balnakeil dates back to the Culdean monks but the existing ruined church is said to have been built by the monks from Dornoch Cathedral in the 13th century.

At Ceannabeinne lies "Clach a Breitheanas" or the Judgement Stone. This was said to be where judgement was meted out to malefactors and those found guilty were thrown over the cliff to their doom below.

The parish of Durness was for centuries a part of Dùthaich MhicAoidh, the land of the Clan Mackay, who held their title to the land extending from Melvich in the east to Kylesku in the west. The area is also important to the Clan Morrison, who live with their traditional allies, the Clan Mackay. "Many sanguinary battles, still recounted by tradition , were fought between the Mcleods and Macaulays on one side and the Morisons on the other. At last the Morisons were forced to leave Lewis and take refuge with that part of their clan which was settled in Duirness and Edderachyllius, Sutherland, where still, in 1793, the natives were all, except a few, of the three names of Mac Leay, Morison or Mcleod." Morrison 1880:pp 31.

Loch Eriboll was used by the battle fleet of King Haakon of Norway on its way south to the disastrous Battle of Largs in 1266. During the Second World War, the battle cruiser "Jamaica" sustained an outbreak of measles on board and was quarantined in the loch for months. At cessation of hostilities in 1945 it saw the surrender of some 30 German U-boats. During the Second World War, the RAF built a Chain Home radar station at Sango near Durness. After the war there was also a ROTOR radar station at Faraid Head near Balnakeil, part of which is used by the modern military range and the accommodation area is used for various crafts.

In the early 19th century the population of the parish was around 1,100, spread widely throughout scattered small townships. The population today is much diminished, with the whole of the Durness area suffering greatly from the Highland Clearances, the first in 1809 and thereafter throughout the greater part of the 19th century until the Crofting Act of the 1886 finally gave crofters a measure of security of tenure. The Durness Riots of 1841 were caused by a clearance when the women of Ceannabeinne township defied the Sheriff Officer sent to deliver the summons of eviction and subsequent disorder occurred at the village inn in Durness when a second attempt was made, causing the officers to be again run out of town. In the first attempt, in August, 1841, a party of sheriff officers and constables were attacked by a mob of about 400 people who were armed with weapons, at the inn of Durine in the parish of Durness. The whole party were injured by the mob and some of them narrowly escaped with their lives. Their eviction papers were also burned by the mob in the presence of the leading sheriff officer who was of the surname Campbell. The second attempt was made by the police super-intendant, Phillip Mackay, but he was treated in a similar manner and returned home. Mackay made another attempt with a stronger force on 17 September 1841, again consisting of a party of sheriff officers and special constables, arriving the following evening. They were observed approaching and eventually 200 to 300 local people had gathered, all armed with weapons, to oppose them. The mob made a rush to seize Mackay, but they were defeated and Mackay and his men made it to the inn. However, the local mob now with an additional 100 people, smashed the windows and broke down the doors. The constables were all dragged outside and given similar treatment as before, being totally dispersed. The sheriff officers who were in another room were then also dragged outside and dispersed. The locals were later threatened that a military force would be raised against them and did not rise up again.

Geography

The main sources of employment in the village are crofting and tourism. It is the largest village in the northwestern corner of Scotland, has a population of around 400, and is on the A838 road. It is located on the north coast between the towns of Thurso, to the east, and Ullapool , to the south. This area is notable for being the most sparsely populated region in Western Europe. Until some 50 years ago, Durness was a predominantly Gaelic speaking area.

Geology

The landscape of the Durness area is a stark contrast to the surrounding areas due to a down-faulted, isolated wedge of Cambro-Ordovician Durness Group carbonates, also historically (and often now informally) known as the 'Durness Limestone'. Although the unit outcrops as far south as Skye, the full sequence can only be seen in the Durness area, hence the name of the unit. This thick sequence (c. ) of dolomites with subordinate limestones and chert is softer than the surrounding hills which are formed of more resistant Lewisian Gneiss or Torridonian sandstones, sometimes capped by Cambrian Quartzite. As a result, the local area is generally flatter and more fertile than other areas in the North West Highlands due to the carbonate bedrock and resultant lime-rich soils.

An unusually wide variety of rock types for such a relatively small area can be found within the parish. This is partly due to extensive faulting in the area which has placed a variety rocks of different ages ( Archaean – Ordovician) in contact with one another. A down-faulted section of the Moine Thrust can also be seen in the area at both Faraid Head and Sango Bay despite the main thrust area being found several miles east at Loch Eriboll. The thrust exposures within Sango Bay are the most accessible localities to observe the Moine Thrust Zone. Additionally, Sango Bay (geologically a graben) also exposes some of the best basin bounding fault outcrops in the British Isles.

Faraid Head is also important geologically for one of Scotland's largest sand dune systems where the prominent headland is exposed to strong winds, building a variety of sand dunes types up to above sea level. The cliffs on the eastern side of this headland show the only preserved exposures of Moine metasediments west of the main outcrop of the Moine Thrust in Scotland (as a result of thrusting and later normal-faulting) and excellent machair examples have developed between the cliff top and the dunes, partly due to the high sea-shell content of the sands in the Durness area.

As a result, Durness is part of the North West Highlands Geopark and is a popular destination for both postgraduate and undergraduate geology students during the summer.

Tourism

Tourists are catered for by a campsite spectacularly sited on the cliffs above the beach (with easy access down to the beach), an SYHA hostel, housed by some converted army buildings, bed and breakfast accommodation and two hotels and restaurants, Mackay's and the Smoo Cave Hotel. The village is also used as a base by visitors to Cape Wrath.

The main attractions in Durness are Smoo Cave, a conjoined sea cave and freshwater cave with a small river running through it and a waterfall in wet weather, unspoilt beaches backed by cliffs and the local seabirds, seals, porpoises and minke whales. The surrounding coastline is some of Europe's most isolated and spectacular, with the nearby Clo Mor Cliffs being the highest on the British mainland, at high.

Balnakeil Old Church, is a scheduled monument with the grave of Donuill Mac Morraichaidh, a serial bandit and murderer, inside one wall of the church so, it is said, "that his enemies couldn't walk over his grave". The area around Loch Croispol and Loch Borrallie abounds in archeological interest, from brochs to round houses to medieval and pre-clearances settlements.

The Balnakeil Craft Village can be found approximately outside Durness and is a collection of former MoD units dating from the 1950s, which now house various independent shops.

Culture and community

Durness is the birthplace and burial site of the poet, Rob Donn

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