Jemimaville is a small village in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

region 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 ...

. It sits on the northern coast of the

Black Isle The Black Isle ( gd, an t-Eilean Dubh, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and Nor ...

, overlooking the

Cromarty Firth The Cromarty Firth (; gd, Caolas Chrombaidh ; literally "kyles /nowiki>straits.html"_;"title="strait.html"_;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straits">strait.html"_;"title="/nowiki>strait">/nowiki>straitsof_Cromarty.html" ;"title="strait">/no ...

. The village is west of

Cromarty Cromarty (; gd, Cromba, ) is a town, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, it is seaward from In ...

and south of

Invergordon Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was establish ...

on the opposite shore of the firth. It has eighteen houses and around 50 inhabitants, and a small post office which is open on Thursdays 11:00-13:00.

Geography

The village takes its name from the wife of a former laird. Jemimaville was also the home of writer

Jane Duncan Jane Duncan (10 March 1910 – 20 October 1976) was the pseudonym of Scottish author Elizabeth Jane Cameron, best known for her ''My Friends'' series of semi-autobiographical novels. She also wrote four novels under the name of her principal hero ...

in her later years, being near "The Colony", which is the "Reachfar" of her novels. It is approximately to the nearest shop.

Naval battle

Surprisingly for a village on land, Jemimaville is also the site of one of the lesser-known naval battles. The Battle of Jemimaville occurred on 26 October 1914, when the village was accidentally shelled by the

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of attr ...

s and . These British

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...

s had been warned of German

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

activity in the

, and fired shells at shapes that were suspected to be the surfacing

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

, but were more likely to be an innocent dolphin or wave. Jemimaville took the brunt of the shelling, and a ten-month-old baby, Alexandria McGill, nearly lost her leg when the second floor of her house collapsed on top of her cradle. She limped for the rest of her life, and the only compensation she received from the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

was a silver rattle inscribed ''A Present to Baby McGill from HMS Lion, October 1914''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Photo of Jemimaville Village - circe 1908

Photo of Jemimaville Village - circa 1920
Populated places on the Black Isle