Reay ( gd, Ràth) is a
village which has grown around
Sandside Bay
Reay ( gd, Ràth) is a village which has grown around Sandside Bay on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. It is within the historic Parish of Reay and the historic county of Caithness.
The village is on the A836 road so ...
on the north coast of 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 ...
council area of
Scotland. It is within the historic Parish of Reay and the historic
county of
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
.
The village is on the
A836 road some west of the town of
Thurso and west of
Dounreay
Dounreay (; gd, Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were create ...
.
Along with Thurso the village grew dramatically in the mid-20th century with the development of the experimental
nuclear power facility at
Dounreay
Dounreay (; gd, Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were create ...
, where
technologies such as
fast breeder reactors were developed.
The last
force-fire in Reay occurred about 1830.
Toponymy
The origin of the name is uncertain, but possibilities include the Gaelic ''Reidh'' (a flat place) or ''Ratha'' (a fort or enclosure). Possibilities from
Norse include ''Ra'' (a boundary marker) or ''Vra'' (a nook or corner). Another possibility is the word ''Ra'', a now obsolete word for the yardarm of a boat. A prehistoric mound at the west end of the beach is called ''Cnocstanger'', which means ''pole hill''.
History
The area around the village has been occupied for millennia. Within the modern village are the remains of a
stone circle
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...
, several
Viking houses and burials, the site of a
Bronze Age settlement and a mound which contains the layered remains of several
Simple Atlantic Roundhouses. The
church in Reay, which is still in use, was built in 1739 to a highly unusual T-plan, and is now a category A
listed building. The village contains the remains of a far earlier church, dating from the 16th century but on an ancient dedication to St Colman, along with its small, walled graveyard. The existent remains of this old church include a 9th-century cross slab. Although there are none actually within the village, the Parish of Reay contains the remains of several
broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s. Their origin is a matter of some controversy.
Origin ...
s. In 1437, the
MacKays defeated the men of Caithness at Sandside Bay in the battle known as the
Sandside Chase, turning there on the pursuers that had chased them away from an attempted raid.
The parish of Reay was originally partly in the county of
Caithness
Caithness ( gd, Gallaibh ; sco, Caitnes; non, Katanes) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Caithness has a land boundary with the historic county of Sutherland to the west and is otherwise bounded by ...
and partly 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 ...
. However, in 1891 the parish boundaries changed so that the portion of the parish of Reay that was in Sutherland was disjoined and became part of the parish of
Farr in Sutherland.
Sandside House on the edge of the village is a mansion house with extensive grounds dating from 1751. It was previously owned by Thomas Pilkington, who founded Reay Village Golf Club.
Geography
The
parish includes the hamlets of
Fresgoe
Fresgoe is the main harbour for the village of Reay, overlooking Sandside Bay in Caithness in the Scottish highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotl ...
, Islaud and
Shebster
Shebster is a small remote hamlet, which lies 7 miles southwest of Thurso, in northern Caithness, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous regio ...
, which are close to the boundary between Caithness and the neighbouring
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 ...
. The parish had a
parish council from 1894 to 1930, and has two neighbouring parishes in Caithess: the
Parish of Thurso
Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Gre ...
to the east and the
Parish of Halkirk
Halkirk ( gd, Hàcraig) is a village on the River Thurso in Caithness, in the Highland council area of Scotland. From Halkirk the B874 road runs towards Thurso in the north and towards Georgemas in the east. The village is within the parish of ...
to the south. Dounreay is within the parish.
Sandside Bay is a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
. It is recognised by surfers as being home to a powerful high quality left-hand reef break. This, however, is extremely fickle, and requires very particular wind, swell, and tide conditions to come into shape. The break is also notorious for being very rocky, shallow, and dangerous, such is the irregular form of the reef upon which the wave breaks.
One of the main environmental issues caused by the
Dounreay Nuclear Power Development Establishment
Dounreay (; gd, Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were creat ...
are radioactive
nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission.
Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoing ...
particles that have been released from the site into the sea, and are now on the seabed near the plant and in Sandside Bay. Some of these are being washed ashore, including a small number on the privately owned Sandside Bay beach which is open to the public and is part of the Sandside Estate. The
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committed to clean up and open oversight of the work on 25 October 2006
The Dounreay Particles Advisory Group recommended that the particle monitoring frequency of the beach should be increased to fortnightly
The 13th Laird of Sandside the Duke of Portland took the Government to Court to assert his ownership down to the low watermark of the estate granted by a barony of 1628 and won. The 19th Laird of Sandside since 1991, Geoffrey Minter, following the radioactive contamination beginning in 1997, took the Government owned UKAEA to court in 2003 and won, beyond appeal, a judicial review in Scotland's highest court proving radioactive damage to the estate's land and the UKAEA to be in breach of its statutory duty under the Nuclear Installations Act.
UKAEA
The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy ( ...
's contractors now regularly monitor the beach due to a permanent agreement with the landowner.
Local government
The village is within the
Thurso and Northwest Caithness ward of the
Highland Council
The Highland Council (' ), the political body covering the Highland local authority created in 1995, comprises 21 wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, which creates a form of proportional represe ...
. The ward elects four
councillors by the
single transferable vote system of election, which produces a form of
proportional representation. It is one of seven wards within the council's
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area and one of 22 wards within the
council area.
See also
*
Lord Reay
*
David Reay
David S. Reay is a climate change scientist, author, and professor of carbon management and education at the University of Edinburgh.Dave Reay's He serves as co-chair of the Just Transition Commission, and served as executive director of the Ed ...
*
Reay Parish Church
Reay Parish Church is a Church of Scotland parish church serving Reay, Caithness. It is one of the most northerly communities on the Scottish mainland, located several miles to west of Thurso. The largest local employer is the Dounreay nuclear f ...
References
External links
Caithness.orgReay Golf ClubSandside Estate Website 28 June 2004
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070927191113/http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectionCode=132&storyCode=2040484 UKAEA advised to close Dounreay beach Nuclear Engineering International, 24 November 2006
Dounreay Particles Advisory Group: 3rd Report– November 2006 – SEPA
{{Authority control
Populated places in Caithness
Viking Age populated places
Parishes in Caithness