Plockton church (Architect, Thomas Telford) - geograph.org.uk - 1266656.jpg
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Plockton ( gd, Am Ploc/Ploc Loch Aillse) is a village in the Lochalsh, Wester Ross area of the Scottish Highlands with a 2020 population of 468. Plockton settlement is on the shores of Loch Carron. It faces east away from the prevailing winds, and together with the North Atlantic Drift gives it a mild climate despite the far-north latitude, allowing the
Cordyline australis ''Cordyline australis'', commonly known as the cabbage tree, tī kōuka or cabbage-palm, is a widely branched monocot tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows up to tall with a stout trunk and sword-like leaves, which are clustered at the tips of ...
palm to prosper.


History

Most of the houses date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was established as a planned fishing village on the northern edge of the Lochalsh, built ‘when introducing sheep farming in 1814-20 and removing the population from their old hamlets in Glen Garron, founded the villages of Jeantown and Plockton on Loch Carronside’ (Geddes: 1945, pp38). Some maritime charts including MacKenzie (1776) and Heather (1804) mark the peninsula where the village sits as ‘Plack’, however it generally considered that the village was built on the ‘Ploc’ of Lochalsh, with ‘Ploc’ being understood in Gaelic as pimple or bump (of Lochalsh) sharing this with other places such as the Plock of Kyle and Plocrapool on the Isle of Harris. Its name in current form is based on the Gaelic name referring to the promontory, with the ‘-ton’ (from 'town') added to designate it as such in the English language, following the construction of the planned village around 1800.  Over time the name of village changed to its current contracted form ‘Plockton’.


Geography

Situated on a sheltered inlet of Loch Carron, and due to the series of New Zealand cabbage palm trees which have dominated Harbour Street since the 1960s, Plockton has a distinctive ‘sub-tropical appearance’ (Nicholson: 1975).   The Church of Scotland house of worship in the village (also used by the
Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...
) was designed by Thomas Telford.


Tourism

The village is a tourist resort. The television series '' Hamish Macbeth'', starring Robert Carlyle, was filmed there, substituting for the fictional Lochdubh. Plockton was also used for various scenes in the film '' The Wicker Man'' and the
Inspector Alleyn Mysteries ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'' is a British detective television series, broadcast on BBC1, which was adapted from nine of the novels by Dame Ngaio Marsh, featuring the character Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The pilot episode was shown ...
television series.


Facilities

The village has a small general store with a café; a takeaway; a restaurant; newsagent and craft shop; three hotels with pubs; numerous B&Bs; library with free internet access and a village hall, which holds community events and art exhibitions. It is served by
Plockton railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Plockton Station (geograph 4949712).jpg , caption = , borough = Plockton, Highland , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_position = , manager = Scot ...
, on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the short Plockton Airfield for light aircraft and microlights. Nearby is
Duncraig Castle Duncraig Castle is a mansion in Lochalsh, in the west of the Scottish Highlands. A category-C listed building, it is situated in the Highland council area, east of the village of Plockton on the south shore of Loch Carron. It was built in 1866 ...
, a nineteenth-century stately home built by the Matheson family. The castle was derelict for many years, having had a variety of commercial uses. Plockton has been a popular location for many artists including those from
The Edinburgh School The Edinburgh School refers to a group of 20th century artists connected with Edinburgh. They share a connection through Edinburgh College of Art, where most studied and worked together during or soon after the First World War. As friends and coll ...
(
Adam Bruce Thomson Adam Bruce Thomson OBE, RSA, PRSW (22 February 1885 – 4 December 1976) or ‘Adam B’ as he was often called at Edinburgh College of Art, was a painter perhaps best known for his oil and water colour landscape paintings, particularly ...
,
David Macbeth Sutherland David Macbeth Sutherland (1883-20 September 1973) was a Scottish artist mainly known for his landscapes and portraits paintings and for his long tenure as the Director of Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. Biography Sutherland was born in Wic ...
) and continues to attract artists.


Education

Plockton is home to
Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd Plockton High School is a 300-pupil high school in the village of Plockton, Scotland. The catchment area for the school stretches from Applecross in the north to Corran in the south. Since the opening of the Skye Bridge, increasing numbers of pu ...
- the National Centre For Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton High School, which also serves the village and a wide surrounding area. The school also hosts the Am Bàta project teaching pupils in the art of boat building, from which a number of 'local' style boats have been produced. Some have been donated to the local sailing club - Plockton Small Boat Sailing Club - whilst others have been sold to the public. Between the years of 1956 and 1972 Plockton was home to the Gaelic scholar Sorley MacLean, (Somhairle MacGill-Eain) whilst headmaster at the high-school, who introduced the teaching of
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 ...
and championed
shinty Shinty ( gd, camanachd, iomain) is a team game played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played mainly in the Scottish Highlands and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread in Scotland, an ...
. Since 1991 Plockton Primary School has accommodated a
Gaelic-medium education Gaelic-medium education (G.M.E. or GME; gd, Foghlam tro Mheadhan na Gàidhlig) is a form of education in Scotland that allows pupils to be taught primarily through the medium of Scottish Gaelic, with English being taught as the secondary langua ...
unit (GMU) where instruction is through the medium of Gaelic. 24.4% of the population in the catchment area of Plockton Primary School reports being able to speak Gaelic – the highest incidence of Gaelic-speaking on the mainland of Scotland.


Football club

From 1954 the village played host to Plockton Amateur Football Club. However, from 2016, the club has been in abeyance.
Plockton FC played at the ''Alasdair Ross Memorial Park'' and competed in yellow and black strips - reflected in their "Bumble Bees" nickname. They were formerly members of the Skye & Lochalsh Amateur League.


Media

File:Plockton - geograph.org.uk - 8277.jpg, Aerial view of Plockton Image:Scotland Plockton 2.jpg, Harbour Street, the main street in Plockton Image:Plockton Dancing Regatta.jpg, Street dancing on the last day of the
Regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
fortnight


Climate

The MetOffice operates a weather station at Plockton, for which 30 year averages are available. As with the rest of the British Isles, Plockton experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The highest temperature was 27.7 °C recorded on May 9, 2016, and the lowest was –9.8 °C.


See also

*
Port an Eòrna Port an Eòrna is the Scottish Gaelic name for the small settlement of Barleyport, situated almost midway between Plockton and the Kyle of Lochalsh, in Ross-shire, Scotland, in the Western Highlands. Port an Eòrna was once a fishing community nea ...


References


External links


Plockton web portal for visitors: accommodation, eating out etc

Plockton community site: news, events, local clubs etc






(QuickTime required) {{authority control Populated places in Lochalsh Villages in Highland (council area)