Kyle Of Lochalsh, Main Street, Kyle Hotel

Kyle of Lochalsh. This doughty village has developed inauspiciously behind the rugged Plock of Kyle in scarcely more than a century, its 'raison d'etre' the railhead connection with the ferry to Skye. From 1897, when the London Midland and Scottish Railway extended its Dingwall-Stromeferry line of 1870 to terminate here, Kyle Akin - a ferry crossing from at least the 17th century - superseded Kyle Rhea as the principal channel for crossings to Skye, and a ferry and steamer port was established where previously there existed just an inn (established 1701, later called Kyle House and still in evidence at the core of the present Kyle Hotel) and a few houses and shops.

Taken from "Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Mary Miers, 2008. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk