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Kyle Of Durness To Cape Wrath Lighthouse

Road (Period Unassigned)

Site Name Kyle Of Durness To Cape Wrath Lighthouse

Classification Road (Period Unassigned)

Alternative Name(s) 'Lighthouse Road'

Canmore ID 296085

Site Number NC27SE 41

NGR NC 27321 72337

NGR Description NC 25970 74715 to NC 29999 71685

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/296085

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Highland
  • Parish Durness
  • Former Region Highland
  • Former District Sutherland
  • Former County Sutherland

Activities

Field Visit (2008)

NC27SE 41 25970 74715 to 29999 71685

See also NC36NW 18, NC36NE 101 and NC37SW 26.

This road was constructed from 1828 to link a slipway on the Kyle of Durness (NC 3708 6603) with the newly-constructed lighthouse (NC27SE 3.00) at Cape Wrath. It went some way to ensuring that personnel and goods could be transported to the latter when the slipway at Clais Charnach (NC27SE 4) could not be used, though neither slipway was accessible in very bad weather.

The road enters the eastern part of mapsheet NC27SE a little to the W of Allt na Luachrach and proceeds across relatively shallow blanket peat before descending across and down the N side of the gully of the Allt Lon Maovally, passing milestone 4 (NC27SE 24) before reaching the Kearvaig River, where it is carried over the gorge on a single arch bridge (NC27SE 15). From the Kearvaig River the road avoids the wettest ground by keeping, where possible, to relatively steep slopes, contouring around the heads of streams. Between milestone 3 (NC27SE 23) and milestone 2 (NC27SE 22) the road forms a T-junction with a section of road (NC27SE 28), which was constructed in 1827 to link the lighthouse with the slipway at Clais Charnach (NC27SE 4). From this junction the road meanders around the SW and NW flanks of Dùnan Mòr, passing milestone 1 (NC27SE 21) before reaching the lighthouse.

The method by which the road has been constructed has been determined to a large extent by the topography, but more than anything else by the extensive cover of peat across the Cape. On low-lying blanket bog the road builders have had no alternative but to lay down a causeway and this probably explains the presence of a number of sizeable quarries along the route. Where the road has been able to contour along a slope, it has been constructed on a levelled terrace, its lower edge supported, where necessary, by a stone revetment. At numerous points along the route there are culverts (CWTC08 199–201, 206–16, 218–40, 242–69, 323–47, 358–64) and small quarries. The former are generally very well-built with drystone risers and slab lintels. Many of the quarries are likely to have been opened up when the road was constructed; most probably continued to supply material for road repairs; some may have been opened especially for that purpose after the road was constructed.

(CWTC08 199–201, 206–16, 218–40, 242–69, 323–47, 358–64)

Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 5 August 2008.

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