|
The first road in
the district, built in 1828 by the lighthouse commission, was constructed
across the Parph (58` 37.5` N. Latitude; 50` 00.0`W. Latitude) to
Britain's most north westerly point. The word Wrath is a corruption of the
Norse word 'Hvarf' meaning turning point. Looking out to sea from the
point are two low rocks, Am Bodach - The Old Man and A'Chailleach- The Old
Woman.
In approximately
1795, a proposed improvement to navigation would be contributed if a
lighthouse were erected at Cape Wrath. Some shipwrecks had happened in the
previous ten years off the coast of Durness and it was considered the
bearings of the rocks ought to be accurately ascertained. Built in 1828 by
Robert Stevenson at a cost of fourteen thousand pounds, the buildings are
extensive and spacious surrounded by a high wall. The white tower is
twenty metres high with eighty one steps to the top. The tower is built of
hand dressed stone and the rest of the building is constructed of large
blocks of granite quarried from Clash Carnoch. The lighthouse tower and
dwelling houses are listed buildings of Architectural and Historic
Interest.
The Cape Wrath
lighthouse stands over one hundred and twenty one metres high above mean
sea level on spectacular cliffs facing the stormy Atlantic Ocean. To reach
this point there is the choice of either a passenger ferry across the Kyle
of Durness followed by a minibus ride of nearly eighteen kilometres on a
narrow rough winding road through wild moorland, a twenty five mile walk
up the coast from an approach at Sandwood Bay, landing by sea or by
helicopter. The latter is the recent method used to bring keepers and
supplies. On The 17th January 1977, a helicopter carried out the Cape
Wrath relief, a history making moment as it was the first time in the
Northern Lighthouse Boards' history that a shore lighthouse has been so
relieved. Earlier, as the lighthouse was not easily accessible by road,
all the stores including household goods, spare parts, the diesel and
paraffin oil required to power the machinery were landed once a year by
the lighthouse tender MV Pharos. This was one of the three ships whose
duty was to convey stores to the isolated lighthouses along the Scottish
and Manx Coasts.
In 1978, mercury
vapour lamps replaced the paraffin vapour burner and in January 1980, an
electrically operated temporary power beam beacon was installed. In
December 1980, a completely new gearless pedestal and lamp array system
was inaugurated. As well as their primary duties of looking after the
light, fog signal and radio beacon, the keepers did most of the
maintenance work on the station. Four white lights flash every thirty
seconds. Candlepower of 204,000 candles to a range of thirty nine
kilometres and a fog siren in bad visibility emits a six second blast
every ninety seconds. The power is provided by green brass generators,
which replaced the original hand, wound clockwork motor.
The six-man crew
operated a one month on one month off system throughout their four-year
posting. The lighthouse went automatic in February 1998. A report in
September 1998 revealed that there were no ferry service and minibus trips
to Cape Wrath Lighthouse due to the adverse weather conditions. Although
there was shepherds on the Cape Side during the day, a reliable source
believes that Tuesday night of the 1st. September could have been the
first night since the lighthouse was built in 1828 no people were on the
most north westerly part of mainland Britain. All the holiday homes were
empty, the bothies were deserted and two workmen had completed maintenance
to the lighthouse the previous day.
An account in the
Weekly Scotsman of August 1911 reports the Commissioners of the Northern
Lighthouse had on hand a scheme for removal of the existing lighthouse.
The plan was to move the light and horn from where they stood for eighty
five years to a lower adjoining rock running four hundred and fifty seven
metres further into the Atlantic Ocean. The reason for this proposed
change was that the present lighthouse as it stood was too high. It was
often more or less obscured by fog and mists that gather along these huge
cliffs. Elaborate plans were explained involving the engineering
difficulties of connecting the stack to build the lighthouse on with the
mainland. To the left of the dyke, that surrounds the lighthouse and
outbuildings lie the remnants of stones and old cogs and pulleys. This is
the evidence of an attempt to build the lighthouse on the group of rocks
that jut out from the towering coastline. A well was sunk, now
filled in with boulders, to the first of the rocks to meet up with the
narrow ridge, which runs along the top. A covered walkway was proposed of
swing bridges to enable access to the lighthouse that was to be sighted on
the furthest rock. This project was abandoned due to the difficulties
encountered and the prohibitive costs. Science ran its course and
improvements to lighting apparatus dealt with the problems.
From May to
September the Cape Wrath ferry and Mini bus services carry passengers from
the Keoldale to the lighthouse. Two mini buses are transported over
the Kyle of Durness on a purpose built raft towed by the smallest ferry
operation in the land. Until recently the raft was a home constructed
barge type vessel made from oil drums and palates. The frequency of the
service is dependant on the state of the tide and weather conditions.
Sometimes about two hours either side of low tide the service can stop
altogether. There is a channel on the Cape Wrath side, so sometimes a
smaller boat is used to ferry passengers across the channel and they have
to walk over the sand back to Keoldale.
Ferryman John
Morrison is reputed to be the first independent operator for a very long
time, perhaps since 1827 when the lighthouse was built. The Northern
Lighthouse Board used to employ a man to operate it living in the first
house on the Cape Side. In 1983, the Board sold the slipway, house and
ferry rights to the Highland Regional Council and they are leased to an
individual. Walkers heading to the lighthouse, or over to Sandwood Bay and
back via Kinlochbervie, cyclists and visitors, young and old take the mini
bus ride there and back. The winter service is considerably scaled down
with no transport on the Cape side except Balnakeil Farm and MoD.
There are holiday houses and the Mountain Bothy Association has a bothy.
The ferry service has been used to take over indiscriminate articles
including tar for the road surface but this is more modernly being flown
over by helicopter.
The Cape Wrath
road is rough but has some magnificent views. From the bus, several
interesting landmarks can be seen. Lying at the side of the road at
Achiemore is a tin roof from the old Side School This was used last in
1947. The Royal Marines constructed the wooden bridge at Daill in 1980.
Before the bridge was built the bus would frequently stall in the ford and
the passengers used to get out and push. At Inshore there is a house owned
by the MOD. The yellow and black huts are sentry posts manned during times
when the naval range is active. The road ends at the lighthouse where
there is an average of gales on thirty eight days of the year. Looking
east to Clo Mor at two hundred and seventy four metres is the highest
cliff on mainland Britain. See the Cape Wrath to Kervaig walk for more
about this area.
Meteorological
observations were taken and reported by the keepers but toward the end of
1997, when technicians moved in to complete work for automation the
observations ceased. The meteorological office is installing a Semi
Automatic Meteorological Observation Station (SAMOS) in Durness village
with a caretaker to continue the observations.
In 1996, a Family
from Glasgow moved to a rented building in the Craft Village with the
intention of opening a cafe in the buildings at the lighthouse. They had
obtained a lease for one pound per anum from the Highland Council. In
March 1997 a planning application to site a caravan selling snacks for the
1997 summer season was lodged with the aim of converting the building to
the required standard to open in 1998. On the 14th June, a converted
caravan was taken over the Kyle to be the most north westerly snack bar on
the mainland. The family at this time intends to eventually live at the
lighthouse when their children leave school.
Old Reports
In 1860, a
dogcart was hired from the Inn to take the travellers to Cape Wrath and
back. The time of high water rendered it necessary to take the dogcart
across the Kyle some hours before and the horse had to be ridden round the
head of the Kyle as the ferryboat was not adapted to take horses. After a
seven mile drive a cabin tenanted by a shepherd was the only dwelling
between Durine and Cape Wrath.
Twenty revolving
lights displaying alternatively red and white light every two minutes. Two
men work the lighthouse. Two watches are kept during the summer and four
during the winter. The average annual consumption of colza is eight
hundred gallons. On the 19th June the lamps are to be lighted at 9.53pm
and extinguished at 9am and on the 19th December are to be lighted at
3.44pm and extinguished at 8.11am. The light can be seen for over forty
two kilometres.
Sir Walter Scott, Diary 1814.
"This dread Cape
(Wrath), so fatal to mariners, is a high promontory, whose steep sides go
sheer down to the breakers which lash its feet. There is no landing,
except in a small creek, about a mile and a half to the eastward. There
the foam of the sea plays `longbowls` with a huge collection of large
stones some of them a ton in weight but which these fearful billows chuck
up and down as a child tosses a ball. Cape Wrath is a striking point, both
from the dignity of its own appearance, and from the mental association of
its being the extreme cape of Scotland, with reference to the north west.
There is no land in the direct line between this point and America."
In 1951 a text
was published that Cape Wrath was the best place on the Scottish coast to
watch passing gannets. From March until autumn and sometimes during the
winter these birds appeared to pass in a continuous stream. In a
description of Sutherland Volume iii page one hundred of MacFarlanes
Geographical Collection this quote is taken.
"There is an
excellent and delectable place for hunting called the Parve, where they
hunt red deer in abundance and sometimes they drive them into the ocean
sea Atlantic, at Pharohead (Cape Wrath) where they take them in boats as
they list"
An Article from December 1991
CAPE WRATH
Mary Mackay
reminds us that once there was a thriving population in this now desolate
area. The only inhabitants on Cape Wrath now are the lighthouse keepers.
How things have changed over the years. Like many places in the Highlands
it was once a lively community, until the people drifted away to less
isolated areas. Mrs. Jess Morrison of Sangobeg Durness, was a teacher on
Cape Wrath from 1935 to 1938. At that time there was around thirty five
people living on the Cape Side and apart from the lighthouse keepers, all
the men were shepherds working for two local farms. There were ten
children attending the school, which was situated at Achiemore. The
children had to go over to Durness to sit their "Qualifying Exams" and for
their Christmas Party. It was thought at the time that the school was the
most isolated on the mainland of Great Britain. Mrs. Morrison says that
everything depended on the ferry and the weather. The highlight of the
week was when the lighthouse lorry picked up the provisions from the ferry
and delivered them to each household. The mail was delivered three times a
week by the Durness postman who cycled the twenty two mile round trip.
With no
television or radio, the families made their own entertainment, playing
cards and ceiliding in each other's houses. Mrs. Morrison recalls Donald
Macdonald who hailed from Ullapool and was a beautiful singer of both
Gaelic and English songs. He used to sing a lot of old Scottish ballads
that are now unfortunately lost forever because no one thought to write
them down.
Another character
living over there was Charlie Mackenzie, nicknamed "the doctor" by the
locals. He was a great storyteller and "very fond of the drams". He had a
wealth of knowledge of the Durness area and people never tired of
listening to him. Although most of the families have long since left Cape
Wrath, Hughie Morrison, who went to school over there still lives in
Durness. John Mackenzie, who also lives in Durness was the last of the
Mackenzie family to be born on the cape side, but his family moved to
Durness when he was five, as by then there was no school there. A world of
difference to the Cape Wrath of nowadays where, like many other small
Highland communities, the houses lie sad and empty. Do the hundreds of
tourists who speed past Achiemore, Daill, Inshore and Kervaig ever give a
thought to the families who lived there and the way of life now gone? |
.gif)
.gif)
.gif)