Dunnet Head

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"Most Northerly Point of Mainland Britain"

Sketch map of Dunnet Head, showing position of Easter Head

Dunnet Head (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Dùnaid) is a peninsula that includes the most northerly point of the mainland of Great Britain. The point lies in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. The point, known also as Easter Head, is at 58°40′21″N, 03°22′31″W (grid reference ND202767), about 18 km west/northwest of John o' Groats and about 20 km from Duncansby Head. Dunnet Head can be seen also as the western limit of the Pentland Firth on the firth's southern or Caithness side. (Duncansby Head is the eastern limit.)

The headland's boundary with the rest of the Scottish mainland can be defined as a north-south line running from Little Clett (ND220740) to the mouth of Dunnet Burn (ND217709) in Dunnet Bay. This line is followed along most of its route by a single track road, the B855 that links Brough with the village of Dunnet, making this the most northerly road on mainland Britain. From this line the headland projects westward and northward into the Atlantic Ocean and the Pentland Firth, and shelters the more southerly waters of Dunnet Bay.

The peninsula is east of the burgh of Thurso and on a clear day it affords excellent views of the islands Stroma to the east, and Hoy and the Orkney Mainland 15 km away to the north, across the Pentland Firth.

The Dunnet Head lighthouse.

Looking west from the cliffs at Easter Head, towards Cape Wrath, in 2002.

[edit] Dunnet Head Lighthouse

A lighthouse stands on the 300-ft (90-m) cliff top of Easter Head. Dunnet Head Lighthouse is 345 ft (105 m) tall and it was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Near the lighthouse are minor fortifications built during World War II to protect the naval base at Scapa Flow, and a bunker used by the Royal Observer Corps during the Cold War. Burifa Hill on Dunnett Head was the site of the master station and a monitoring station of the northern GEE chain of radio navigation stations during World War II.

[edit] Angling

Dunnet Head lochs are restocked routinely with brown trout fry. Fishing by permit is between April and early October. Permits are available from the Dunnet Head Fishing Association.