Dunnet Head
|
|
Scotland_DunnetHead.jpg
Dunnet Head is a peninsula which includes the most northerly point of the mainland of Great Britain. The point, known also as Easter Head, is at Template:Coor dms (grid reference Template:Gbmappingsmall), about 18 kilometres west/northwest of John o' Groats and similarly about 20 kilometres 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.)
Dunnet_head_map.png
The headland's boundary with the rest of the British mainland can be defined as a north-south line running from Little Clett (Template:Gbmappingsmall) to the mouth of Dunnet Burn (Template:Gbmappingsmall) in Dunnet Bay. This line is followed along most of its route by a road (the B855) linking Brough with the village of Dunnet. 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 kilometres away to the north, across the Pentland Firth.
Dunnet Head Lighthouse
A lighthouse stands on the 300 foot (90 metre) cliff top of Easter Head. Dunnet Head Lighthouse is 345 foot (105 metre) 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.
Angling
Dunnet Head lochs are restocked routinely with brown trout fry. Fishing by permit is between April and early October. Permits are available from Dunnet Head Fishing Association.
Information centre
Dunnet Head Information Centre is north/northwest of Brough on the B855.