Balnakeil is a hamlet in the parish of

Durness Durness () is a village and civil parish in the north-west Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north coast of the country in the traditional county of Sutherland, around north of Inverness. The area is remote, and the parish is huge and spar ...

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

, and is in the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

council area of

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

. It is on the north coast of Scotland around northwest of Durness. The ruin of Balnakeil Church is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. The Kyle of Durness is west of Balnakeil which gives its name to the Balnakeil Bay which the Kyle opens into.Groome.F.H (1885) 'Parish of Durness', ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical'',
available online
. Retrieved 2013-02-20. The

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

of Faraid Head is to the north of Balnakeil. It was the site of a 1950s

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

station and remains the range control for

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

bombing operations in the

Cape Wrath Cape Wrath (, known as ' in Lewis) is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the most north-westerly point in Great Britain. The cape is separated from the rest of the mainland by the Ky ...

Training Area to the west.RAF Faraid Head ('RAI') CEW R10 ROTOR Radar station
Subterranea Britannica, 2004-06-15. Retrieved 2013-02-20. Three small lochs are to the south of Balnakeil: Loch Croispol, Loch Borralie and Loch Caladail. Durness Golf Course is to the southwest.Loch Borralie, Kyle of Durness
, Historic Scotland, 2003. Retrieved 2013-02-20.

References

Populated places in Sutherland Balnakeil {{Sutherland-geo-stub

See also

References