Machrihanish (, ) is a village in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

, on the west coast of Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the

Mull of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...

, which faces out towards Northern Ireland and the Atlantic.

Machrihanish bay

The main sandy beach of Machrihanish Bay runs north to Westport, providing opportunities for surfing. Basic accommodation is available for surfing groups in the Machrihanish village hall. There are static caravans, wooden wigwams and camping spaces at the Machrihanish Holiday Park. The village is one of the start/finish points of the Kintyre Way, one of Scotland's Great Trails. The

Scottish Wildlife Trust The Scottish Wildlife Trust () is a registered charity dedicated to conserving the wildlife and natural environment of Scotland. Description The Scottish Wildlife Trust has well over 46,000 members. The Scottish Wildlife Trust acquired its fi ...

's Largiebaan nature reserve lies to the south, about along the Kintyre Way.

Features

Campbeltown Airport, formerly RAF Machrihanish, is located near the village. Although still available to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, the former airfield has been taken over by the specially-formed Machrihanish Airbase Community Company.

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

was mined near the village; the Machrihanish Coalfield was one of Britain's smallest

coalfield A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...

s. A canal to Campbeltown was constructed between 1773 and 1794, later replaced by the

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a narrow-gauge railway in Kintyre, Scotland, between Campbeltown and the coalmining village of Machrihanish. Only three other passenger-carrying lines in the UK operated on the same track gaug ...

. Machrihanish railway station opened in 1906 and finally closed in 1932. Machrihanish has a classic links golf course designed by Old Tom Morris, with views towards the islands of Gigha,

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

and Jura. A second, newer course has been built nearby called Machrihanish Dunes. This course is part of a multimillion-pound development by an American company, which has renovated the previously-dilapidated Ugadale Hotel in the village and owns the Royal Hotel on the sea front in nearby

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port. The 2018 populatio ...

. Weather data is collected from Machrihanish and broadcast in the

Shipping Forecast The ''Shipping Forecast'' is a BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The for ...

Notable people

Reginald Aubrey Fessenden Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-American electrical engineer and inventor who received hundreds of patents in fields related to radio and sonar between 1891 and 1936 (seven of them after his death). F ...

built a radio transmitting station with a high mast there in 1905 to transmit

Wireless Telegraphy Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimenta ...

to a similar station at

Brant Rock Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock is a census-designated place (CDP) in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, composed of the neighborhoods of Ocean Bluff, Brant Rock, Fieldston, and Rexhame in the town of Marshfield. The population of the CDP ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. An exchange of messages took place on 1 January 1906 but the mast blew down in a gale on 5 December 1906 and was never rebuilt. Cadets from the

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, volunteer youth organisation; aligned to, and fostering the knowledge and learning of military values, primarily focusing on military aviation. Part of the ...

recreated this historic trans-atlantic transmission in Easter of 2006. Edinburgh and South Scotland Wing, who were on camp at the nearby airfield, contacted the Civil Air Patrol cadets in Brant Rock on 14 April 2006. The views and skies seen from the beach and Lossit Point to the west were a subject for the Scottish marine and landscape painter William McTaggart, who had a house in the village.

References

External links

Machrihanish website
* Villages in Kintyre Mining communities in Scotland Surfing locations in Scotland {{Argyll-geo-stub

Machrihanish bay

Features

Notable people

See also

References

External links