Port of Ness () is a village on the

Isle of Lewis The Isle of Lewis () or simply Lewis () is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides archipelago in Scotland. The two parts are frequently referred to as if they were separate islands. The t ...

in the community of Ness, in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an Archipelago, island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islan ...

, Scotland. Port of Ness is within the parish of

Barvas Barvas (Scottish Gaelic: ''Barabhas'' or ''Barbhas'', ) is a settlement, community and civil parish on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. It developed around a road junction. The A857 and A858 meet at the southern end of Barvas. North is the road ...

. Port of Ness is situated at the end of the A857, which runs from

Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...

. In 2014, the Ness Fishery Memorial was erected to celebrate the fishing heritage in the area and to commemorate the 96 people who lost their lives in the industry between 1835 and 1900.

Harbour

The harbour was constructed in the early 19th century. An enlargement was built in 1893, with a breakwater added the following year. Each year men from Ness district sail from the port to

Sula Sgeir Sula Sgeir is a small, uninhabited Scotland, Scottish islet in the North Atlantic, west of North Rona, Rona. One of the most remote islands of the British Isles, it lies approximately north of Isle of Lewis, Lewis and is best known for its ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

in order to collect young

gannet Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus ''Morus'' in the family Sulidae, closely related to boobies. They are known as 'solan' or 'solan goose' in Scotland. A common misconception is that the Scottish name is 'guga' but this is the Gaelic n ...

for food. The event, which was first recorded in the 16th century, is now licensed by the

Scottish government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

Heritage Sites

The Clach Stein

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

s are situated just to the north of the settlement. To the south is Dun Eòradail a settlement on top of a

sea stack A stack or sea stack is a geological landform consisting of a steep and often vertical column or columns of rock in the sea near a coast, formed by wave erosion. Stacks are formed over time by wind and water, processes of coastal geomorphology. ...

/island. Nothing is known about Dun Eòradail other than it contains the ruins of several structures. It is thought to date from the medieval period because of its similarity to other medieval settlements but no archaeological excavations have been conducted on it to confirm that.

In Literature

The boathouse at the harbour features in the Peter May novels, '' The Blackhouse'' and '' The Lewis Man''.

Images

File:Port of Ness - panoramio.jpg File:Caffe in Port of Ness in summer 2012.JPG File:Port of Ness in summer 2012 (8).JPG File:Port of Ness in summer 2012 (2).JPG File:Port of Ness in summer 2012 (4).JPG File:Port of Ness in summer 2012 (9).JPG

References

External links

Canmore - Ness Trader: Port Nis, Lewis, North Minch site recordCanmore - J A Good: Ness Bay, Lewis, North Minch
Villages in the Isle of Lewis {{WesternIsles-geo-stub