Dunnet Head

Dunnet Head
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Dunnet Head

A sizeable peninsula on the N coast of Scotland, Dunnet Head extends into the Pentland Firth 6 miles (10 km) northeast of Thurso and 10½ miles (17 km) west of John o' Groats. The peninsula terminates at Easter Head, which represents the most northerly point on the mainland of Britain. Dunnet Head is ringed by cliffs which reach 90m (300 feet) in height and the headland rises to 127m (416 feet) at an Ordnance Survey primary triangulation point just behind Easter Head. This pillar was installed 1948-49 as part of a re-triangulation of Great Britain. Dunnet Head is home to numerous seabirds including guillemots, kittiwakes and puffins, protected as part of a 27-ha (66-acre) reserve which was established in 2008 and is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. A lighthouse here was built in 1831 by Robert Stevenson (1772 - 1850) and a radar station (Admiralty Experimental Station No. 6) was built nearby in 1940 to detect German U-boats passing into the Atlantic Ocean, but was abandoned at the end of the war.


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