Overview of Assynt

A mountainous and rocky district of Sutherland, NW Highland Council Area, Assynt includes numerous lochs, including Loch Assynt, and prominent peaks such as Canisp, Suilven, Quinag, Conival and the massif of Ben More Assynt. The anglers resort of Inchnadamph and the fishing port of Lochinver are the chief settlements, the remainder of the thinly scattered population occupying crofts in townships such as Nedd, Drumbeg, Culkein, Stoer and Clachtoll. The crofters here were amongst the first in the Highlands to acquire their smallholdings from the estate owner. This was a land loved by the poet Norman MacCaig (1910-96) and described in his poems.