Noss Head

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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N

oss Head, a bold rocky promontory on the S side of Keiss or Sinclairs Bay, 3 ¼ miles NNE of Wick, Caithness. A little W of it stand the ruins of Castle-Girnigoe and Sinclair, the ancient stronghold of the Earls of Caithness. From the cove or small bay of Mursligoe, frequented by seals, a dry passage leads through a rock into a vast cave under Noss Head. a lighthouse, built in 1849 at a cost of £12,149, stands on Noss Head, with its lantern elevated 175 feet above the level of the sea. Its light is a revolving light, attaining its brightest state once in every half-minute, visible at a distance of 18 nautical miles, and red from NE ¾ N to WNW in a N direction, but of the natural appearance from other quarters. The lighthouse is in N latitude 58o 28' 38", and in W longitude 3o 3' 5".—Ord. Sur., sh. 116, 1878.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer.

©2013 The Editors of The Gazetteer for Scotland
Supported by: The Robertson Trust,  The Royal Scottish Geographical Society,
  School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh.