Berriedale

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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Berriedale, a village and a quoad sacra parish in Latheron, SE Caithness. The village is finely situated on the northern bank of the confluent Berriedale and Langwell Waters, within 3 furlongs of the rock-bound coast, and 10 miles NE of Helmsdale station. It has a post office under Wick, an Established church (1826; 312 sittings), and a Free church; near it are Langwell House (Duke of Portland) and the ruins of two old castles. In one of these, according to tradition, dwelt William Sutherland, alias 'Big William the son of Hector,' who, starting on a raid to the Orkneys with one of the Earls of Caithness, and knowing that he was fated never to return, lay down on the greensward above Berriedale Inn, near the churchyard, and there had the length of his body cut out in the form of a grave, which to this day retains the name of the 'Long Grave,' and measures 9 feet 5 inches. To the Sinclair Earls of Caithness Berriedale has given the title of Baron since 1455. The quoad sacra parish, with a stipend of £132, was constituted in 1846, and had a pop. of 1264 in 1851, of 1194 in 1871, and of 1284 in 1881.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

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

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