About the Project
Click here to view a location map of The Province
The Province of Strathnaver once stretched from the border with Caithness on the east to Cape Wrath and Assynt on the west. With an exposed, rocky coastline, sheltered sea-lochs, fertile valleys and high mountains and moorland, this part of Scotland offered good ground for settlement and land for grazing, hunting, fishing and timber. The Norse referred to it in the Orkneyinga Saga as the ‘Dales’ of Caithness. Its big river valleys made natural routeways through the mountains to Helmsdale in the east and Loch Shin, Lairg and Oykell in the south.
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The beach at Sangobeg, looking out to Whitenhead |
Settlement here in the Medieval period is likely to have involved the Norse. They came from Norway, Orkney, Shetland and Caithness: at first in the 9th century as Viking raiders and then from about the 10th century on to settle as farmers. There is plenty of place-name evidence to suggest that the Norse settled around Durness, along the Kyle of Tongue and in the valley of Strathnaver; many of the old township names are Norse, and these names appear in charters from the 13th century onward. But little archaeological evidence has so far been found to show that the Norse definitely settled here, where or how they lived, or what life was like in the centuries (13th to 17th) after the period of Norse domination. Most of the visible township remains date to the period of the Improvements, when tenants of many townships were evicted to make way for sheep in the early 19th century.
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Looking south into Strathnaver |
The harbour at Lamigo |
The Strathnaver Province Archaeology Project was set up to investigate the archaeological evidence for settlement in the region during the Medieval period (c AD 600-1600). It has three main aims:
- To understand the character of Medieval remains in northern Sutherland, in order to help guide further research into Medieval settlement in the region and inform management of the archaeology.
- To increase our understanding of the Medieval settlement pattern in the region, the role of Norse colonisation and cultural influence and the development of townships.
- To involve local communities in the project, encouraging a sense of shared historical identity and ownership of the archaeological heritage across the region.
Click over the links below to download an account of the historical and archaeological background of the Province of Strathnaver, including Durness, as Microsoft Word or Adobe pdf documents.
Historical Background (162
kb)
Historical Background (177
kb)