{{Short description|Mountain in Highland, Scotland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} <!-- note, the photo file name says 'from south', but the caption says 'from east'. The caption is correct, I uploaded the photo first, and then got a map to write the article --> {{Infobox mountain | name = Cranstackie | image = Cranstackie_from_south.jpg | image_caption = Cranstackie from the east. | elevation_m = 801 | elevation_ref = <ref name="gfs">{{cite web |title=Cranstackie: Overview |url=https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst843.html |website=Gazetteer for Scotland}}</ref> | prominence = | listing = Corbett,<ref name="gfs"/> Marilyn | language = Norse | location = Assynt, Scotland | range = | coordinates = | grid_ref_UK = NC350556 | topo = OS ''Landranger'' 9 | type = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = }}
'''Cranstackie''' is a mountain of {{convert|801|m}} in Sutherland,<ref name="gfs"/> the northwestern tip of the Scottish Highlands. It is a Corbett located west of Loch Eriboll and northeast of Foinaven. Like its lesser Corbett neighbour Beinn Spionnaidh to the northeast, its summit ridge is covered with massive blockfields and blockpiles of Cambrian sandstone, in fact quartz-arenite <ref>British Geological Survey https://geologyviewer.bgs.ac.uk/?_ga=2.53271528.1594552022.1662198591-1953927359.1662198591</ref> which is less sharp and loose than the pure white quartzite found further south. The two hills present a steep escarpment to the west, from where the usual way ascends through an easy gap, with a dip slope to the east. Below the summit ridges, Lewisian gneiss basement supports grassy and mossy slopes offering better going. On the first OS maps,<ref>https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14.0&lat=58.45969&lon=-4.84153&layers=257s&b=1&o=100</ref> the hill was named Crann Stachach, suggested to mean peaky or uneven hill of the tree <ref>https://scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/digital-volumes/ordnance-survey-name-books/sutherland-os-name-books-1871-1875/sutherland-volume-12/4</ref> but "crann" is more likely a horizontal "beam" here; the tor-stippled skyline is notable from the main road to the west. The name was anglicised on subsequent maps and stated to be of obscure meaning, supposedly Norse – "stac" is indeed a sharp hillock.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{coord|58.45738|N|4.82973|W|region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NC350556)|display=title}}<!-- Note: WGS84 lat/long, converted from OSGB36 grid ref -->
Category:Corbetts Category:Mountains and hills of the Northwest Highlands Category:Marilyns of Scotland
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