Dunbeath

{{For|the racehorse|Dunbeath (horse)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Use British English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox UK place | country = Scotland | official_name = Dunbeath | gaelic_name = Dùn Bheithe | population = | static_image_name = Kenn and the Salmon.jpg | static_image_caption = ''Kenn and the Salmon'', a statue in memory of Neil Gunn at Dunbeath harbour | static_image_width = | os_grid_reference = ND160298 | map_type = Caithness | coordinates = {{coord|58.249314|-3.431925|display=inline,title}} | civil_parish = Latheron | unitary_scotland = Highland | lieutenancy_scotland = Caithness | constituency_westminster = Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | constituency_scottish_parliament = Caithness, Sutherland and Ross | post_town = DUNBEATH | postcode_district = KW6 | postcode_area = KW | dial_code = 01593 }}

'''Dunbeath''' ({{langx|gd|Dùn Bheithe}})<ref>[http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/gaelic/gaelicnorseinthelandscape.pdf Gaelic and Norse in the Landscape: Placenames in Caithness and Sutherland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921192834/http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/gaelic/gaelicnorseinthelandscape.pdf |date=2011-09-21 }}. Scottish National Heritage.</ref> is a village in south-east Caithness, Scotland on the A9 road.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dunbeath |url=http://www.scottish-places.info/towns/townfirst2184.html |website=The Gazetteer for Scotland |publisher=School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society |accessdate=18 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scothighlands.com/Details?content=Drive-from-Inverness-to-John-OGroats&id=196|title=Scothighlands - Drive from Inverness to John O'Groats|website=www.scothighlands.com|access-date=2019-12-05|archive-date=25 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625111621/https://www.scothighlands.com/Details?content=Drive-from-Inverness-to-John-OGroats&id=196|url-status=dead}}</ref> It sits astride the Dunbeath Water just before it enters the sea at Dunbeath Bay. Berriedale lies to the south and Latheronwheel to the north-east.

Dunbeath has a very rich archaeological landscape, the site of numerous Iron Age brochs and an early medieval monastic site (see Alex Morrison's archaeological survey, "Dunbeath: A Cultural Landscape".)

There is a community museum/landscape interpretation centre at the old village school (http://www.dunbeath-heritage.org.uk).

==History== Dunbeath as a developed settlement primarily dates from the 1790s as it was developed as a coastal fishing settlement for over 80 families cleared from the nearby Strath (valley).<ref name="Tait">{{cite book | last=Tait | first=Charles | title=The North Coast 500 Guide Book| date=2017 | isbn=978-1909036604 | page=136}}</ref> The old road bridge was built to a design by Thomas Telford circa 1810 and later superseded by a curved concrete viaduct in the 20th century.<ref name="Tait"/> The Main Street dates from the 1840s.<ref name="Tait"/> The mid-19th century saw fishing reach its largest extent with up to 190 boats working out of Dunbeath;<ref name="Tait"/> only a few boats now work out of Dunbeath, though the large harbour remains.<ref name="Tait"/>

Prince George, Duke of Kent, was killed when his Short Sunderland flying boat crashed on a Dunbeath hillside on 25 August 1942.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rafoban.co.uk/page10.htm |title=Oban Royal Air Force Station, Scotland - the Flying Boat Squadrons |website=www.rafoban.co.uk |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040622045357/http://www.rafoban.co.uk/page10.htm |archive-date=22 June 2004 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Fishing== Reporting on Dunbeath in 1907, the Annual Report of the Fishery Board states: "Near fine fishing, but awkwardly situated for getting fish into market, being seven miles from the nearest railway station."<ref>{{cite journal |author= |date= 1907 |title=26th Report:Appendices |journal=Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland |location=Edinburgh |page=44-45 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office}}</ref>. This refers to the Wick and Lybster Light Railway, which would have been used to transport the fish to market in Wick. Fishing in smaller ports such as Dunbeath declined in the early years of the 20th Century as the industry became more capital-intensive.

{{multiple image | align = centre | perrow=2 | header=Fishery Statistics | total_width=600 |background_color=#C5CBE1 | image1 = Dunbeath tonnage.png | caption1=Tonnage of vessels | image2 =Dunbeath Cwt landed.png | caption2= Cwt of fish landed | image3 = Dunbeath vessels.png | caption3=Vessels by class | image4 =Dunbeath value.png | caption4=Value (£) of fish landed | image5 = Dunbeath fishermen.png | caption5= Fishermen | image6=Dunbeath curing stations.png | caption6=Number of curing stations }}

== Notable people == Dunbeath was the birthplace of Neil M. Gunn (1891–1973), author of ''Highland River'' and other novels.<ref name="Tait"/> Many of Gunn's novels are set in Dunbeath and its Strath. Of Dunbeath's landscape, Gunn wrote: "These small straths, like the Strath of Dunbeath, have this intimate beauty. In boyhood we get to know every square yard of it. We encompass it physically and our memories hold it. Birches, hazel trees for nutting, pools with trout and an occasionally visible salmon, river-flats with the wind on the bracken and disappearing rabbit scuts, a wealth of wild flower and small bird life, the soaring hawk, the unexpected roe, the ancient graveyard, thoughts of the folk who once lived far inland in straths and hollows, the past and the present held in a moment of day-dream." ('My Bit of Britain', 1941).

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Populated places in Caithness