Melness, a Crofting Community on the North Coast of Sutherland"

Dr. James Coull
Scottish Studies, 7, (1963).

Used by Kind Permission of Dr Coull

Geologically, the main rock series of the area is the acidic Precambrian Moine, but there are three intrusions of more basic hornblende schist and the Strath of Melness has been partly eroded along one of these; however, these geological differences have little evident influence on the potential for man, of the soils developed on the respective rocks. Within the strath there are some riverine terrace deposits, at least in part fluvioglacial; but for the most part glaciation has stripped the landscape, and bedrock is generally covered with at most a veneer of drift, while north of Talmine township rock outcrops are frequent. In general, slopes in the south part of Melness (from Midtown to Talmine) are smooth although rather steep for cultivation in part; while in the northern part the broken landscape makes cultivated land more fragmented. In the Strath, cultivated land is in varied situations: some is on terrace gravels, but it occurs also on the lower valley slopes, and also on the low deltaic flat behind the, sandbar at the river mouth.

Historical development

The story of Melness shows the development of a way of life whose origins are lost in history; although there is evidence that this area of Sutherland has been settled from early times, there is no definite record of continuous settlement before the fourteenth century. There is a tumulus of unknown date immediately south of Midtown, and the name Melness itself derives from the Old Norse melr "a sand bank" and ness "a cape" (Gunn and Mackay 1897: 193); for centuries, indeed North Sutherland was debatable territory between the Norse and Gaels.

The first documentary mention of Melness records the gift of the lands of Melness and Hope to one Farquhar of the Strathnaver Mackays in 1379 (Mackay 1906: 363). Click Here for information on the Charter Document. This was but one of the many changes in land ownership in Sutherland; however: with the wane in power of the Farquhars, most of Melness is recorded as having come under the main Mackay family of Strathnaver by 1511 and in 1624 the first Lord Reay bought the remainder of the Melness estate. At the latter date there are four pennylands recorded in Strathmelness, and the contemporary House of Melness seems to have been at the mouth of the Strathmelness Burn, at the modern Achininver (Mackay 1906: 364).

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