Brora

Brora Harbour

Brora is an interesting mix of coastal resort and industrial town. It is perhaps best known for the quality of its fishing, for its whisky and, more recently, for its ice cream.

Memorial Clock Tower Sutherland Arms Hotel Capaldi's Gower Street

The best place from which to appreciate Brora as a resort is from near the Golf Club, overlooking the mouth of the River Brora from the north. North of here an attractive stretch of beach is backed by the golf course: whose north end is in turn bounded by Brora's main caravan site, run by the Caravan Club.

Old Brora Distillery

Market Street Fishermen's Cottages

Brora Golf Club

Fisherman's Hall

On the south side of the river is Brora's small harbour. From here the coast curves around a slight headland on which you find two rows of white-painted cottages, once used by the fishermen who used the harbour, or those working the salt pans that were long a feature of the area. South again are dunes and more beach, while the main village of Brora lies a little inland and raised above the shoreline.

For much of its history Brora was the industrial powerhouse of Sutherland. Coal was mined here as early as the 1500s. The pit, initially south of the River Brora and a little inland from the centre of the town, closed in 1810 and relocated to the north side of the river. Here it used water powered pumps to allow mining to take place at depths of 100m or more. After an unusually long history, Brora's pit finally closed as recently as 1974.

As a harbour, Brora's history also dates back five hundred years or more. It was never really large enough to compete with other fishing ports on this coast that grew to take advantage of the herring boom in the early 1800s. But the harbour was and still is home to a small fishing fleet.

The harbour did become especially important during the herring boom for the export of salt. Coal from the pit was burned under pans of sea water along the coast here, evaporating off the water and leaving the salt. At the height of the demand, in 1818, 400 tons of salt were produced annually in Brora, meeting most of the needs of the herring fleets along this coast. The harbour also helped export coal produced by the pit until displaced by the railway on its arrival in Brora in the 1870s.

The centre of Brora is largely built of grey stone that in poor weather can make it seem rather, well, grey. However there is a very good reason to visit the town centre whatever the weather. This is Capaldi's, where you can buy a truly mouth watering selection of excellent home-made ice creams. It is found on the A9 through Brora, just south of the main junction, with Gower Street.

Another of the town's attractions is also well worth visiting. Clynelish Distillery can be found a little west the A9 as it heads north out of the town. Watch out for the distillery itself some distance to your left: the road leading to it from the A9 is not well signposted.

A distillery was established in Brora in 1819, and called Brora Distillery. This was located across the road from today's Clynelish Distillery, which was built to replace it in the 1960s. The buildings of Brora Distillery are still there. Clynelish Distillery has a visitor centre and visitors can sample their extremely highly rated malts.

Brora also has a history of textile manufacture, with Hunter's of Brora maintaining a long tradition in the town until it went out of business in 2003.