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 Kishorn (Achintraid) from the South West |
You'll struggle to find a village called Kishorn on an Ordnance Survey map, though the name does appear on road signs and on shops and other local facilities. Kishorn is really a name for the area at the head of Loch Kishorn, including the villages of Achintraid, Ardarroch and Stanachan, and including the site of Courthill House. But as everyone else talks about it as if it was a single village, we will too.
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The main A896 from Lochcarron descends steeply as it approaches Loch Kishorn from the east. It passes through Stanachan before swinging around to the north and heading north towards Shieldaig and the junction with the minor road to Applecross.
 Slipway at Achintraid |
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 Courthill Chapel |
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 Ruins of Courthill |
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This takes in part of Kishorn, as the Kishorn Shop, the Seafood Bar, and the straggle of cottages making up Stanachan lie astride the main road. But most visitors miss the rest of the Kishorn, which you reach via a minor road that meets the A896 close to the shore of Loch Kishorn.
This takes you through the pleasant collection of houses and cottages that make up Ardarroch en route to Achintraid, perhaps the closest thing you'll find in Kishorn to a traditional village, with its whitewashed arc of buildings gathered around a curve in the lochside. A little further and you come to a slipway giving access to Loch Kishorn.
Two factors tie the different parts of Kishorn together. The first is their proximity to Loch Kishorn. And second is the view they share. And the view across Loch Kishorn is one of the most spectacular in Scotland, taking in the full sweep of the Applecross mountains (see below).
As you look at this view, it's hard to believe that man has ever made much of an impact on this landscape. The reality is rather different. The evidence is barely visible today from Kishorn (or even from the minor road on the north side of the loch), but the largest movable object ever constructed was built beside Loch Kishorn.
In 1975 work began on a construction yard and dock for the production of oil platforms on the north side of the loch. This lay at the end of a two mile stretch of road built to provide access in just 12 days, and by 1977 over 3,000 people were working here, housed in temporary accommodation on site and in two retired liners moored in the loch: the Rangatira and the Odysseus.
The largest project involved the excavation of a huge dry dock, in which was constructed the 600,000 tonne Ninian Central Platform in 1978. Material was supplied by sea and when complete the platform needed seven tugs to tow it to its operating position in the North Sea. The Ninian Central Platform still holds the record as the largest movable object ever created by man.
By 1980 the construction yard was diversifying in an effort to escape a downturn in oil exploration and production, but its days were numbered. Two thousand people were still employed in 1984, but bankruptcy in 1986 was followed by closure in 1987 and clearance of most of the buildings on the site by 1990.
 View North West to the Applecross Mountains |
