Information - Discover Assynt

The parish of Assynt is situated amongst some of the wildest and most remote scenery in the United Kingdom. Located in the far north west highlands of Scotland the area is dominated by spectacular mountain scenery. Isolated sandstone mountains rise up from an undulating landscape of hummocks and lochs that is itself formed of Lewisian Gneiss, one of the oldest rock types found in the world.

The whole of the Assynt and the Coigach region (just to the south) is officially designated a National Scenic Area.

Guide books and information on Assynt

There is a wide variety of publications available - maps - leaflet - booklets - books - including:

“Suilven's World” - 1995 by P J Spent (ISBN 0 9524269 0 0);
“Land of Rocks & Lochs” - A guide to Assynt, 2009 (ISBN 978 0 9562486 0 2) **NEW**
“A Hillwalker’s Guide to Sutherland” - by T Strang (ISBN 0 9522654 0 0),
“The Northwest Highlands” - 1990, by D Bennet & T Strang (ISBN 0 907521 28 2),
“We Have Won the Land” by John MacAskill about the Assynt Crofters’ Trust buyout (ISBN 0 86152 221 4)
“Exploring the Landscapes of Assynt”: A Walker’s Guide and Map and showing the rocks and landscape of Assynt

and Inverpolly. Published by the British Geological Survey 2004 (ISBN 0825272471-3)

“Northwest Highlands: A Landscape fashioned by Geology” - Scottish Natural Heritage - December 1994
“Flora of Assynt” - 2002 by P A & I M Evans & G P Rothero (ISBN 0 9541813 0 1)

These publications are available variously from Lochinver Newsagent, the Visitor Centre in Lochinver or Achins Bookshop, Inverkirkaig. At Achins you will also find many smaller publications and leaflets of local interest.

Links to other sites of interest - Local:

Assynt Crofters’ Trust: www.assyntcrofters.co.uk
Assynt Field Centre - email: info@inch-lodge.co.uk
Assynt Leisure Centre: assyntleisure.co.uk
Assynt Medical Practice - email: assyntmedprac@msn.com - Tel: 01571 844755
Assynt Foundation: www.assyntfoundation.org
Assynt Photographics: www.assyntphotographics.com
Lochinver Larder (Delicatessen and Restaurant): www.piesbypost.co.uk
“Bratach” (monthly publication): www.bratach.co.uk
“The Northern Times” (weekly newspaper): www.northern-times.co.uk
Sutherland Genealogy: www.countysutherland.co.uk

General:

The Scottish Parliament: www.scottish.parliament.uk
The Scottish Executive: www.scotland.gov.uk
The Crofters’ Commission: www.crofterscommission.org.uk
Scottish Natural Heritage: www.snh.org.uk
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: www.defra.gov.uk
Highland Solicitors Property Centre: www.hspc.co.uk

Contact point:
For general site queries, amendments, inclusions etc, please email: contact@assynt.info
The site address is www.assynt.info

The village and fishing port of Lochinver is at the heart of Assynt - with all the necessary tourist facilities. Outside Lochinver, the population is concentrated in small crofting communities, the majority of which lie along the rugged coastline, either to the north or south of the village.

The Coastline of Assynt is a mixture of cliffs, rocky inlets and unspoilt sandy beaches - at Achmelvich, Clachtoll, Stoer and Clashnessie. The clear blue waters are great for swimming and watersports. The beaches are ideal for families during the summer, but hardly ever over-crowded!

Here you are free to breathe the air and explore the wilderness - either on your own or on organised walks. There is an abundance of wildlife - both flora and fauna - to be seen at every turn. The views can be spectacular - and the sunsets stunning!

Assynt has a long and varied history, and many reminders of this can be seen all around the parish. Perhaps the most significant sites of interest for the visitor lie on shores of Loch Assynt, south of Lochinver, in particular the dramatic ruins of Ardvreck Castle, once the stronghold of the MacLeods of Assynt, but abandoned after a siege in around 1672 - although its fame in history dates from 1650, when the Duke of Montrose was held prisoner here prior to being tried and executed in Edinburgh. Nearby there is also the ruined Calda House.

These ruins have now been stabilised. The old Inchnadamph Parish Church has also been restored, as has the MacLeod Vault in the church-yard.

Assynt is now also famous as being the first crofting area to be bought by the local crofters - the Assynt Crofters’ Trust. This historic event fuelled the change in land ownership in Scotland and laid the framework for the current community buy-outs. The Assynt Crofters took title to the land in February 1993. (For further information about the Assynt Crofters’ Trust go to www.assyntcrofters.co.uk).

Latest

The Assynt Tourism Group has recently re-published the popular information book
“ASSYNT - Land of Rocks and Lochs”
which is available locally for £5.99 or mail-order from
Achins Bookshop

Tel: 01571 844262
Email: alex@scotbooks.freeuk.com