Loch Indaal (bay)

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Loch Indaal
Lochindaal
Waters North channel
Land mass Islay
Geographical location 55 ° 41 ′  N , 6 ° 22 ′  W Coordinates: 55 ° 41 ′  N , 6 ° 22 ′  W
Map of Loch Indaal
width 13 km
depth approx. 20 km
Coastline 60 km
Tributaries Sorn

Loch Indaal , also spelled Lochindaal , is a bay on the Scottish island of Islay . It extends between the Oa Peninsula and Rhinns Point at the southern end of the Rhinns of Islay Peninsula . Laggan Bay is a side bay in the southeast of Loch Indaal. In some literature only the northern part of the bay between Laggan Point and the opposite bank south of Port Charlotte , i.e. the section northwest of Laggan Bay, is referred to as Loch Indaal .

Coming from the Atlantic Ocean in the south, Loch Indaal extends almost 20 km in a north-northeast direction into the island. From its original width of just under 13 km, Loch Indaal initially tapers to just under eleven kilometers, and then opens up a little again to Laggan Bay. The narrowest point of Loch Indaal is with a width of 2.5 km about at the level of Port Charlotte.

Panorama of Loch Indaal

Administratively, Loch Indaal is part of Islay of the Council Area Argyll and Bute . Historically, it was part of what is now the traditional county of Argyllshire .

Loch Indaal is surrounded by almost 60 km of coastline. The coast is mostly flat with sometimes extensive sandy beaches, for example at the head of the bay and along Laggan Bay. However, there are also cliffs on the Oa peninsula. Along the coast of Loch Indaal lies Bowmore, the main town on the island, with 784 inhabitants, almost a quarter of the island's population; also the villages of Port Charlotte and Bruichladdich . Loch Indaal from the south and Loch Gruinart from the north form an isthmus which, with a width of four kilometers, almost separates the Rhinns of Islay from the main island.

Bruichladdich distillery building

Whiskey production has been of great importance on Islay since the 19th century. Therefore, Islay is even managed as a whiskey region of its own . Of the eight whiskey distilleries currently active on the island, two are on the coast of Loch Indaal - the Bruichladdich distillery in Bruichladdich and the Bowmore distillery in Bowmore. Historically, there were two other nationally important distilleries, Lochindaal (also known as Port Charlotte ) and Octomore , which were closed in 1929 and 1860 respectively.

The Clyde Tomb of Port Charlotte is located on the west side of Loch Indaal near the beach on a campsite.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Loch Indal. In: Francis H. Groome: Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical. Volume 5: (Lib - Pet). Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh et al. 1884, pp. 535-536 .
  2. ↑ a b entry on islayinfo.com
  3. ↑ a b Indaal, Loch. In: David Munro, Bruce Gittings: Scotland. An Encyclopedia of Places & Landscapes. Collins et al., Glasgow 2006, ISBN 0-00-472466-6 .
  4. ↑ 2011 census
  5. ^ Entry on the Bruichladdich distillery at maltmadness.com
  6. ↑ Entry on the Bowmore distillery at maltmadness.com
  7. ^ Alfred Barnard : The Whiskey Distilleries of the United Kingdom. Proprietors of Harper's Weekly Gazette, London 1887, pp. 103-104.
  8. ^ Entry on the Octomore distillery at wormtub.com

Web links

Commons : Loch Indaal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files