Lairg

Lairg
Lairg
Lairg is located in Sutherland
Lairg
Lairg
Location within the Sutherland area
Population891 (2011 census)
OS grid referenceNC582064
• Edinburgh150 mi (241 km)
• London481 mi (774 km)
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLAIRG
Postcode districtIV27
Dialling code01549
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
58°01′N 4°24′W / 58.02°N 4.40°W / 58.02; -4.40
The village of Lairg

Lairg (Scottish Gaelic: An Luirg, meaning "the shank/shin")[1] is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scotland.[2] It has a population of 891[3] and is at the south-eastern end of Loch Shin.

Lairg is unusual in the northern Highlands in being a large settlement that is not on the coast. One of the reasons that Lairg is slightly bigger than other non-coastal Highland villages is its central location within the county of Sutherland. Having four roads which meet in the village, it used to be known as "The Crossroads of the North". In the 19th century, it was provided with a railway station (at NC582039), on what is now the Far North Line. This development means that the north-west of Sutherland is now easier to reach. (The Far North Line links Inverness in the south with Thurso and Wick in the north.)

  1. ^ Gaelic and Norse in the Landscape: Placenames in Caithness and Sutherland Archived 21 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Scottish National Heritage.
  2. ^ Gittings, Bruce; Munro, David. "Lairg, Highland". The Gazetteer for Scotland. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  3. ^ GROS. "Standard Outputs - Census Data Explorer - Scotland's Census". www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk.