Port na Con Souterrain

Nearest town:
Thurso (69km ENE)
OS reference:
NC428613
OS sheet:
9
Latitude:
58° 30' 41.78 N
Longitude:
4° 41' 55.65 W
Added to TMA by

Images

Image of Port na Con Souterrain by Martin

8/8/96-looking up towards the entrance from as far inside as I dare go!

Martin
Martin Oct 24, 2001

Articles

Port na Con Souterrain

C
CARL Jul 5, 2012

Visited 2.6.12

I thought it was going to be tricky finding this Souterrain but it was actually very easy.
Take the main A838 south east from Durness and as you drive past Loch Eriboll, keep an eye out for a small lay by / passing place on your left with a small modern stone cairn built at each end. There is room to park one car between the cairns and the Souterrain is immediately behind the parking place – probably semi-hidden by ferns.

Despite the weather having been dry for well over a week the stone steps down into the Souterrain were wet. This is easily the wettest underground chamber I have ever visited.
The entrance into the Souterrain is low and narrow – and wet! The stonework is in good condition.

I managed to get about 8 metres into the entrance before being stopped as the passage way was now underwater.
I shone my light into the blackness and would estimate the passage ran for about another 8 metres. I threw a stone into the water to try to estimate the depth but I couldn’t tell. If I had brought my wellies I would have ventured further but I didn’t so I couldn’t!

This is an easy site to visit as long as you park in the right place.

Just make sure you bring your wellies!

Port na Con Souterrain

nickbrand
nickbrand May 24, 2004

I tried to get into this one, but I’m a big lad, and was well happed up (bitterly cold day) and just couldn’t squeeze down the steps whether trying to go forward or backwards, so had to content myself with a couple of photographs of the steps disappearing downwards. From what Martin says, this one sounds like a job for small skinny people clad in wet-suits!

Port na Con Souterrain

Martin
Martin Aug 31, 2001

Port na Con Souterrain, Sutherland
NC428613 (9) Thursday 8/8/96
Today we had a lazy morning but eventually set off from Durness camp site and went to Smoo Cave once more- good fun and we found lots of hag stones on the beach. Then we headed for the souterrain by Loch Eriboll- we stopped off at the Tourist Information on the way through Durness for directions to the site- the woman was v. good and knew exactly where it was. Out of the car and over the road in amongst a load of bracken we found it- the entrance was quite a deep one with small stones steps, it was pitch black and creepy as hell! On the way down into them I keep telling myself that they are no more than iron-age food stores. However, once out of them your mind can really start to wonder what they were used for and I really don’t think so many man-hours would have been spent building big stone lined tunnels just so they could keep their sliced loaf in there! Kat actually came down into this one for a look, but we couldn’t go very far as most of the floor was submerged and I wouldn’t have gone much further if my life had depended on it as we had no way of knowing how deep the very black water was, or how long the souterrain was. Photos were taken and Kat managed to smack her head of one of the roof lintels and her knee on one of the steps-ow! All in all a very satisfying (if somewhat scary) souterrain.

Directions
From Durness follow the A838 round to a sea loch called Loch Eriboll. Just before the few houses and pier that go by the name Portnancon, there is a small grassy siding off the main road on the right, you’ll find the site hidden in bracken bushes on the side of the road nearest the loch.

Sites within 20km of Port na Con Souterrain

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