Undiscovered Scotland

 

The villages of Corrie and its smaller northern neighbour Sannox lie approximately mid way between Brodick and Lochranza on the east coast of the Isle of Arran. The land here rises from the sea to the summit of the 874m or 2,867ft Goatfell in a little over two miles, so both villages are closely confined to the shore by the steeply rising ground behind them.

Corrie itself comprises a series of clusters of cottages and houses lining the inland side of the A841 main road, though some of them have their front gardens on the seaward side of it. Village services include a shop, a church and a village hall, and the Corrie Hotel, built in 1894. Sannox is more thinly spread out along the southern side of Sannox Bay, and is home to the Sannox Bay Hotel.

At the north end of Sannox the main road leaves the shore to climb north-west up North Glen Sannox towards Lochranza. As it does so you pass Corrie Golf Club. Founded in 1892, this has a 9 hole, 3896 yard course on the hillside above, offering magnificent views over the Firth of Clyde.

North of Sannox the coast is only accessible to those prepared to don their boots and explore on foot. It is possible to follow a path from Sannox that leads for some nine miles along Arran's most remote stretch of coastline and past Ossian's Cave and the north-easterly point of the island to Lochranza.

A surprising feature of Corrie is that it boasts two separate harbours, just over half a mile apart. There is also a substantial pier at Sannox. The more northerly of Corrie's two harbours is often called Corrie Port and was the stopping off point of the steamers that, from the mid 1800s, linked many of Arran's coastal villages with a wider network of Clyde ports. Today, Corrie Port is home to a couple of small boats and to a replica Viking longboat in regular use by the Arran Viking Society. Historically, the harbour here was also associated with the export of limestone quarried from caves in the hillside above.

The more southerly of Corrie's two harbours is known as Sandstone Quay, and was where the sandstone dug from a nearby quarry was loaded onto puffers for shipment to the mainland. Today it is the largest and best used of the harbours along this stretch of coastline. The pier at Sannox was also built to allow mineral extraction. This was where barytes mined in Glen Sannox was brought for shipping. A barytes mine was first opened in 1840 and operated until 1860. It was then reopened in about 1920 and connected to the pier by a light railway. The barytes mine eventually ceased operation when the barytes ran out in 1938.

Today's Corrie can simply seem like a slightly drawn out punctuation mark on the road from Brodick to Lochranza. But if you take the time to look, you do begin to appreciate a village which has made the most of a beautiful coastal location. It also helps to look out for some of the detail, like the sculpture of a seal on a rock below the high tide mark near the Corrie Hotel, and the unusual bollards found at Sannox Pier and Sandstone Quay shaped - and painted - to resemble sheep.