From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Firth is the word in the Lowland Scots
language used to denote various coastal waters in Scotland. In mainland
Scotland it is used to describe a large sea bay, or even a strait. In the Northern Isles it
more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to fjord (both from Proto-Germanic *ferþuz) which
has a more constrained sense in English; a firth would
most likely be called a fjord if it were situated in Scandinavia. Bodies of
water named "firths" tend to be more common on the east coast, or
in the southwest of the country, although the Firth of Lorn is an
exception to this. The Highland coast contains numerous
estuaries, straits and inlets of a similar kind, not called
"firth", e.g. the Minch,
and Loch
Torridon; these are often called sea lochs.
A firth is generally the result of ice age glaciation and is very often associated with a
large river, where erosion caused by the tidal effects of incoming
sea water passing upriver has widened the riverbed to an estuary. Demarcation can be
rather vague. The Firth of Clyde is sometimes thought to
include the estuary as far upriver as Dumbarton, but the Ordnance Survey map shows the change
from river to firth occurring off Port Glasgow, while locally the change is
held to be at the Tail of the Bank where the river
crosses a sandbar off Greenock at the junction to the Gare Loch, or even further
west at Gourock point.
However, some firths are exceptions. The Cromarty Firth on
the east coast of Scotland, for example, resembles a large loch with only a relatively small
outlet to the sea and the Solway Firth and the Moray Firth are more
like extremely large bays. The Pentland Firth is a strait rather than a bay or an inlet.
Scottish
firths
Firths on the west coast of Scotland (from north to
south)
The Firth of Lorn and other nearby waterways
- Firth of
Lorn (northernmost, connects with the Moray Firth via the
- Firth of
Clyde (continuing from the River Clyde estuary)
- Sea lochs adjoining the
Firth of Clyde: Gare Loch, Loch Long, Holy Loch, Loch Striven, Loch Riddon off the Kyles of Bute, Loch Fyne and Campbeltown
Loch.
- Places: Helensburgh, Port Glasgow, Greenock, Gourock, Dunoon, Rothesay, Wemyss Bay, Largs, Brodick, Ardrossan, Troon, Ayr, Girvan and Campbeltown. Note that Glasgow is at the tidal limit of the River Clyde, and Clydebank, the Erskine Bridge
and Dumbarton are on the
river estuary as it widens out towards Port Glasgow.
- Islands: Bute, Cumbrae, Arran
- In Scottish
Gaelic, the Firth of Clyde is treated as two bodies, with the
landward end being called Linne Chluaidh (Scottish
Gaelic pronunciation: [ʎiɲəˈxɫ̪uəj])
(meaning the same as the English), while the area around the south
of Arran, Kintyre and Ayrshire/Galloway is An Linne Ghlas [ə ʎiɲə
ɣɫ̪as̪].
- Solway Firth
(inlet with the rivers Eden, Esk and Nith).
Firths on the east coast of Scotland (from north to
south)
These are connected to, or form part of, the North Sea.
- Dornoch
Firth (northernmost of the eastern firths)
- Cromarty
Firth (loch-type firth with relatively narrow opening to the
sea). The Firth runs out into the Moray Firth.
- Moray Firth and
Beauly Firth (a
loch-type firth) connected with the Firth of Inverness. The Firth of Inverness is rarely
identified on modern maps, but forms a connection via the River
Ness, Loch Ness and the
other lochs of the Great Glen and stretches
of the Caledonian Canal with the Firth of Lorne on the west coast of
Scotland.
- Places on the Moray Firth: Inverness, Nairn, Fortrose, Fort George.
- Headlands: Whiteness Head, Chanonry Point, Alturlie Point.
- Places on the Beauly Firth: Beauly.
- Firth of Tay
(estuary of the River
Tay).
- Firth of
Forth (estuary of the River Forth)
- Places: Edinburgh,
Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Falkirk, Stirling, Grangemouth, Rosyth, North Queensferry, South
Queensferry, Musselburgh, Crail, Cellardyke, Anstruther, Pittenweem, St Monans, Elie, Earlsferry. It is
spanned by the Forth Road Bridge, 2,512 m (8242 ft)
long, and the Forth Bridge
(the adjacent railway bridge), 2,498m (8,196ft) long.
- Rivers: Forth,
River Avon, Water of Leith, River
Almond, River Esk, River
Leven
- Islands: Bass Rock, Craigleith, Eyebroughy, Fidra, Inchcolm, Inchgarvie, Inchkeith, Inchmickery, Isle of May, The Lamb
Firths on the north
coast of Scotland
Map of the Pentland Firth and associated lands
- The Pentland
Firth. This is a strait between the Scottish mainland and the
Orkney Islands, and forms a link between
the Atlantic
Ocean and North Sea.
- Places: John
o' Groats, Canisbay, Gills Bay, Rattar (all Caithness)
- Headlands: Brims Ness, Brough Ness, Duncansby Head, Dunnet Head
- Islands: Hoy, Pentland
Skerries, Swona, South
Ronaldsay, South
Walls (all generally considered to be part of Orkney); Stroma
Cliffs in Saviskaill Bay on
Rousay, looking northward to
Westray across Westray Firth
The Northern Isles were part of Norway until the 15th century,
and retain many Norse names. In Shetland in particular, "firth" can
refer to smaller inlets, although geo, voe and wick are as common.
In Orkney, "wick" is common.
Other similar waters in
Scotland
In the Scottish
Gaelic language, linne is used to refer to most of the
firths above; it is also applied to the Sound of Sleat, Crowlin
Sound, Cuillin Sound, Sound of Jura, Sound of Raasay, and part
of Loch Linnhe.
The following is a selection of other bodies of water in
Scotland which are similar to various firths, but which are not
termed such -
Likewise, in the Northern Isles, the words "firth" and
"sound" are often used arbitrarily or interchangeably. Bluemull Sound
for example, is very similar to some of the firths in the Shetland
Islands.
Firths outside Scottish
waters
The Firth of Thames is the large bay to the southeast
See also
References
- ^
Anderson, Joseph (Ed.) (1893) Orkneyinga Saga. Translated
by Jón A. Hjaltalin & Gilbert Goudie. Edinburgh. James Thin and
Mercat Press (1990 reprint). ISBN 0-901824-25-9
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