Badbea
Near Berriedale, Caithness
In the Highland Clearances, families were evicted from their glens to make way for sheep. Some were moved to Badbea, a bare clifftop above the sea.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- From the 1790s
- Where
- 58.1800, -3.5300
- Group
- Lost & drowned villages
Visiting
Reached by a walk from a car park on the A9 north of Helmsdale.

The Ledger of Lost Britain
The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.
Nearby mysteries
- Hill o' Many StanesAncient monument · Near Lybster, Caithness · 17 miles away
- Janet HorneWitches · Dornoch, Sutherland · 28 miles away
- DounreaySecret site · Near Thurso, Caithness · 29 miles away
- RosalLost village · Strathnaver, Sutherland · 30 miles away
- The Sculptor's CaveCave or grotto · Covesea, Moray · 32 miles away
- Elgin CathedralCastle or abbey · Elgin, Moray · 37 miles away