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Work to create Smoo Cave visitor centre 'progressing'

Getty Images A view looking down over a purple heather-covered cliff edge to Smoo Cave. The cave entrance is large and a stream of water is running from it and under a narrow footbridge. Above the cave is a wide area of green fields dotted with a few white-walled houses.Getty Images
Smoo Cave is near Durness on the Highlands' north coast

Plans to create a visitor centre near the site of a dramatic cave on Scotland's north mainland coast are progressing, says Highland Council.

Smoo Cave, near Durness, is a combined sea and freshwater limestone cave and has one of the largest cave entrances in Britain - 50ft (15m) high and 130ft (40m) wide.

It was used by some of the area's earliest inhabitants, including nomadic hunter-gatherers, 7,000 years ago.

In a new report, council officials said the project had progressed to an initial design phase and potential sources of grant funding have also been identified.

The Smoo Cave Unique Visitor Experience Project aims to enhance the visitor experience of the area, according to the report.

New car parking and an improved footpath network have also been proposed.

The centre would include information on a nearby former military radar base, RAF Sango.

It was part of a network of radar stations during World War Two designed to detect attacking German aircraft.

A full business case for the visitor centre was approved by councillors in August.

Getty Images A view of inside the cave. There are rugged limestone walls surrounding an area of water. Water, illuminated by sunlight, is pouring down from a hole in the cave's roof. Getty Images
The limestone cave is connected to stories of smugglers and the supernatural

Smoo Cave is on the North Coast 500 tourist route and attracts about 70,000 to 90,000 visitors per year.

Smoo is said to be derived from a Norse word "Sumvya", meaning creek or cleft.

It has been suggested that it was used by smugglers and has links to supernatural stories, including one about a clan chief outwitting the devil.

A feared 16th Century highwayman, known as McMurdo, is said to have murdered his victims by throwing them down a blowhole, an opening in the cave's roof.