Location: Applecross and Loch Carron
archaeology, the natural world, gaelic language and placenames

The use of Lonbain as a film set

In 1982 Applecross was used as a filming location for a movie about the evacuation of the island of St Kilda. Lots of locals featured in the project, which was filmed in the township of Lonbain on the north coast. Lonbain (An Lòn Bàn) had once been a thriving township community but lack of a road and poor economic opportunities led to the population drifting away. The houses they left behind still stand in one long row which you can still see when you are driving along the Applecross coast road. This formed a perfect representation of the iconic ‘main street’ of houses on St Kilda.

Hartfield House – then the West Highland School of Adventure – served as an operations base for the film, and the cast were billeted around Applecross in B&Bs and with local families. The weather that summer was so nice and sunny that the film makers had to bring in a rain machine to generate the bad weather scenes!

More information on visiting the area can be found here.