Scottish Highlands Towns and Villages

Lochaline is a small village with a sheltered anchorage on the southern shoreline of the Northern peninsula opposite the island of Mull.

Its importance lies in the fact that in the area there is a bed of white cretaceous sandstone which, during the Second World War, was Britain's only source of sand for optical glass other than the Con­tinent.

The sand is exceptionally pure and free from iron.

The rock is still being mined.