Loch Ewe

Loch Ewe is a sea loch in Wester Ross, Highlands, approximately 10 miles (16 km) long. The River Ewe drains into the loch from Loch Maree, some three miles (5 km) southeast.

The loch has always been significant in terms of maritime trade, as the surrounding coast towards the sea is rugged and inhospitable, making access difficult. As far back as 1610, an iron furnace was established near Poolewe at the head of the loch, fuelled by charcoal from nearby woodland.

World War I

The loch was used as an anchorage.

World War II

Northern route - Murmansk

During World War II, the loch became a naval port of significant strategic importance to Britain, and served as one of the main assembly points for many of the Atlantic convoys bound for North America and West Africa, together with those destined for Murmansk, Arctic Russia, on the Arctic Run. It was also the entry point for many British submarines making their way into the Atlantic Ocean.

The entrance to the loch was guarded by numerous command posts and gun emplacements, with artillery, anti-aircraft guns, mines, anti-submarine nets, and boom depots, together with further sites along its shores which formed the Loch Ewe Defences

The wartime role of Loch Ewe and those who lost their lives sailing from there was commemorated by a memorial stone unveiled at Cove during 1999, where the B8057 road ends at Rubha nan Sasan.