page_title: The Rough Bounds
section_title: Later history
hierarchical_section_title: The Rough Bounds / History / Later history
caption_attribution_description: English: Arisaig House, Borrodale. Building finished around 1939 of this second Arisaig House. This one was built as a replacement for an older house burnt to the ground around 1935. Requisitioned by the army before the owners could move in, it became the Staff HQ for the SOE in the Moidart / South Morar area and also acted as a training centre for agents going into occupied Europe. The team that assassinated Reinhardt Heydrich trained here before going to Prague. Released back to the owners after the war it remained the HQ of Arisaig Estate until sold in the 1970s.
context_page_description: The Rough Bounds, in the Scottish Highlands, is the area of West Inverness-shire bounded by Loch Hourn, Loch Shiel, and Loch Moidart, consisting of the districts of Knoydart, North Morar, Arisaig and Moidart. The area is famous for its wildness and inaccessibility and remains very sparsely populated.
context_section_description: A succession of flamboyant but unsuccessful chiefs (including especially Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry [1771–1828] and Ranald George Macdonald of Clanranald [1788–1873]) resulted ultimately in the area passing into other hands.
  The Rough Bounds remained difficult to access well into the 20th century; indeed Moidart only received a road connection (the A861) in 1966, and had to be accessed by foot or by ferry. This remoteness made it ideal for practice sites for covert operations in Occupied Europe, during World War II. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) established their Scottish headquarters just outside Arisaig, and constructed paramilitary training bases throughout the region. In Moidart, HMS Dorlin was established, and used for training of Royal Navy Beach Signals and Royal Signals sections.
  The remoteness also ensured that the area remained strongly Scottish Gaelic speaking until the mid 20th century. In the 1881 census, with around 90% of the population able to speak Gaelic and over a third unable to speak English. By 2001, the share of Gaelic speakers had declined to under 15% of habitual residents.
caption: Arisaig House, headquarters for the SOE in Scotland
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