Lochmaddy

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Lochmaddy (in Scottish Gaelic Loch nam Madadh, "Loch of the wolves") is the administrative centre of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

Lochmaddy sits at the end of a sea inlet (tairbeart) and, due to the rocky nature, is the only settlement of any size on the east coast — far from the villages in the more populous west of North Uist. Its name means "loch of the dog" in Scottish Gaelic.

Virtually the first mention anywhere of Lochmaddy is a complaint of "piracie and murder" in a report dated 1616: "Lochmaldie on the coast of Uist is a rendezvous for pirates" it said. The coves and inlets characterising the area around the village were ideal hiding places for raiding ships stocked with fine goods bound for the clan chiefs of the time, and contraband activity persisted until the modern era.

Nowadays the same good harbour makes Lochmaddy the ferry port for the island with the Hebridean Isles plying the route to Skye. The commercial activity of shops and public building has been generated due to the port activity, and today the village has the only bank, courthouse, tourist information office and youth hostel on North Uist. Lochmaddy hospital closed in March 2001. It was replaced by the newly-opened Ospadal Uibhist agus Bharraigh (Uist and Barra Hospital) in Balivanich, Benbecula.

Lochmaddy was an important fishing community before the commercial decline of the herring.