Badbea (pronounced bad-bay)[1] is a former clearance village perched on the steep slopes above the cliff tops of Berriedale on the east coast of Caithness, Scotland.

Situated around 5 miles (8 km) north of Helmsdale, the village was settled in the 18th and 19th centuries by families evicted from their homes when the straths of Langwell, Ousdale and Berriedale were cleared for the establishment of sheep farms.

From 1792 onwards, displaced families began to arrive in Badbea, a small area of rough, steeply sloping land, squeezed between the high drystone wall of the sheep enclosures and the precipitous cliffs of Berriedale above the North Sea.

The rest of the available land could only support some small vegetable plots and a few cows, pigs and chickens for each family;[3][4] fresh water came from a nearby spring.

[7] In June 1855, at the age of 66, he wrote to an admirer in Glasgow who occasionally sent him monetary gifts, saying: "...I long to hear of my friend’s widow, Mrs G. Keith.

Everything is out of order..."[8] Sutherland died at the age of 75 and was buried at Berriedale at a funeral attended by several hundred mourners, many of whom had travelled long distances to pay their last respects.