Your Personal Guide to the North Highlands
History is fractal. It is possible to tell the story of the North Highlands of Scotland in just 500 words and yet there have been hundreds of books and several movies based on events that took less than an hour on the 16th April 1746 on Drumossie Moor at the Battle of Culloden.
The snippets here a just tasters: to discover more you’ll just have to come and see for yourself.
I recently heard that the future of the Old High Kirk in Inverness is in some doubt. The parish that is responsible for looking after the church, St Stephens in the Crown, has problems with funding. In this extract from my walking tour of Inverness, I hope you’ll agree that there are some compelling reasons …
Of all the mysterious things about a place like the Northern Highlands, one of the greatest mysteries is found in the least expected place for such a thing. The front of the Inverness Town House is placed, in a position of prominent authority, above the grand front door is placed the Coat of Arms of …
Every country has had its prophets: Greece its Cassandra, Rome its Sybils, England its Nixon, Wales its Robin Ddu, and the Highlands their Kenneth Oaur … The predictions, say the good wives, have been fulfilled, and not a single breach in the oracular effusions of Kenneth Oaur. The words of the English writer Thomas Pennant …
The first travel writer in the Scottish Highlands was Martin Martin, who wrote: ‘A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland’, published in 1703. There had been earlier works describing the region (such as Dean Munro and Robert Boyle). Still, these were more catalogues of the natural environment and trading output of the remote islands. …
John O’Groats is most famous today for being the opposite end of mainland Britain from Land’s End in Cornwall. It also sits on the North Coast 500, a circular route of the North Highlands now popular with visitors who enjoy travelling on a route with a purpose. It is almost a compulsory stop on any …
The Highlands and Islands of Scotland in the 18th century were a very different prospect to the sophisticated cities of continental Europe. It was an intrepid traveller who would venture to the far north for no purpose other than curiosity. In his book “A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland” published in 1716, Martin …
In 1859 a fight between two boys over a piece of fruit escalated into a riot of over a thousand men known as “Sabaid Mhòr Wick”. To give a bit of background, the nineteenth century was when the fishing industry was absolutely huge. In the first decade, an entire town had been commissioned on the …
When we find a document describing specific events in great detail that occurred hundreds of years ago, as historians we need to be sceptical. In this article, I would like to explain the process of fact-checking historical stories which is a process we need to go through to ensure that we do not perpetuate a …
The story of the Loch Ness Monster goes back to the days when the Picts lived around Loch Ness. In around 565 AD, the missionary Columba arrived and landed in Inverness. He started to walk the drovers’ road along the River Ness with his companions to bring Christianity to the locals. They had not gone …
A Different Country From the earliest of times the North Highlands has been seen as a different country and with good reason. The fault line, now known as the Great Glen, is in fact the joining together of two completely separate land masses that crashed together some half a billion years ago. The land looks …