Towards the end of the 18th century the attention of mapmakers,
explorers and travellers turned to the north of Scotland. The
mountains that rise north of Stirling formed a formidable barrier
for anyone wanting to visit the Highlands, and travellers to the
Far North were even rarer: there were no roads at all into most of
Sutherland, and Ross and Cromarty until the early years of the 19th
century. Who did go there, and why? This book follows the early
mapmakers who gradually revealed the area, including Timothy Pont
and Alexander Bryce who published the first accurate map of the
north coast. General Roy covered the whole of Scotland for his
remarkable 'Great Map', and later, the indomitable and energetic
General Colby dragged his reluctant Ordnance Survey team across
much of the north, as documented by Robert Kearsley Dawson.
Meanwhile, Culloden led to increased interest in the area, as is
evident not only from the visit of Dr. Johnson, but also those from
Thomas Pennant, Bishop Pococke and the Rev. Charles Cordiner, all
of whom managed to reach the far north-west and leave fascinating
accounts of what they found. The poverty that was apparent to these
visitors from the south led to action from the British government,
not least an important road-making scheme under Thomas Telford
which is documented in this book using not only the official
reports, but also an enthusiastic account left by the Poet Laureate
of the time, Robert Southey. With the new roads came the tourists,
flocking to sites like Loch Katrine, in search of signs of Sir
Walter Scott's heroes and heroines. But it was only the bolder few
who made it to the far north-west, men like the Rev. James Hall,
'making love' under the table at Caithness, or James Hogg, ever the
ladies' man at Lochs Duich and Maree. The book follows this story,
which has barely been mentioned in popular literature, and delights
in choice anecdotes from all these accounts, touching on a number
of disciplines: cartography, early geology and botany. But above
all, it gives a picture of this unknown region, as it seemed to
those exploring it, an area of astonishing beauty, with inhabitants
that showed notable warmth and generosity in spite of their
poverty. The book ends with an account of the Highlands
Controversy, a debate that divided the geological community for
much of the 19th century, culminating in discoveries that revealed
that the area contained some of the most remarkable geology not
just in Britain, but in the whole world. Thus recognition was at
last achieved for a region that contains some of the most striking
scenery in the United Kingdom.
General
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