Monday 13th September 1819
Monday Sept 13th We started early this morning for John O’Groats 20 miles the road is tolerable & the country flat and cultivated on the borders even to the house or rather foundations as scarcely any marks of the original mansion remain but a solitary barn is built with its stone We had a fine view here of Dunnet head & the Orkneys; the shore here is formed entirely of shells & rocks no sand and there are some pretty little shells found here called "Groatie Buckies" peculiar to this place having remained some time congratulating ourselves on arriving at this long wished for point we rode on ponies having left the barouche at House Inn 12 miles from John O’Groats to Duncansby head to see some very fine rocks called the stackes which are insular & of a pyramidical form; the horses
having rested for a few hours we turned their heads to the South and passed over the old Highland road which in some parts is almost impassable to Wick 18 miles where we arrived quite early having come excessively quick
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
John O’Groats lies on Great Britain's north-eastern tip and is popular with tourists as one end of the longest distance between two inhabited British points on the mainland.
2016: John O'Groats from the air. By Madras9096, the copyright holder, and published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_O%27Groats_from_the_air.jpg
John o' Groat's House was an ancient house believed to be situated in front of the present hotel and was marked with a flagpole now removed, deriving its name from John of Groat, or Groot, and his brothers, originally from Holland, said to have settled here about 1489. The house was of an octagon shape, being one room, with eight windows and eight doors, to admit eight members of the family; the heads of different branches of it, to prevent their quarrels for precedence at table. Each came in by this contrivance at his own door, and sat at an octagon table, at which, of course, there was no chief place or head. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_o%27_Groats
2006: John o' Groats in Scotland by Asterion. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_o%27_Groats.JPG
House Inn: Possibly this was a precursor to the present inn at John o' Groats. Lucy’s account is not clear - was the House Inn 12 miles from John O’Groats, as she writes, or did they travel the 12 miles from John O’Groats to Duncansby Head?
Dunnet Head is a peninsula that includes the most northerly point of the mainland of Great Britain. John o' Groats is the traditional northernmost point of Great Britain but Dunnet Head, some miles northwest, is the real one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunnet_Head
2015: Dunnet Head view, Scotland, by Wilson44691, the copyright holder of this work, and published under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnet_Head_view_061915.jpg
2017: Dunnet Head Lighthouse, by August Schwerdfeger, the copyright holder of this work, and published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunnet_Head_lighthouse_2017-05-23_-_1.jpg
Groatie Buckie is a small sea-shell also known as the European Cowrie and is found on Shell Beach between John O' Groats and Duncansby Head. https://www.inspiredbycaithness.com/blog/2017/4/5/groatie-buckies-good-for-the-soul
Duncansby Head: Whilst John O’ Groats may be a popular tourist destination and one that is often bustling with people, Duncansby Head is a natural and untouched beauty spot. The stacks of Duncansby Head, natural rock formations, are visible from the clifftops.
2008: Duncansby Head Lighthouse, by Russ McLean at English Wikipedia, the copyright holder of this work, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duncansby_Head_lighthouse.JPG
A minor public road leads from John o' Groats to Duncansby Head, which makes Duncansby Head the farthest point by road from Land's End. The Duncansby Head Site of Special Scientific Interest includes the 6.5 km stretch of coast south to Skirza Head. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncansby_Head and https://www.mackayshotel.co.uk/2017/12/07/duncansby-head-stacks-lighthouse/
The Stacks of Duncansby are some of the most impressive in the British Isles http://www.landforms.eu/Caithness/Stacks%20of%20Duncansby.htm
2007: Duncansby Stacks, rock pinnacles to the immediate south of Duncansby Head, by BillC , the copyright holder of this work, and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duncansby-Stacks.jpg
Can you help us?
The House Inn: It would be great if we could clarify whether the House Inn was at John o' Groats or whether it was between O’Groats and Duncansby Head. It is possible we have transcribed the word House incorrectly - could it be the flower Inn?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?