Wednesday 8th September 1819
Wednesday Sept 8th 1819 Left Dingwall after breakfast & advanced by the side of Dornoch Firth to Bonar Inn 8 miles here we rested for 2 hours & then continued to Buona Bridge 20 miles about 10 miles from Bonar the country returns to its former barrenness & here becomes more mountainous after crossing a very handsome iron bridge we arrived the Inn tolerably comfortable. The roads in this part over the country are excellent.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Dornoch Firth forms part of the boundary between Ross and Cromarty, to the south, and Sutherland, to the north. The firth is designated as a national scenic area.
2008: Shoreline looking across Dornoch Firth , by Sylvia Duckworth . This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Sylvia Duckworth and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shoreline_looking_across_Dornoch_Firth_-_geograph.org.uk_-_687442.jpg
In 1991, the firth was bridged, the new Dornoch Firth Bridge providing a shorter route on the A9 road between Inverness and Thurso; until then traffic had to go by way of Bonar Bridge at the head of the inlet. On 16 August 1809 the firth was the scene of the Meikle Ferry disaster when an over-laden ferryboat sank with the loss of 99 lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornoch_Firth
Bonar Inn: The Bonar Bridge Hotel is an original coaching inn situated on the banks of the Kyle of Sutherland. However, after resting at the Bonar Inn, the family progressed another 20 miles before they reached the village of “Buona Bridge”, where today’s Bonar Bridge Hotel is situated, beside the bridge. Due to the distances described by Lucy this in probably not the Inn where they rested, but where they spent the night (see below). https://whatpub.com/pubs/INV/223/bonar-bridge-hotel-bonar-bridge
Bonar Bridge is a village on the north bank of the Kyle of Sutherland. In 1746 the Earl of Cromartie and his forces returning South were attacked by Clan Sutherland near Bonar Bridge, in what became known as the Battle of Bonar Bridge. Most of the Jacobite officers were captured, many of the men were killed and the rest were driven onto the shore where several were drowned trying to swim the Kyle of Sutherland. Thus Clan MacKenzie were prevented from joining the Jacobite army at the Battle of Culloden. The 1809 the ferry sank with the loss of some 99 lives, including the Sheriff of Dornoch, Hugh MacCulloch. Over £2,900 were raised for disaster relief, much of it coming from overseas. It resulted in the construction of Bonar Bridge in 1812. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_Bridge
The village is shown on the left of the photograph below
2005: Ardgay and Bonar Bridge. Taken from a forest track, Ardgay on the right and Bonar on the left, by Donald Bain. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Donald Bain and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ardgay_and_Bonar_Bridge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_57495.jpg
Iron bridge: This is likely to be the “iron bridge”, built in 1811/12 to the plan of Telford. It provided the first road link between Ross-shire and Sutherland but was destroyed by flood in 1892. The 1870 photograph below, from Tain Museum’s “Tain Through Time Image Library”, suggests a hybrid stone/iron structure, the arch on the right of the picture being of iron?
1870: The Old Bonar Bridge - From the Tain Through Time Image Library http://www.tainmuseum.org.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number41.asp
Wikipedia relates that the construction of the first bridge across the Kyle of Sutherland at Bonar Bridge started in September 1811 and completed in November 1812. The engineer was Thomas Telford and the builders were Simpson & Cargill. The components of the bridge were cast in Denbighshire and assembled there, before being taken apart and transported to its site for re-erection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonar_
This would therefore be the “very handsome iron bridge” they crossed before arriving at the “tolerably comfortable Inn”
Inn: Probably the Bridge hotel (see Bonar Inn, above). The two appear to be the same hotel, immediately across from the bridge that replaced Telford’s iron bridge https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Bridge-Hotel-301368876632837/about/?ref=page_internal
From the Bridge Hotel facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Bridge-Hotel-301368876632837/about/?ref=page_internal
Can you help us?
Where did Lucy have Breakfast? She calls it the Bonar Inn, but the family progresses a further 20 miles before they reach Bonar Bridge, where they stayed the night.
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?