Thursday 9th September 1819
Thursday Sept 9th we breakfasted this morning at Clashmore Inn which is newly built 12 miles from Buona Bridge we then advanced 12 miles to Golspie the ride to this place affords beautiful views of the sea the country is only cultivated near the road & in general flat while the horses rested we walked to Dunrobin Castle the Marquis of Staffords there is nothing striking in the
interior or exterior of this building the rooms are of a very moderate size & plainly furnished we then continued for 15 miles which brought us to Port Gower Inn tolerably comfortable in the evening we were much amused at seeing two highlanders dance with much spirit I think Scotch dancing if I ?*** form them? can alone be admired for rapidity & energy as to elegance it is out of the question.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Clashmore Inn: The village of Clashmore was established as a result of massive rural clearances and a dedicated reception centre for the displaced, Clashmore Inn, sometimes referenced as the Dornoch Inn, was built in the village in 1819 by the Marquis of Stafford, later to become the first Duke of Sutherland. The Inn was to become the Skibo Estate factor’s house and is now a private home.
1900: Dornoch History Links: Monochrome photograph of the Clashmore Inn (now Clashmore House). http://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number12990.asp
March 2024: Our reader, Ken Farrance (see below and blog 15 September) has continued to explore the evolution of the Clashmore Inn. He has referred us to an old Ordinance survey Map showing the Inn and to a HISTORYLINKS postcard of 1930 where it has been dramatically updated to a modern building housing the Skibo Estate Office. He has also referred us to Google Street Maps that show it’s condition as Clashmore House in 2022, with newly 1930 planted trees fully matured and partially hiding the view from the road. Thank you Ken.
Old Ordinance Survey Map showing Clashmore Village and an Inn, set back a bit from the road and near to a Post Office
https://www.historylinksarchive.org.uk/picture/number5624/ “Skibo Estate Office and Clashmore House, Year 1930
Google Map image of Clashmore House in 2022
Close up of a Google Map image of The Old Post Office House close to Clashmore House but set on the road, identified as Post Office on the old OS Map
The first road capable of taking wheeled vehicles in Sutherland had been built along the north shore of the Dornoch Firth (and through Clashmore) in the early 19th century, and from it a track led to one of the most important ferry crossing points in this part of Scotland - at Meikle Ferry, some 2 miles away. LUCY NOTES NEWLY BUILT. http://www.clashmorehall.com/ahistoryofclashmorethecarnegiehall.asp There was very USEFUL information on this site on the CLEARANCES. — Sadly, on returning to this website (last visited in March) we find it is no longer available and searching the copied text fails to yield any success. This section on the Clashmore Inn was informed by the Carnegie Hall website which has been rebuilt and we have been unable to verify its content from any other resource.
Golspie: During a series of visits from the Right Honourable Elizabeth Countess of Sutherland plans were drawn up for the regulations that were written in to future leases on the massive family estates. In one visit (between July and August 1805) the first plans were laid for Golspie village. It was to be based on "the street of the Fishertown of Golspy" and was to consist of houses 50 feet by 20, each with a croft of 3/4 acre, The people were to get a 99 years lease for their houses, which they were to build themselves, but the croft ground was to be re-let annually, this permitting changes in the lay-out of the village from time-to-time. In addition to the individual crofts, it was intended to provide common cow pasture.
210: Coast in Golspie, by Piotr_Grzegorz. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coast_in_Golspie,_wybrze%C5%BCe_w_Golspie_-_panoramio.jpg
One improvement was quickly made and that was the building of a little pier or jetty to provide a safe landing place for boats serving Dunrobin. In a letter to her husband the Countess described how she had caused intimation to be given at the Church door that forty men were wanted for the next week at the rate of 1/- a day, to build this jetty, using stones from the beach. The work was supervised by William Pope, who was being considered as a possible person to take charge of the proposed development of the harbours at Culgour and Helmsdale. In April 1805 the Colonel Campbell submitted for Presbytery's approval a plan for a new schoolhouse in Golspy, the old one having been classed as ruinous the previous year. The plan for the new one was as follows:- the school was to be 40 ft in length, a kitchen 12 ft and the master's room 14 ft; the width all through to be 14 ft; the side walls 7.5 ft high, a roof of grey slate and to be furnished with windows, locks and doors, desks and seats, the total cost being £127:12/- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golspie
2008: Main Street, Golspie, near to Golspie, Highland, Great Britain, by Oliver Dixon. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Oliver Dixon and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goillspidh_871704.jpg
Dunrobin Castle is the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland and the Clan Sutherland. It is located 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Golspie, and approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Brora, overlooking the Dornoch Firth.
circa 1813: Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland, Scotland, by Sir Robert Gordon in "A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland". Published in 1813 and so out of the 100 year copyright period. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunrobin_Castle_c.1813.jpg
1837: Dunrobin Castle, Sutherlandshire. Engraving by J.C. Varral after W.H. Bartlett. https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/SEDunrobinCastle15.jpg
It was built in the midst of a tribal society, with Norse and Gaelic in use at the time. Robert the Bruce planted the Gordons, who supported his claim to the crown, at Huntly in Aberdeenshire, and they were created Earls of Huntly in 1445. The Earldom passed to the Gordon family in the 16th century when the 8th Earl of Sutherland gave his daughter Elizabeth in marriage to Adam Gordon. After the 8th Earl died in 1508, Elizabeth's elder brother was declared heir to the title, but a brieve (writ) of idiocy brought against him and his younger brother by the Gordons meant that the possession of the estate went to Adam Gordon in 1512. In 1518, in the absence of Adam Gordon, the castle was captured by Alexander Sutherland, the legitimate heir to the Earldom of Sutherland. The Gordons quickly retook the castle, captured Alexander and placed his head on a spear on top of the castle tower. Alexander's son John made an attempt on the castle in 1550, but was killed in the castle garden. During the more peaceful 17th century, the keep was extended with the addition of a large house, built around a courtyard to the south-west. During the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart stormed Dunrobin Castle without warning, because the Clan Sutherland supported the British government. The 17th Earl of Sutherland, who had changed his surname from Gordon to Sutherland, narrowly escaped them, exiting through a back door. He sailed for Aberdeen where he joined the Duke of Cumberland's army.
1870: Dunrobin Castle, from the Morris's Seats series published by the Rev. Francis Orpen MORRIS. http://www.rareoldprints.com/p/22246
2008: Dunrobin Castle and gardens, Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, seen from the east, by jack_spellingbacon with modifications by Snowmanradio and published by the copyright holder under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dunrobin_Castle_-Sutherland_-Scotland-26May2008_(2).jpg
On the death of the 18th Earl in 1766, the house passed to his daughter, Elizabeth, who married the politician George Leveson-Gower, later created 1st Duke of Sutherland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunrobin_Castle
George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland, known as Viscount Trentham from 1758 to 1786, as Earl Gower from 1786 to 1803 and as The Marquess of Stafford from 1803 to 1833, was an English politician, diplomat, landowner, patron of the arts and the wealthiest man in Britain during the latter part of his life. He remains a controversial figure for his role in carrying out the Highland Clearances, where thousands of tenants were evicted and rehoused in coastal crofts as part of a program of improvement. The larger clearances in Sutherland were undertaken between 1811 and 1820. In 1811 parliament passed a bill granting half the expenses of building roads in northern Scotland, on the provision that landowners paid for the other half. The following year Sutherland commenced building roads and bridges in the county, which up to that point had been virtually non-existent.
1805: George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland by Thomas Phillips (1770–1845), from The National Portrait Gallery: NPG 1298. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Granville_Leveson-Gower,_1st_Duke_of_Sutherland_by_Thomas_Phillips.jpg
Appalled by the poor living conditions of his tenants and influenced by social and economic theories of the day as well as consulting widely on the subject, he became convinced that subsistence farming in the interior of Sutherland could not be sustained in the long-term. At first the clearances involved relocations from Assynt to coastal villages on the assumption that farmers could take up fishing. However, when the consequences of these actions became clear, the evictions were met with opposition, which was ruthlessly repressed. Resentment mounted when one of Sutherland's factors, Patrick Sellar, was acquitted of murder and then took over one of the massive sheep farms the evictions created. Condemnation was widespread and the Highlanders' grievances were heard in the House of Commons. However, little was done in practice to prevent the emptying of the glens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Leveson-Gower,_1st_Duke_of_Sutherland
In light of his responsibility for some of the worst examples of Highland Clearances it is not surprising that a number of attempts have been made to destroy his memorial statue, built on the summit of Beinn a' Bhragaidh following the duke's death in 1833. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15924649
Port Gower Inn was built in 1813; one storey and garret with slated roof and gabled dormer windows. Above the lintel there is an inset with the Sutherland and Stafford arms and the date. The building is now used as a dwelling house. https://hbsmr-web.esdm.co.uk/Monument/MHG17120 and https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200338957-port-gower-inn-loth#.XXVwXyhKg5s
A delightful 2011 article entitled Esther's Portgower Story from "The Streets Where We Live" website, recounts a talk by Esther McDonald in which she informs the audience about “the Portgower Inn where her mother, Catherine Mackay, currently resides. The heraldic datestone on the front of the inn shows that the inn was built in 1813. It was first leased to John Matheson, storekeeper, Helmsdale in 1814, who also had the lease of the Inn Farm and the hill grazing of Badstor. It was then leased to John Thomson in 1830 and Adam Mackay in 1847. A rare ‘Spirit Book’ in the family’s possession records the spirits bought by the inn and where they came from, e.g. Clynelish, Leith and Pultney, as well as inspections by the customs and excise. The Inn had a bakehouse and shop attached, as well as a coach house and stables, still standing today.”http://timespanthestreets.blogspot.com/2011/04/esthers-portgower-story.html
February 2022 - We have been referred to the Google Street View image below by our reader, Ken Farrance. A closeup of the date stone above the front door shows the Sutherland Arms, with the date 1913 underneath. Many thanks, Ken, for bringing this treasure alive.
Port Gower Inn - from Google Maps Street View September 2021
Sutherland Heraldic Arms in stone above door with the date 1813 below - from Google Maps Street View September 2021
Portgower: there will be more tomorrow about the village
Can you help us?
Transcription problems: As untrained transcribers we sometimes experience problems interpreting some of Lucy’s writing. We have a problem deciphering a section today:
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spirit I think Scotch dancing if I ?*** form them? can alone be admired for rapidity ….. Lucy’s superscript has been difficult to read - any help will be most gratefully received
Port Gower Inn: There is a picture of the Inn dated 26/08/1980 at the copyrighted https://hbsmr-web.esdm.co.uk/Monument/MHG17120 but it would be wonderful if we could learn even more about Lucy’s “tolerably comfortable” inn and perhaps publish a picture of what it looks like today as a private dwelling house. We know, from Esther's Portgower Story , that in 2011 it was lived in by Catherine Mackay.
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?