Friday 17th September 1819
Friday Sept 17th we breakfasted this morning at Dingwall thence to Beauly where we went in the
to see the Fall of Kilmorack a short distance from the town the fall is very insignificant but the situation romantically fine in an immense chasm of rock we then road three miles further to see a vale called the Dhruim abounding with romantic scenery the rocks river Glass winding beautifully through drooping trees at the bottom we then returned & proceeded to Inverness where we arrived at 6 o’clock.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Falls of Kilmorack are on the river Beauly, 2 miles southwest of the village, occurring between Kilmorack hamlet on the North bank and the ruined church and burying-ground of Kiltarlity on the South bank of the river.
Above, Lucy’s sketch “View of the fall near Kilmorack Inverness-shire” - Lucy is correct when annotating her sketch but the print, below, c 1840: Falls of Kilmorack, Beauly, Ross-shire, after T Allom is incorrect with Ross-shire.
c 1840: Falls of Kilmorack, Beauly, Ross-shire. Scotland. After T Allom https://www.amazon.co.uk/Falls-Kilmorack-Beauly-Ross-shire-Scotland/dp/B01LX4ZOTN
They are remarkable not so much for their height as for their breadth and volume. For fully half a mile above the lower fall the river has cut a deep and narrow channel through Old Red sandstone conglomerate, and at the bottom of this it toils in a series of rapids alternating with sullen, deep brown pools full of mysterious eddies. At one place the opening is very narrow, and the water has a sheer fall of some 15 feet, which is known as the upper fall. Immediately below this narrow rocky channel the banks suddenly expand into a wide semi-circular basin, through which the river slowly glides till, at the lower edge, it falls over a series of low rocky shelves in miniature cascades, boiling and fretting upon the uneven bed as it rushes onward. The tops of the rocky banks of both sides are covered with birch and pine trees. The best points of view are from a summerhouse in the minister's garden on the North bank and from the walk along the South bank within the premises of Beaufort Castle, to which a bridge immediately below the falls crosses. http://www.scottish-places.info/parishes/parhistory275.html
2008: Loch nam Bonnach near Kilmorack 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-ShareAlike 2.0 license.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loch_nam_Bonnach_-_geograph.org.uk_-_693004.jpg
The Beauly river was first bridged in about 1817, when Thomas Telford constructed the five arched Lovat Bridge about 1 km south west of Beauly. This bridge carried the A9, the main route north, until the Kessock Bridge was opened in 1982. A railway bridge across the river on the outskirts of Beauly was built in the 1860s to carry the Inverness & Ross-shire Railway (now the Far North Line). Another road bridge, near Kilmorack, was built in the 20th century. The river is part of the Affric-Beauly hydro-electric power scheme, with dams and power stations at Aigas and Kilmorack. Both have 20MW generators and include fish ladders to allow salmon to pass, the Aigas fish ladder is open to visitors in the summer. Eilean Aigas is an island in the river. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Beauly
2005: Kilmorack Power Station on the River Beauly, Scotland by Paul Hookway. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Paul Hookway and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kilmorack_Power_Station_PH-1.jpg
2005: Aigas Power Station on the River Beauly, Scotland. by Paul Hookway. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Paul Hookway and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aigas_Power_Station_PH-1.jpg
Drhuim Vale, through which the Beauly river passes
1836: The Drhuim on the Beauly River. (Ross-shire). Engraving by G.K. Richardson after T. Allom. https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/SEDrhuimCol.jpg
River Glass is a river in the Scottish Highlands which flows northeastwards down Strathglass. It begins at the confluence of the River Affric and the Abhainn Deabhag, near the village of Tomich.
1922: The River Glass near Beauly, Inverness-Shire - Colour art picture prints of Scotland https://www.amazon.co.uk/SCOTLAND-river-glass-Beauly-Inverness-Shire/dp/B00716YMCI
2008: River Glass at Struy Living up to its name on a very calm day; a few hundred metres further on the Glass joins with the Farrar to form the Beauly. Photograph by Mike Pennington. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Mike Pennington and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_Glass_at_Struy_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1007008.jpg
It is joined by the River Cannich near the village of Cannich, then flows as far as a confluence with the River Farrar near Struy, from which point the merged waters are known as the River Beauly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Glass,_Strathglass
Dingwall, Beauly, Inverness: As the family is returning on the road they came see our blogs for: September 4th 1819, September 5th 1819, September 6th 1819 and September 7th 1819 to review these places
Bennett’s hotel: The family remained in Inverness and would have stayed in the luxurious surroundings of the Bennett’s Hotel that they enjoyed on September 4th 1819, 5th and 6th September 1819
Can you help us?
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?