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MHG33382 - Late C18th road - Lochinver

Summary

A road in Lochinver originally constructed in the late 18th century.

Type and Period (1)

Protected Status

Full Description

A road in Lochinver originally constructed in the late 18th century.

The road was built in c.1775 to allow access to and from a newly erected fishing station (see MHG12227). It is not shown on the Estate maps produced by John Home in c. 1773-4, which show a township, 'Milltown' clustered around and near a mill on the west side of the River Culag, all of which were removed. The mill was subsequenlty relocated to the southeast on the opposite side of the river (see MHG19771). <1>

The bridge is first shown on a map dated 1793 belonging to the Sutherland Estate. The map is a plan of an intended road from Loch Inver by the Portenleick Ferry surveyed by George Brown. It is available to view on the National Library of Scotland website. <2>

In 1994 the road was converted into a footpath when a new bridge and road were constructed by the Highland Council to the north, bypassing the old bridge. Cartstones from the road were exposed during works which included landscaping. Some of the cartstones were apparently buried beneath the new pedestrian footway on the riverside. One had been lifted and was observed during a site visit by the Highland Council Archaeologist. It was made of red sandstone, approximately 1m long, squarish in section, approximatley 20cm across at the top, tapering to its lower end. It was agreed to retrieve any that could be extracted from the area of works, replacing them in situ where possible and using ones previoulsy removed to edge the new access way to the football pitch fom the old bridge. An old boundary wall was also reduced to ground level and buried. <3>

Sources/Archives (3)

Map

Location

Grid reference	Centred NC 0933 2215 (169m by 122m)
Map sheet	NC02SE
Geographical Area	SUTHERLAND
Civil Parish	ASSYNT

Finds (0)

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External Links (1)