POSTS AND ROAD-MAKING.
It is impossible to fix the exact date when a post was established to
Gairloch; it was probably some time in the latter half of the eighteenth
century. In 1730 letters from Inverness to Edinburgh were carried by a
foot-post, as we learn from Captain Burt, so that it is not to be
wondered at that our remote parish of Gairloch did not have any post
until even a later period. Originally one post-"runner" was employed on
the service. He seems for a long time to have come regularly only when
the laird of Gairloch was in residence at Flowerdale in summer and
autumn. The post-runner came from Dingwall by Strath Braan and Glen
Dochartie to the head of Loch Maree, then along the east side of the
loch _viâ_ Letterewe to Poolewe, and thence, if necessary, forward to
Flowerdale. Sometimes, during the residence of the laird at Flowerdale,
the post-runner seems to have gone by the west side of Loch Maree to
Slatadale, and thence over the pass, by the falls of the Kerry, to
Flowerdale. During the winter months the post was suspended; even in
summer he originally came to Gairloch only once a week. When a second
runner was employed the post bags were brought twice a week. After the
construction of the present roads the mail came by horse and trap three
times a week, and in 1883 the Post Office authorities granted a daily
mail, _i.e._ every day except Sundays.
Dr Mackenzie, writing of the ten years commencing with 1808, describes
the Gairloch post as follows:--"Then the mail north of the Highland
metropolis (Inverness) went on horseback; and when we squatted on the
west coast (Gairloch) our nearest post-office was sixty miles away in
our county town (Dingwall), and our only letter-carrier was one of my
father's (Sir Hector's) attachés, little Duncan, a bit of kilted
india-rubber, who, with a sheepskin knapsack on his back to keep his
despatches dry (for Mackintosh waterproof had not been dreamed of then),
left the west on Monday, got the sixty miles done on Wednesday, and
returning on Thursday delivered up his mail to my father on the
Saturday, and was ready to trip off east next Monday; and so all the
five months of our western stay, doing his one hundred and twenty miles
every week! I never heard of his being a day off work in many a year.
And what a lot of news was extracted from him ere he got away to his
home on Saturday evening! When we retired to the east the natives left
behind us got their postal delivery the best way they could."
James Mackenzie states, that before 1820 there were two Gairloch
post-runners, viz., Donald Mackenzie, always called Donald Charles,
grandfather of the present John Mackenzie (Iain Glas) of Mossbank,
Poolewe, and Roderick M'Lennan of Kirkton, father of George M'Lennan of
Londubh, who is at present foreman to Mr O. H. Mackenzie. James
Mackenzie thinks that Dr Mackenzie is mistaken in giving the name Duncan
to the post-runner he mentions, and that it was Donald Charles (who was
the last single post-runner) that Dr Mackenzie knew in his youth. This
opinion agrees with the fact that Donald Charles always wore the kilt,
then falling into disuse among the common people of Gairloch. The kilt
seems, however, to have been generally in favour with the post-runners,
who doubtless found it suitable for their long walks; both Rorie
(Roderick M'Lennan) and William Cross (a subsequent post-runner,
descended from one of the ironworkers) always wore the kilt. Donald
Charles and Rorie alternately brought the post from Dingwall. They came
to Poolewe on Wednesdays and Saturdays, walking "through the rock,"
_i.e. viâ_ Letterewe, the Bull Rock, and the east side of Loch Maree.
When the laird was staying at Flowerdale the post-runners went there
first.
Another post-runner--one M'Leay, from Poolewe--was found dead about a
mile from the inn at Achnasheen. In his hand were a piece of bread and a
bit of mutton, which his sister, who was a servant at the inn, had given
him just before he left. He was a young man. A brother of his was found
dead at the back of the park at Tournaig. He had been sent by Mr
Mackenzie of Lochend to Aultbea to fetch whisky. His face was "spoilt,"
and his mouth full of earth. His death was thought to be the work of a
spirit! A memorial cairn was thrown up on the spot where the body was
found, and is there to this day.
John Mackenzie, son of Donald Charles, was the last running post to
Gairloch. He was called Iain Mor am Post, and was a remarkably strong
and courageous Highlander. When the mail-car began to run he emigrated
to Australia.
There were no roads in Gairloch until the military road was made, which
took nearly the same course as the present county road; it can still be
traced in most places. It was part of the system of military roads
constructed under the supervision of General Wade in the first half of
the eighteenth century. It is usually called General Wade's road, though
it is possible he never saw it. In the beginning of the nineteenth
century this old road had become impassable by wheeled vehicles.
There was a bridge at Grudidh on General Wade's road; when the new road
was made there it was doubled in width. The bridge at Kenlochewe was
built in 1843; that near Flowerdale (widened about 1880) long before.
The bridge at Poolewe was built about 1844; that at Little Gruinard, on
the northern boundary of the parish, a little later.
The road from Gairloch to Poolewe was made by Sir Hector Mackenzie in
1825. It was set out by Duncan Mackenzie, the innkeeper at Poolewe, who
had been butler to Sir Hector.
The Dowager Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch, widow of the late Sir Francis
Mackenzie, has communicated the following statement with regard to other
roads in Gairloch:--"I came to reside permanently at Flowerdale in June
1844. For ten years from June 1843 I was trustee for the Gairloch
property with Mr Mackenzie of Ord. There was no road then between Rudha
'n Fhomhair, at the upper end of Loch Maree and Slatadale. The potato
disease commenced in August 1846, and this road was begun the following
spring. When the government steamers called in at Gairloch, inquiring as
to the distress and poverty caused by the potato disease, I did not
advocate the sending of supplies of meal, &c., but urged continually, in
speaking and by letters, both to the Destitution Committee and to the
Home Secretary (Sir George Grey), and to Lord John Russell, that money
might be granted to make the road from Rudha 'n Fhomhair to Slatadale,
and thus to open up the country, I, on my part, as trustee, guaranteeing
to support the people who could not work on the road. The Edinburgh
Destitution Committee was not willing to agree to my request without the
sanction of the government; and the government said, however much they
approved of my plan, and however desirous of assisting me they felt,
they could not grant the request of one individual, without incurring
the risk of many more applications; but after some delay and
consideration, they said they would send me Captain Webb of the
Engineers and a corporal and two privates (who had been employed in
Shetland) to line out the road and map it, ready for a contractor's
offer. This was done. Captain Webb was my guest at Flowerdale for six
weeks during the winter; and early in the following spring, the maps and
plans arrived from Woolwich, and the road was begun, my son (Mr O. H.
Mackenzie) cutting the first turf. Though mentioning my own name
throughout this transaction, I could not have done anything without the
indefatigable assistance of Captain (now Admiral) Russell Elliott of
Appleby Castle; he was at the head of the Destitution Committee, a sort
of generalissimo of the whole concern; also I was much indebted to Sir
Charles Trevelyan, at that time Secretary to the Home Secretary. By the
aid of such good and able friends, the Destitution Committee was induced
to advance in all two or three thousand pounds, the district road
trustees undertaking to advance equal to what was advanced on the Loch
Maree road; and money was afterwards received from the Destitution Fund
to carry on the road to Badachro, now the large fishing station, where
curers purchase the herring, cod, ling, &c., from the people. Lord John
Russell sent me £100 out of a fund he had from the receipts of a ball or
concert for the destitute Highlanders, and I had several large sums sent
me by strangers, besides some from my own relations. Money also was
granted from Edinburgh to assist in making the road from Poolewe to
Inverasdale. After I received money from the Destitution Committee
several other proprietors applied for assistance in the same way. Mr
Bankes of Letterewe, and Mr Hugh Mackenzie of Dundonnell, both received
grants on the same terms. The road from Poolewe to Aultbea was thus
made, and also I think the road from Dundonnell, by Feithean, to the
Ullapool road."
Mr Mackenzie, Dundonnell, took a leading part in obtaining Destitution
money for road-making. Nearly £2000 from that and similar sources was
spent on the Loch Maree road; it cost £3403, the balance being raised by
the district road trustees, who also gave £1000 towards the Aultbea
road, the Destitution Committee giving £370. That Committee also
assisted the making of the roads on the north and south sides of
Gairloch, and on the west side of Loch Ewe.
There is no account to be had of the making of the road from Poolewe to
Inveran, but it seems to have been formed some time before the road from
Gairloch to Poolewe was made.
Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie completed the road from Kernsary to Fionn Loch in
1875. The road connecting Kernsary with Inveran was made about 1870.
[Illustration: ANTIQUITY NO. 12.--BRONZE PENANNULAR RING FOUND AT
LONDUBH.
SCALE--HALF TRUE SIZE.]