Sutherland, Scotland

We live in Brora, Sutherland, Scotland and also write about Brora, in central east Sutherland and Brora Business Directory.

Sutherland, population about 14,180 in 2006, is the most north-westerly mainland county in both Scotland and the United Kingdom and 1.297846 million acres, or 5252 km (about 2,400 square miles) in size (compared to Caithness, with 700 square miles).

All areas of Sutherland are in Highland Council jurisdiction and in these two constituencies:

Sutherland, the northernmost county of mainland Scotland, is bounded N. and W. by the Atlantic, E. by Caithness, S.E. by the North Sea and S. by the shire of Ross and Cromarty. It stretches from Cape Wrath to Drum Hollistan along the north coast; south to Lochinver and Ledmore on the west; as far as Ardgay in the southeast. The west coast looks seaward to the Hebrides. The east coast looks across the Moray Firth to Moray and further east and over the North Sea towards Europe. Its original area was 1,297, 846 acres or 2,028 sq. m. It is the principal home (shared with much smaller Caithness to the north east) of The Flows National Nature Reserve (NNR), a national treasure, the largest blanket bog in the world, an area of 11,373 hectares, internationally recognized for its habitat quality and breeding bird populations. Other features of considerable importance include wet heath, open waters, otters and many species of waders, waterfowl and birds of prey. The reserve is about 30 miles north of Helmsdale extends west and east across peat lands from Sutherland into west Caithness and mostly encompasses land within the former Forsinard and Dorrery Estates. There is an RSPB visitor centre at Forsinard. The national and international importance of the reserve is reflected in designations which include Ramsar, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation status. Also, 73% of this 2007-opened NNR is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The western and northern shores of Sutherland are much indented and terminate at many points in precipices and rugged headlands. The mountains are distinguished by grandeur of outline. Ben More (3273 ft.) in Assynt is the highest in the shire, and next to it in height is Ben Clibreck (3154). Ben Hope (3040 ft), in the north the only place in Britain where the Alpine Alsine rubella is found, and also for its fauna, with ptarmigan common, and even the wild cat and golden eagle sometimes visible. On occasions, black-throated divers and red kites, extremely rare, can be seen. No more than 50 pairs of the former breed in Britain - all of them confined to the Northwest Highlands. Their black throats glow like shot-silk purple when the sun touches them. Bird-watchers will be thrilled. Also see black guillemots whirring from the wet mouths of caves, with grey seals bobbing up between the waves. A lucky few may see a giant bird lofting into space and hanging on crooked wings above. Its feathers are the colours of winter: of hoar frost and rock and the old year's heather. Its beak is hooked like a butcher's cleaver. It is a sea eagle - also known as the white-tailed eagle - the most spectacular raptor ever to grace Scottish skies. With a nine-foot wingspan it is bigger than the golden eagle, and a very rare bird indeed. Sea eagles were widespread in Medieval Britain, but in Victorian times they were driven to extinction by sheep farmers, gamekeepers and egg collectors. The last pair known to nest (on Skye) disappeared in 1916. Their return to Scotland in the 1970s has been a major success story. Reintroduced from Norway to the island of Rum, they have steadily multiplied until there are now nearly 40 pairs scattered among the islands and sea lochs of the west coast.

Other lofty hills include Foinaven (2980 ft) in the north-west; Ben Hee (2864), the highest point in Reay Forest; Quinag (2653 ft) and Glasven (2541 ft) north; Canisp (2779 ft) south of Loch Assynt; Cam Stackie (2630 ft) in Durness; Ben Arkle (2580 ft) and Ben Stack (2364) above Loch Stack; the peaks of Ben Loyal (2504 ft) in Tongue; and Suilven (2399). The greater part of the mountainous region consists of wild and desolate moorlands.

The chief river is the Oykell, which, rising in Coniveall (3234), a peak of Ben More, flows south and then south-east for 33 m. to Dornoch Firth, forming the major part of the southern boundary of the shire. Its major left-hand tributaries are the Shin and Cassley. Other rivers flowing to Dornoch Firth are the Helmsdale (22 m.), issuing from Loch an Ruathair; the Brora (28 m.), rising in Mt Uaran and preserving in its name (bridge river) the fact that its bridge was once the only important one in the county; and the Fleet (i 7), the head of the estuary embanked for 1000 yds. in 1813 by Thomas Telford, whereby a considerable tract of rich alluvial land was reclaimed from the sea.

The longest rivers flowing to the north coast are the Dionard to Kyle of Durness, the Naver to Torrisdale Bay, and the Halladale rising in Knockfin on the borders of Caithness and entering the sea to the east of Portskerry. Much of the surface in the district of Assynt is honeycombed with lakes and tarns, but the only large lake is Loch Assynt, which is 63 m. long, lies 215 ft. above the sea, has a drainage area of 43 sq. m., and a greatest depth of 282 ft., and empties into the sea by the Inver. Other lakes are Loch Crocach, little more than i m. long by s m. wide, in' which the ratio of the area of islands to the total area of the loch is greater than in any other British lake; Loch Shin (17 m. long); Loch Loyal (4 m.); Loch Hope (6 m.); Loch Naver (6 m.); and Loch More (4 m.). The principal inlets of the sea are, on the north coast, Kyle of Tongue - on the east shore of which stands Tongue House, once the property of the Reay family, now a seat of the duke of Sutherland - Loch Eriboll and Kyle of Durness; on the west, Lochs Inchard, Laxford, Cairnbawn, Glendhu, Glencoul, Eddrachilis Bay and Loch Inver; and, on the south-east, Loch Fleet.

There are many waterfalls. Those of Escuallin, near the head of Glencoul, are among the finest in Great Britain. The Falls of Shin are superb and the waterfall at the top of the Big Burn in Golspie is awesome.

There are three principal capes - Strathy Point on the north; Cape Wrath at the extreme north-west; and Ru Stoer, near the Old Man of Stoer, a detached pillar of rock about 250 ft. high. On its seaward face Cape Wrath rises in precipitous cliffs to a height of 300 ft. The gneiss rocks are scored with pink granite. Sunken reefs keep the sea almost always in tumult. Of the larger islands Handa, usually visited from Scourie on the west coast, has magnificent cliff scenery, distinguished for its beautiful coloration, its caverns and the richness and variety of the bird life, especially on the north-west, where the Torridonian sandstone rocks are 406 ft. high. Smoo Cave on the north coast, 1 m. east of Durness, is the most famous cavern in the shire; it consists of three chambers hollowed out of the limestone; the entrance hall, 33 ft. high and 203 ft. long, is separated from the inner chamber, 70 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, by a ledge of rock beneath which pours a stream that descends as a cataract from a hole in the roof, 80 ft. above. Behind the waterfall is the third chamber, 120 ft. long by 8 ft. wide, which can only be seen by artificial light.

Geology

A very irregular line from Loch Eriboll on the north coast to the neighbourhood of Cromalt near the southern boundary separates the two rock groups that form the foundation of the major portion of the county. On the western side are the ancient gneisses and schists (Lewisian gneiss) penetrated by innumerable basic and acid dikes which generally have a north-west to south-east trend. On the eastern side of the line, occupying the whole of the remaining area except the eastern fringe of the county, is a younger series of metamorphic rocks, the Moine schists. Resting upon the old gneiss near Cape Wrath, at Ru Stoer, Quinag, Canisp and Suilven are dark red conglomerates, breccias and sandstones of Torridonian age. Cambrian rocks succeed the Torridonian, represented in ascending order by false bedded quartzite, quartzite with annelid burrows, fucoid beds with Olenellus band, serpulite grit, (5) Durness limestone and dolomite and their marmorized equivalents. The white quartzite that has been left as a cap on such dark Torridonian hills as Quinag and Canisp forms a striking feature in the landscape. These Cambrian rocks occupy a very irregular belt along the line above mentioned; the broadest tract is in the neighbourhood of Loch Assynt, another large area lies about the southern end of Loch Eriboll and the Durness limestone is extensively developed near the loch of that name. Along the belt of Cambrian rocks there is abundant evidence of crustal deformation on the most extensive scale; one after another great slices of rock, often miles in extent, have been sheared off and pushed forward by thrusts from a south-easterly direction, so that in several places it is possible to find the Lewisian gneiss dragged up and carried forward right on to the Cambrian; in the Durness district the eastern schists have been so transported from a distance of 10 m. The most striking of the planes of thrusting is the Moine, others of great magnitude occur to the west of it, such as those by Glencoul and Ben More. Masses of granite appear in the eastern schists on the county boundary by Strath Halladale, at Ben Laoghal, Ben Stomino and east of Lairg. The Old Red Sandstone forms some elevated ground around Dornoch and Golspie and patches occur at Portskerra and elsewhere. A narrow strip of Mesozoic strata lies along the coast from Golspie Burn to Ord. Triassic marls are seen in the Golspie stream; these are succeeded northwards, near Dunrobin Castle, by Lias, then by Great Oolite, with the Brora coal, followed by Oxfordian, Corallian and Kimeridgian beds. Evidence of ice action is everywhere apparent, the striations show that the ice travelled towards the north-west and north, and from the eastern part of the county, towards Moray Firth.

Climate and Agriculture

Rainfall varies greatly, being lowest on the south-east and highest in the mountainous hinterland of the west, with an annual mean of 44.7 in. The average temperature for the year is 47° F., for January 38.5°F., for July 56.5° F. Only one fortieth of the total area is under cultivation, the shire ranking lowest in Scotland in this respect. The great mass of the surface is grazing ground and deer forest. The best land adjoins Dornoch Firth, where farming is in an advanced condition, but there are fertile patches along the river valleys. At the beginning of the 19th century the crofters occupied almost every cultivable spot, and were more numerous than the soil could support. The first duke of Sutherland (then marquis of Stafford) adopted a policy of wholesale clearance. Between 1811 and 1820 fifteen thousand peasants were evicted from their holdings in the interior and transferred to the coast. Later dukes made reforms, which included reduction of rent, improvement in the wellbeing of the people, reclamation of thousands of acres, and abolition of the tacksman or middleman. They also did much to open up the shire generally. Between 1812 - when there was only one bridge and no road in Sutherland - and 1832, they bore half the cost, the government contributing the rest, of constructing 450 m. of road, 134 bridges, some of considerable size, and the iron bridge at Bonar (150 ft. span. The 3rd duke (1828-1892) carried out a large plan of reclamation. Attempts have been made to re-people some of the glens (Strathnaver, for example) depopulated by the clearances. Crofters still largely predominate, nearly two-thirds of the holdings being under 5 acres - the highest proportion in Scotland. The chief grain crops are oats and barley, the chief green crops turnips (including swedes) and potatoes. Raising of livestock is the staple business of the county. Sheep are mostly North Country Cheviots, but there are also Suffolks, Texels, Beltex, Jacobs, Shetland and Blackface. Cattle include West Highland, shorthorn and crossbred. Horses - principally ponies, though Clydesdales are used on the bigger farms - are almost wholly kept for agricultural purposes. Pigs are also reared. The Highlands and Islands Sheep Health Association is active regionally. The deer forests belonging to the duke of Sutherland are Reay, 64,600 acres; Ben Armine and Coirna-fearn, 35,840; Glen Canisp,34490; and Dunrobin, 12,180 - in all 147,110 acres, or more than one-ninth of the whole area. Excepting the south-east coast, the valley of the Shin, and a considerable portion of Strath Oykell, there are very few districts under wood.

Every year, there is a massively supported Sutherland County Show, held at The Links, Dornoch, usually on the Saturday in the third week of July, with something for everyone of all ages and abilities. The programme for 2007 included displays of the

Other industries

Next to agriculture, the salmon fisheries in the rivers are important seasonal interests. Helmsdale is the only port of any consequence. Herrings are no longer the principal catch. Some shellfish and crustaceans are harvested. Whisky is distilled at Brora. Facilities offered by the deer forests, moors and the many lochs and rivers attract large numbers of sportsmen whose custom is valuable to the inhabitants. The Far North (Highland) railway enters the county at Invershin, goes northward to Lairg, then east to Brora and north-east to Helmsdale, whence it runs north-west to Kildonan, and north to Forsinard, where it shortly afterwards leaves the shire. Considering its scanty and scattered population and mountainous character, the county is well intersected by roads, many of which were constructed by successive dukes of Sutherland.

Population and Administration

Sutherland today is the least populous of Scottish counties, having lost 60% of its population in 110 years. Several uninhabited islands lie off the west and north coast. Gaelic is a minority language The county no longer returns a member to the Westminster parliament, it shares a constituency with Caithness and Easter Ross. The same applies to the Scottish Parliament. There are two cottage hospitals, Lawson Memorial, in Golspie and Migdale at Bonar Bridge.

History and Antiquities

Of the Picts, the original inhabitants, there are considerable remains in the form of brochs (or round towers), such as the one between Brora and Golspie, numerous and widely scattered, Picts' houses, tumuli, cairns and hut circles. Dun Dornadilla, in the parish of Durness, 4 m. south of Loch Hope, is a tower, 150 ft. in circumference, still in good preservation. The Norse jarl Thorfinn overran the country in 1034 and the Scandinavian colonists called it, in relation to their settlements in the Orkneys and Shetlands, Sudrland, the "southern land," or Sutherland. After the conquest of the district by the Scottish kings, Sutherland was conferred on Hugh Freskin (a descendant of Freskin of Moravia or Moray), whose son William was created earl of Sutherland in 1228 by Alexander II. Assynt was peopled by a branch of the Macleods of Lewis until they were dispossessed by the Mackenzies, who sold the territory to the earl of Sutherland about the middle of the 18th century. The vast tract of the Reay country, belonging to the Mackays, an ancient clan, also fell piece by piece into the hands of the Sutherland family. Killin, on the east bank of Loch Brora, was the site of an old chapel dedicated to St Columba, an association commemorated in the name of Kilcolmkill House. On the south shore of Helmsdale creek were once the ruins of the castle in which the 11th earl of Sutherland and his wife were poisoned by his uncle's widow in 1567, with a view to securing the title for her only child who was next of kin to the earl and his son. Ardvreck Castle, now in ruins, at the east end of Loch Assynt, was the prison of the marquis of Montrose after his defeat at Invercarron (1650), whence he was delivered up by Neil Macleod of Assynt, via Carbisdale Castle (now in Sutherland, originally in Ross-shire) for execution at Edinburgh. In the graveyard of the old church of Durness is a monument to Robert Mackay, called Rob Donn (the brown), the Gaelic poet (1714-1778).

Bibliography. -Sir Robert Gordon, History of the Earldom of Sutherland (1813); R. Mackay, House and Clan of Mackay (1829); C. W. G. St John, Tour in Sutherlandshire (1849); Hugh Miller, Sutherland as it was and is. (1843); D. W. Kemp, Bishop Pococke's Tour in 1760 in Sutherland and Caithness (1888); Sir W. Fraser, The Sutherland Book (1893); A. Gunn and S. J. Mackay, Sutherland and the Reay Country (1897

Today

Sutherland is a croft county. The word "croft" comes from the Gaelic "croitean" meaning a small, enclosed field. Croft land ownerships and tenancies still exist, with complex regulations protecting crofters. The world headquarters for the Crofters Commission is in Inverness. There are also various crofting organizations including the Scottish Crofting Foundation which encourages crofters to look at realistic alternatives to traditional farming. Crofters have diversified into areas such as growing organic vegetables, bee-keeping and leisure activities for tourists.

It is the county that Andrew Carnegie made famous throughout North America and Europe when he lived here - mostly at Skibo Castle, shown below - in the early 20th century. But if you click to www.visithighlands.com/northern-scottish-highlands/ the map you see fails to show Brora or Golspie, Lairg and so many other places in Sutherland.

Rainfall can be as high as 118 inches a year on the west coast but can be far less, about 40 inches a year on average, on the east coast. April and May are usually the driest months. In winter, especially inland, blizzards can disrupt life for a day or two. Wind is the climatic factor for most people, especially north and west, and for the east coast too when it howls in from the west. But winters can be beautiful, with unusual crystalline colours in the short day.

Dornoch is the only large town, with usually the lowest rainfall. Of the other population centres, Brora, its neighbors Golspie to the south and Helmsdale to the north - once had much in common with the English county town of Stafford and the West Midlands. At that time, these three Sutherland areas comprised the most north and east parts of the huge Stafford and Sutherland Estates, with Brora the industrial heartland of Sutherland. Many streets in Brora and Helmsdale still have Stafford or Sutherland names.

Today, Sutherland has much to offer. It seems that because it is so far north, many people assume it is far colder than it really is. In fact, it is far less cold in winter than anywhere in New England, USA, but far less warm and humid than New England in summer.

HMS Sutherland, one of the Royal Navy's 16 Type 23 frigates, is named after and has very close, continuing links with Sutherland. She is the third ship of that name, the first in 1716, the second in 1741. She was given the Freedom of Sutherland in September 2004, a high honour. She was commissioned on 4th July 1997 after being built in 1996 at Yarrows shipyard on the Clyde, is 133 metres long, has a beam of 16.2 metres, a draught of 7.3 metres and a displacement of 3500 tonnes. She is crewed by 176 officers and men. She is heavily armed and her motto is Sans Peur - Without Fear. One of her favourite places in which to dock is at Loch Erribol, the deep sea loch near Durness.

Other Sutherland places with historical connections to this Sutherland include:

Sutherland, Scotland, organizations include

Other Sutherland facts

Places in Sutherland include

Assynt. See (Inchnadamph). Mountains here can get up to 118 inches of rain a year.

Badbea. About 7 miles north of Helmsdale. A 20 minute walk from the A9. See ruins of crofts at the Highland Clearance village.

Ben Bhraggie. Golspie. One of the many sites associated with the Highland Clearances, with a statue at the top of the Duke of Sutherland.

Berriedale. Has an interesting llama farm and in early summer, puffin colonies inhabit the shoreline.

Berriedale Braes. A section of the A9 to watch carefully with its steep gradients and hairpin bends.

Caithness & Sutherland Business Directory 2004. Free but if posted, £1 per copy plus p&p. From The Northern Times newspaper.

Castlehill. By Castletown. A heritage trail explains how the local flagstone industry started.

Castle Varrich. Overlooking Tongue. A former Viking stronghold, with a 50-metre bridge built in 1984 by the British Army. Visited by thousands every year, with bridge repaired in 2004.

Cultural and Leisure Services, Golspie.

01408 633033. Cultural organizations locally and regionally include the Sutherland Accordion & Fiddle Club and the Sutherland Caledonian Pipe Band (phone 01408 633571 or 633242).

Day Tripper.

01408 633993. 16-page full colour supplement of car trips and Forest Walks in the Northern Counties. Contact Louise Mackay, Northern Times, Golspie.

Durness. With Post Office at Durine and an exquisite beach area looking north.

Edderton. Old church of circa 1746 was recently restored, with unveiling of the Edderton Stone, a Pictish cross slab. Also of interest is the restored outdoor preaching ark.

Large village, with harbour, railway station and more. 12 miles north of Brora on the A9. Population 860. Local telephone area code is 01431. Once, Helmsdale Castle was here, a ruin by 1858, destroyed to make way for the A9. Claims to fame include Old Helmsdale Bridge 1809-1811, built by Thomas Telford. There is a distinctive War Memorial here, of 1924. Also see Timespan Heritage Centre & Art Gallery. Dunrobin Street, KW8 6AJ. Phone 01431 821327. Fax 01431 821058.

One of the local claims to fame is that world-famous and prolific novelist Barbara Cartland made this her favourite summer home for decades, brought her 2 sons here, frequented local shops. November 2004 news on the BBC that 160 previously unpublished books by her have now been discovered and published may help the village. For the many interested in this author, Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland was born in Edgbaston, West Midlands in 1901 and attended Malvern Girls' College and Abbey House, Netley Abbey, Hampshire. Her father was killed in Flanders in 1918 and the family subsequently moved to London where her mother opened a dress shop in Kensington. Cartland wrote the first of a long series of novels, 'Jig-Saw', at the age of 20 while she was working as gossip columnist for the Daily Express. It was published 1925 and was followed by a play, 'Blood Money'. In 1927 she married Alexander George McCorquodale but was later divorced from him, going on to marry Hugh McCorquodale, a cousin of her first husband, in 1936. During the Second World War, Cartland became Chief Lady Welfare Officer for Bedfordshire (1941-45). She was later a political speaker for the Conservatives, county councillor for Hertfordshire, chair of the St. John Council, deputy president of St. John Ambulance Brigade, and president of Hertfordshire branch of Royal College of Midwives as well as founding the National Association of Health in the 1960s. Cartland was also involved in campaigns for better conditions and salaries for women in nursing and improvements in the status of the elderly. In 1991 she was made Dame of the Order of the British Empire and by 1993 had sold over 600 million copies of her books, making her name synonymous with the romantic novel. She was also famous for her love of pink chiffon clothing and small dogs. She died on May 21, 2000, after a short illness.

Also see the Inchnadamph Bones Caves. A guided walk back in history to the time when polar bears roamed in Sutherland.

Kintradwell Broch. A drystone tower used as a Pictish fortification between 200 BC and 50 AD. Six miles north of Brora.

Lairg. Inland, 30 miles west of Brora. Lairg Mart has Europe's biggest one-day sale of lambs, a huge annual sale of North Country Cheviot ewe and wether lambs from the hills of Sutherland, every August (except in 2007 when it was September). It has another unique claim to fame as the host of the annual Lairg Crofters' Show, the only one of its kind left in the world. With Post Office on Main Street. It has a Lairg Local History Society. Gunn's Wood is on the west side, between the village and crofts, with delightful mature woodland. With the coldest temperatures in the country (once - 19C), averaging 1.1C in January and 12.3C in August, but with a few hot days.

Lochinver. North west Sutherland fishing port south east of Stoer. With Post Office.

Loth. Rural area between Brora and Helmsdale, with some interesting buildings including the Parish Kirk of 1822 built by the Marquis of Stafford and Countess of Sutherland and the Wolf Stone where the last wolf in Scotland was killed in about 1700. There is also a Loth War Memorial when opened by George, 5th Duke of Sutherland in February 1922. It was originally on the A9 on a dangerous bend but since April 2004 was relocated in the church cemetery grounds.

Moine Thrust. Not a geographic region but a geological one, a distinctive feature of north west Sutherland, running from Durness to Ullapool in Ross & Cromarty. Geology students are routinely brought here to study it. In 2004, Highland Council officials submitted a bid to have it gain European Geopark status. It was successful and the facility is now the first Geopark in Scotland.

Pictish towers. Monuments of the Picts - ancient Scots of the area and region, who most frightened the Romans and dyed their skins with woad. The Romans called them savages.

Scourie. Chiefly famous for Loch Duart, which won the gold medal for Best Food in Taste of Britain 2005. It has also won other awards. Its salmon are served by name at Wimbledon, by Gordon Ramsay and at the French Laundry in California, four times voted the world's top restaurant.

Scottarie. Strath Brora. A prehistoric and mediaeval settlement in pre-Clearance days.

A picturesque area east of Bonar Bridge. Most notable and of enormous interest to all from Pennsylvania in general and Pittsburgh in particular, is:

Skibo Castle, Clashmore, Dornoch. Sadly, not opened to the public, not even on one day a year as was the case until 2005, but an exclusive and hugely expensive private club no longer accepting members. Has lovely gardens. In the 980s it was the property of the Norse Vikings who built a fortress to protect their long-prowed boats of conquest. Once the residence of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Caithness and Sutherland, Gilbert de Moravia, later declared a saint, whose see was established at Dornoch in 1224. When the Reformation turfed out the Catholics, the property passed through many Protestant owners after 1565, such as the Grays, Dempsters and Sutherland-Walkers. It had one particularly famous moment in Scottish history in 1650 when the Marquis of Montrose spent two nights here under guard, after being captured following the battle of Carbisdale. At that time, owner Sir Robert Gray was also a prisoner, held in Edinburgh for supporting the Marquis. But Lady Gray, the former Jane Seton, was at the castle and, as hostess, caused a fierce scene when, at the dinner table, the Marquis was not allowed initially by his captors to seat in the place of honour. She threw a leg of mutton at the senior officer, Holbourn, and humiliated him and his uniform.

The most notable owner was Scots-born Andrew Carnegie - see photo attached, left - of Pittsburgh, PA, steel magnate and philanthropist, with his wife Louise and daughter Margaret Carnegie Miller, from spring 1898. He became world-famous for his Carnegie public libraries, symphony halls and institutions that included the International Court of Arbitration at the Hague, in Holland; Pan American Union in Washington, DC; and Central American Court of Justice in Costa Rica. The baronial house of 1880 that replaced and modernized the ancient castle became his Highland home until his death on August 11, 1919. He extended it with land acquired from the Duke of Sutherland. Louise (who died on June 24, 1956) last visited Skibo Castle in summer 1939. The castle still flies the Carnegie hybrid flag of the Union Jack and Stars and Stripes. Aultnagar Lodge, Lairg, was the private retreat he and his family owned and escaped to when they lived at Skibo Castle from 1898. ( Some of its furniture from Aultnagar Lodge is today at The Royal Marine Hotel in Brora, Sutherland). Photos to right by authors.
Most of the suites and bedrooms of the upper two floors of the castle were given names by Andrew Carnegie himself. Some were reflective of the region, such as Cracail, Evelix, Dornoch, Lagain, Laro, Migdale, Ospis and Struie. Others were named after certain illustrious figures who had played a part in the property's long history, such as St. Gilbert (of Moravia), Sigurd the Viking chieftain reportedly buried in the earth of Skibo. The most imposing suite was named for the first Marquis of Montrose who stayed there as a prisoner of the Scots Covenant Army. At Skibo Castle, breakfast of kippers, porridge and scrambled eggs for themselves and houseguests were eaten to the music of Haydn, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner. Dinners were sumptuous affairs. On the walls of the dining room were hung oil portraits of some of Carnegie's heroes, especially Benjamin Franklin, James Watt and Robert Burns. In the library specifically made to house them were magnificently-bound books Carnegie personally thought he paid far too much for. The Carnegie family brought royalty, statesmen, intellectuals, industrialists and politicians galore to see Skibo Castle and Sutherland and gave the county much fame. It still has the terraced gardens he built. They are outstanding, not open to the public. Margaret Carnegie Miller, daughter of Andrew and Louise Carnegie
The bulk of the property - 19,000 of 22,000 acres - was sold by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust in 1982 to Inverness-born Derek and June Holt, of Holt Leisure Parks Ltd. However, three of its farms, Fload, of 263 acres; Acharry, of 100 acres; and Creich, of 362 acres, remained in the hands of the Carnegie extended family. The property has since changed hands again and is now a private mansion-castle and residential golf and sporting club owned by Skibo Ltd, on 7,000 acres, much smaller than before but still a huge property by international standards. Its Carnegie Club Golf Course, 18 holes, is 6.671 yards, not long by modern standards but challenging. It hosted the 2004 Northern Open.

Strathsteven. Carn Liath broch. Guardianship Memorial, access at all times. On the main A9 road, seaward side, from Golspie to Brora. Of outstanding interest, as circa 100BC-100AD broch, only a few feet high now but once perhaps 30-40 feet high. A broch is a circular, double-skinned tower, of drystone masonry, thought to have been built as a coastal defensive farmstead, mostly in Highlands and Islands. Mural cells are built into the base wall thickness, with stairs rising between outer and inner walls. It has a single tunnel entrance was guarded by a small mural chamber.

Tongue. An angling and climbing centre in Sutherland, north of Ben Loyal. With Post Office. On the inland curve of the Kyle of Tongue. See the ruins of Caisteal Bharraich, once the home of an 11th century Norse king and then a Mackay stronghold. Tongue House, a 17th and 18th century building north of the village, is not the seat of the Dukes of Sutherland. Rather, it is the Scottish home of the Countess of Sutherland. (The Earldom, as an ancient Scottish title, can be inherited by a female, while the Dukedom, a more recent British title, goes in the male line. When the current Countess inherited the Earldom, a male relation of the previous Duke inherited the title of Duke).

Access by Public Transport

By bus (coach)

City Link - at phone 990 505050 - operates an Inverness to Thurso and Scrabster service (Route 958, from the Inverness Bus Station at phone 1463 233371. It stops five times a day at Tore, Evanton, Invergordon, Tain, Clashmore, Dornoch, Golspie, Brora (Fountain Square and stops by request at local bus stops on Victoria Road), Helmsdale, Berriedale, Dunbeath, Latheron, Lybster, Wick, Reiss, Killmster, Hastigrow, Castletown, Thurso, Scrabster, Stromness.

The Thurso to Inverness service stops five times a day. Exceptions are 25th December and 1st January when there are no services at all and 26th December and 2nd January when only one bus will operate in each direction.

By rail

Today, there is a direct but slow train service from Inverness, 4 times a day on weekdays, one each way on Sunday. Trains - usually two carriages - run on the Inverness to Thurso/Wick line several times a day and once on Sundays. They also carry Safeway cars for grocery deliveries. Train service is presently at an average speed of 25 miles per hour and the 160-mile Inverness to Thurso/Wick route currently takes from 3.5 to 4 hours. If implemented, the Dornoch rail link could cut the journey to 2.5 hours. But according to Frank Roach, development officer for the Highland rail network, there is very little chance of this happening in the next 50 years and at today's rate a rail bridge over the Dornoch Firth would cost at least £50 million. It takes 2 hours from Inverness via the scenic but convoluted S-bend system shown.

Southbound stops, from Thurso, are 3 or four times a day Monday-Saturday and once only on Sunday.

Member of Parliament

In the Highland parliamentary and voting constituency of Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Member of European Parliament

Members of the Scottish Parliament - for Sutherland

In the Highland parliamentary and voting constituency of Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Newspapers, local and regional

Daily

Press & Journal (Aberdeen, Highlands and Islands edition), only daily of the region. E-mail pj.editor@ajl.co.uk. For letters to Editor, include full name, address, postal code and phone number for verification.

Weekly

Post Offices

Local branch offices. Letters, parcels, not TV Licenses any longer due to increased stupidity from government. Summer opening hours are