Breadalbane Heritage Society

Old Ways and New Roads : Roads, Bridges, Landscapes and New Towns on the Highland Circuit 1720-1832

Christopher’s talk will look at the development of transport in the Highlands of Scotland between the building of the first military roads in the 1720s and the arrival of railways in the 1830s. 

This was a period of rapid change in the Highland landscape, involving the building of bridges, the diversion of roads and the establishment of new settlements along the route followed by the ever-increasing number of tourists who followed a circuit through the Southern Highlands which took in the great designed landscapes associated with Inveraray Castle, Taymouth Castle, Blair Castle and Dunkeld House.  Consideration will be given to the partnership which developed between landowners and the Government in these ventures.  

With the help of archival material from the National Records of Scotland, particular attention will be paid to the impact of these developments on the Taymouth Castle estate.  

After spending five years as an outdoor studies tutor at Kindrogan Field Centre in Strathardle, and ten years as Education Officer with the Dundee Museums and Art Galleries, Christopher Dingwall has worked for more than thirty years as an independent landscape historian and heritage consultant with a special interest in Scotland’s gardens and designed landscapes.  

He is currently Vice Chairman of Scotland’s Garden and Landscape Heritage, having spent twelve years as Conservation Officer with the Garden History Society in Scotland from 1992 to 2004.  

Among other things he was co-author of the report on the Taymouth Castle designed landscape, commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage in 1996.  He is author of a chapter in the book Old Ways New Roads : Travels in Scotland 1720-1832, published by Birlinn in 2021, on which this talk is based.