The Immeasurable Wilds: Travellers to the Far North of Scotland

A Lowland Sketchbook by Elizabeth Dodds, 1871

My website is mainly concerned with the far north of Scotland, but I can't resist adding images from a lovely little sketchbook by Elizabeth Dodds. It is typical of the high standard of artwork that women, in particular, aspired to during the Victorian era, and it contains one or two paintings that are of perticular interest. For example, this one:

Titled Fire at Glasgow nr. Bridge St. Station, 9th July 1872 it depicts a fearsome blaze that occured in a flour mill, killing 18 people. It feels particularly topical given the recent fire near Central Station.

And here is another interesting image, though I am not entirely sure what it depicts.

It appears to be titled 18th March 1871, Grange house Hall ?? Is this the Grange House, near Bo'ness, Fife that was eventually demolished in 1906?

As you can see, the sketchbook was bought in Edinburgh. It is not clear if that was where she lived, but ephemera supplied with the sketchbook shows that she died on 6th December, 1925 and, I think, was buried in Dunfermline. There are sketches of the Edinburgh area.

A rough sketch of the Edinburgh skyline from                  The Bass Rock.

The Crags.

Dirleton Castle, 31 Aug.1872.

But she was clearly drawn to the Highland scenery around Loch Lomond.

Ben Lomond and Inveruglas I[sland] and Castle29 June 1871. A headquarters of Clan MacFarlane, the Chief was forced to abandon it after Cromwellian forces bombarded it in 1654.

So too, the mountains of Arran.

Arran from Millport, 13 Sept. 1878.

Millport                                                                                           Untitled, probably a pen-and-ink sketch of                                                                                                               Millport.

                                                       She appears to have climbed Goatfell on Arran.

Pt of View from top of Goatfell.

Other places she sketched:

Largo Bay, 16 July 1872.                                                                   The Bass Rock from Largo Bay, 16 July 1872

Wemyss Bay Pier, 9 July 1872.

Thurs. 18 July. Pitcruvie Castle, nr. Largo.

I got excited when I saw this lovely sketch of Georgetown, thinking it might be in Caithness, but I think it is the Georgetown on the Isle of Man

And to finish, some of her companions, painted 17 July, 1872, presumably when she was staying at Largo.

There are more images in the sketchbook. She visited the Lake District, for example, with a view of Wast Water, but this selection gives you a flavour of a beautifully drawn record of excursions in the 1870s.