1896 Ordnance Survey Map Kyle of Tongue, Revised 1st Edition: Spot the Difference!
Ordnance Survey Map, sheet 114, published in 1896.
I have been looking at an Ordnance Survey map, sheet 114 titled 'Tongue.' The area was surveyed in 1872, and the first edition sheet was issued in 1880. This map is an edition that was revised in 1894, and published in 1896. One might have thought that there can be few parts of Great Britain that have changed less over the past 120 years, but look hard and one can see a number of differences when comparing the sheet to that of a modern edition.
Clearly, the causeway from Tongue across the Kyle to Melness is not marked, as this was only completed in 1972. Instead, 'Tongue Ferry' is marked, and, interestingly, another marked from the western pier over a short distance to the sandbank. Perhaps this was to aid collecting shellfish: a large expanse of sand is revealed at low tide on the Kyle of Tongue, and it was a much-visited destination from all over the north of Scotland, especially at times of famine.
Other features to note on this small detail of the map include the coastguard station in Tongue (no longer there), and the Smithy in Melness. My parents lived in a house on the hill opposite the Ard Skinid. I don't think it is marked on this map.
The map in general marks a fair number of 'Broughs' (Brochs, presumably). The modern OS map is a little more specific. The 'Brough' below Melness House, for example, is now called a 'hut circle'. The small multi-sided lodge that stands at the beginning of the causeway when one is travelling west is just visible. When the Duke was in residence in Tongue House, a flag would be raised at this lodge, which was an invitation to the local population to bring produce to the house that they wanted to sell.
William Daniell's aquatint of The Kyle of Tongue, c1820. Tongue House is visible on the left, and the little lodge lies beneath Ben Loyal towards the right. People are gathering shellfish on the shore, and the flag at the lodge is flying.
At the bottom of the Kyle, the road from Tongue is marked as a second-class road until it reaches Kinloch House. As it turns back heading north, it becomes an unmetalled road for a short distance until it draws level with Lochan na Saille, at which point it peters out into a footpath that leads up to Tongue Ferry. Needless to say, the road is now made up all the way round the Kyle.
To the north, it is to be observed that there is no small harbour constructed at Talmine at this time. I went online to see if there was a history of the harbour, and Lo! there was a report of a question recorded in Hansard in 1896: the Lord Advocate was asked by the MP for Sutherland, Mr J McLeod, what news there was of the planned harbour works at Talmine. The answer was that very little had happened in that respect "almost entirely due to delay on the part of the contractor." The proposal was that a wall should be built out from the mainland to Eilean Creagach, and that is what you will find there now. Quite when it was eventually constructed I do not know.
In 1896, the largest island that lies at the mouth of the Kyle of Tongue, here Eilean nan Ron, was inhabited, and the houses are clearly marked on the map. The remains of these houses can still be visited.
Going west from Tongue, the road crosses the boggy Moine, that proved so difficult for travellers before the Duke built the road in 1830. Moine House was built as a shelter for travellers. The road shown on this map passes with the house on the right. The present road has it on the left, and also takes Loch Maolly on the left, rather than the right as shown here.
Proceeding on down towards Loch Eriboll, a ferry is marked at the top of Loch Hope, where now there is a bridge.
Another thing to note is the lighthouse marked west of Ben Heilem. This is now an automatic model that is not required to be manned. It is the third lighthouse to have been built on the site. Below is a photo of the first, which was constructed in 1894, just before this map was published.
At Loch Eriboll, the ferry at Heilem is marked. This was an important crossing, though there was a road that followed the loch all the way to Durness by the time this map was published. The days must have been numbered for the ferry by 1896, though it did save a long trek around the loch. The pier was round the back of the little isthmus Ard Neackie, and the boat berthed at Portnancon on the west side of Eriboll.
The ferry at Heilem was well-known, but I was interested to see another marked on the map, called the Eriboll Ferry which went from Portnancon over to Inveran. Presumable this was an alternative route for the Heilem ferry.
The Dun (a fort) which is marked at An t Sron is now marked as a Broch on the OS map.
Other small ferries can be found on the map, such as that at marked at the very bottom of Loch Hope. One wonders just how often the ferryman was troubled!
Anyone who knows the area better than I do will, I am sure, find further differences. I would always be interested to hear about anything that anyone finds (greywings89@gmail.com).
But perhaps the most interesting feature of this map is found at the top of Ben Hutig (here Beinn Thutaig). It lies to the north of the Moine, and with its splendid 360 degree view, it was the most northerly station used by the Ordnance Survey, as early as 1820, in the days of General Colby. The remains of a shelter wall can still be found at the summit, a relic from when the viewpoint was used by the Survey. Here, on this map, it is marked "Great Instrt. (Instrument) Station". Apparently this is the only mountain on Scottish maps of the Ordnance Survey to be given such a label!
The footpath visible on this detail runs the entire length of this map, crossing the road just west of Moin House, and passing to the east underneath Ben Hope.