Publication Account
Date 1995
Event ID 1016698
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016698
The Mound is a great earthen embankment faced with stone on the seaward side, and with a bridge at its north end, that carries the parliamentary road across the upper end of Loch Fleet. It acts as a tide barrier, stopping the sea some 2.5km short of its natural tidal limits. The bridge has four arches planned by Thomas Telford, and two others added by Joseph Mitchell in 1837, all fitted with wooden non-return Bap valves that allow the river to run out bur prevent sea-water returning upriver. At certain times the Baps are opened mechanically to allow salmon to swim upriver. Above this barrier what was a salty, tidal river is now fresh water, and many acres formerly Booded at high tide have been reclaimed.
The Mound was part of the works carried out on the parliamentary road from Inverness to Wick and Thurso. Telford had intended to build new ferry piers for the Little Ferry, at the mouth of Loch Fleet. It was William Young, then factor to the Sutherland estates, who suggested a causeway across the head of the estuary, which Telford designed and which was built with local labour. It was constructed between 1814 and 1816, and took longer and cost more than expected, as with many similar projects. Young wrote on 3rd June 1816 as the last breach was about to be filled 'We are all prepared to battle the sea with 600 men. Walklate is brewing 30 hogsheads of ale and the Baker is getting 40 Boils of Meal converted into Bread, for the people must be fed'. After many difficulties, the work was completed, and the Countess of Surterland crossed the Mound on 26th June 1816 'carriage and all '.
In 1900 Telford's embankment was utilized for the Dornoch Light Railway, a branch line from the Mound Station to Dornoch, which was closed in 1960. Two piers of the railway bridge stand in the iver upstream from the road bridge. The Mound Station (NH 775983), built in 1877 for the Sutherland Railway, survives as a private house by the railway embankment near the bridge. The wooden piles in the water are to prevent ice damaging the bridge.
There are information boards in the carpark at the north end of the Mound. The road here was realigned during major roadworks in 1990. The Fleet estuary is a nature reserve and many birds can be seen.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Highlands’, (1995).
