Field Visit
Date 2008
Event ID 864928
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/864928
NC36NW 18 31983 69999 to 34999 68278
See also NC27SE 41, NC36NE 101 and NC37SW 26.
This road was constructed from 1828 to link a slipway on the Kyle of Durness (NC 3708 6603) with the newly-constructed lighthouse (NC27SE 3.00) at Cape Wrath. It went some way to ensuring that personnel and goods could be transported to the latter when the slipway at Clais Charnach (NC27SE 4) could not be used, though neither slipway was accessible in very bad weather. The road enters the southern part of mapsheet NC36NW on the steep S flank of Beinn an Duibhe and passes the site of missing milestone 8 (NC36NW 6) and crosses a broad peat-filled basin before reaching milestone 7 (NC36NW 5). Here, the road turns NW and traverses the foot of the S flank of Sgribhis-bheinn, crossing the Allt na Guaille by way of a small, single arch bridge (NC36NW 17).
The method by which the road has been constructed has been determined to a large extent by the topography but more than anything else by the extensive cover of peat across the Cape. On low-lying blanket bog the road-makers have had no alternative but to lay down a causeway and this probably explains the presence of a number of sizeable quarries along the route. Where the road has been able to contour along a slope, it has been constructed on a levelled terrace, where necessary, supported on its lower side by a stone revetment. At numerous points along the route there are culverts (CWTC08 69–92, 94–5, 147–54) and small quarries. The former are generally very well-built with drystone risers and stone slab lintels. Many of the quarries are likely to have been opened up when the road was constructed; most probably continued to supply material for road repairs; some may have been opened especially for that purpose after the road was constructed.
(CWTC08 69–92, 94–5, 147–54)
Visited by RCAHMS (JRS) 5 August 2008.
