Breadalbane Heritage Society

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Breadalbane Heritage Society

On 23 November there was an almost over-full house in Grandtully Village Hall for Colin Liddell’s vividly illustrated and most informative talk on George Wade’s second road north, from Crieff via Aberfeldy through to Dalnacardoch.

With technical help from Russel Wills, Colin set a map beside a relevant photo and, as the talk progressed, the audience increasingly felt it was accompanying him on his route. At the same time there was much detail about Wade’s construction of his roads and bridges, and sections of the road still surviving which could be explored on foot. Though Thomas Telford built a much more extensive network, George Wade was the first to build roads in the difficult and inhospitable Highlands.

Colin gave some historical background about the deep divisions in Scotland after the Union of the Crowns including five uprisings,

the last followed by appalling reprisals; a commentator on Culloden said ‘the Ten Commandments were suspended.’ General Wade spent five months in Scotland in 1724, became Commander of Forces in North Britain, and for 15 years his summers were north of the border working on forts and building 250 miles of roads and 28 bridges.

The work parties had 100 men, who were called ‘highwaymen’. They were unskilled but each man achieved one metre of road per day. In the summer of 1730 forty-four miles of road were completed. As Wade spent his winters in Bath (he was the city’s MP) he did not appreciate fully the effect of winter spate and floods on his bridges, some of which had to be rebuilt. In Glen Cochill his road was constructed on wet, boggy ground and four extra bridges were necessary.

Amulree Hotel, with its date of 1714 was a King’s House on the road. We learnt that there was an important tryst at Amulree, and the inn would also have been well-known to the drovers. Camps for the ‘highwaymen’ were at 10-mile intervals and included Tummel Bridge, Trinafour and Dalnacardoch. The road crosses the moors before dropping down to meet the Dunkeld road and one hopes the men would have been able to rest briefly on their shovels and admire the superb view. When the Great North Road was completed in 1729 there was a celebratory ox-roast. It appears to have been quite a party for General Wade returned to his ‘hutt’ near Dalnacardoch and wrote ‘these five days I have continued here have set me on my legs again’!

The large audience greatly appreciated having a local speaker, especially one with a deep knowledge of and enthusiasm for such an interesting local subject. One certainly appreciated Wade’s huge achievement, which was continued by his assistant, Major Caulfeild over the next 30 years. Colin Liddell’s talk will encourage many to look with new eyes at our landscape for signs of a Wade road.

The next meeting will be on Friday, 25 January at 7.30 pm in Grandtully Village Hall. The speaker will be Steven Timoney from Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust, who will talk on the discovery in 2001 and-excavation of the Carpow Bronze Age Logboat in the Tay Estuary.