Bridges Connecting Maryburgh And Conon ⋆ Ross and Cromarty Heritage

Bridges Connecting Maryburgh And Conon

Attribution: S. Fraser (Maryburgh Primary School March 2015)

A River with many bridges

Over the years there have been several bridges crossing between Maryburgh and Conon Bridge. These have ranged from a bridge by Thomas Telford to a metal bridge containing utility pipes.

Remnants of old with new in the background.

Attribution: unknown

History of the Railway Bridge

RCHS is grateful to the Editor of the Ross-shire Journal for permission to reproduce the article which appeared in the edition of 8 June 2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of that section of the Highland Railway.

In January 1859 Alexander Matheson convened a meeting of interested parties to discuss the building of a railway from Inverness to Dingwall. Matheson was a director of Jardine Matheson which traded between India and China.

He and his uncle James, one of the founders, both made fortunes and were able to purchase Highland estates. Alexander owned Ardross, near Alness.

After Queen Victoria and Prince Albert purchased Balmoral, the Scottish Highlands became a popular tourist destination. The landed gentry liked to travel each summer for their Scottish estates along with their retinue, so good communications were essential for them as well as for the local population who were able to benefit from the employment provided.

The indigenous landowners were also keen on the railway as they realised this was an opportunity for them to develop the resources of their estates for export such as wood, fish, grain and whisky.

The Dingwall Town Council was very enthusiastic about a railway. Its citizens had either to walk or ride on horseback to Inverness or rely on the stagecoach. From there, they were able to get a train to Aberdeen and travel further south if they wished.

The directors asked Joseph Mitchell, the engineer for the railway eastwards along the coast to Keith, to carry out a survey. He and his assistants, William and Murdoch Paterson

The plaque on the Maryburgh side of the rail bridge commemorates the opening of the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway on 11 June 1862. It lists the directors of the company, the civil engineer and the contractor.

Attribution: [Photo courtesy of Douglas Chisholm.]

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Maryburgh » Maryburgh Places » Maryburgh Residential

Grant Crescent.

The Macrae Estate. This is a large estate of 100-plus houses, mostly detached, built by Macrae in 1968-72. There are four streets in the estate: Rosshill Drive, Grant Crescent, Stuarthill Drive and Muirden Road.

Aerial photograph of Maryburgh taken on 16 August 1963

This aerial photograph shows Maryburgh in the early 1960s before any housing had been built on what became the Macrae estate, Wrightfield Park, the riverside field adjacent to Wrightfield farm, and Mackenzie Place.. Proby Place houses have been built but not the Amenities Centre. The former A9 winds its way across the Telford bridge and the railway line across the adjacent bridge. The trees on 'the Avenue' have all been cut down, so perhaps Wrightfield Park was contemplated? [Photo courtesy of Mrs Rosemary Henderson]

Map of Maryburgh in 1972

Map of Maryburgh in 1972 (Courtesy of Mrs Rosemary Henderson)

Laburnum

Seaforth Place

Seaforth Place is a crescent containing mainly traditional red sandstone cottages with a few wooden clad Swedish style houses built in the 1950s.

The wooden clad Swedish style houses.

Drewellis (at one time the village inn)

Peartree Cottage (1824) the oldest house in the village.

Sunnyholm (1828)

The Tollhouse.

The Tollhouse. This octagonal building is situated at the Maryburgh end of Thomas Telford's bridge (demolished and replaced by the "new" bridge) and was extended in the 1960s by its then owner, Robert Dougal, using stone from the demolished ice house adjacent to the property.

Birch Drive

Birch Drive has been developed in stages. The entrance to the estate is at the top of Hood Street, past the football field.

Birch Drive

Birch Drive has been developed in stages. The entrance to the estate is at the top of Hood Street, past the football field.

Grant Crescent.

Hood Street looking up the hill from Proby Street.

The entrance to Mackenzie Place.

Some of the 30-plus houses in Mackenzie Place

Ussie Mills

Proby Place is a small row of houses leading off from Proby Street.

Proby Street looking east from entrance to Seaforth Place.

Proby Street looking west from Albert Place.

Rosshill Drive.

Winter view from Dunglass Road.

Some of the Wrightfield Park houses showing the landscaped bank between the houses and the main road.

Wrightfield Park is an estate of 50 houses built at the western end of the village between the railway bridge and the Conon bridge. The design of the estate won architectural awards at the time of construction.

The west end of Wrightfield Park after crossing the Conon bridge.

Farm steading on Hood Street (adjacent to Peartree Cottage)

Albert Place

Albert Place is a small row of terraced cottages at the entrance to the village from the direction of Dingwall. The white gable end is that of the "other" village shop (now a private dwelling). The yellow sign on the building is a result of a community campaign against the building of a land raising "superdump" at Tollie. This was the R.A.T.S. (Ross-Shire Against Tollie Superdump) campaign. the campaign was successful and the council voted against allowing the superdump to proceed.

Next to Glencanisp is Hermanville, outside which stood the village pump where residents would gather to fill buckets and have a "bleather".

Glencanisp

SeaforthPl02.jpg