Ships, trains, ... but probably not automobiles!.....

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:47 pm

I have often wondered how the folk from the highlands in my tree travelled south? Its not a short journey and in the mid-late 1800s must have seemed a world away... distance-wise and the lifestyle contrast between the Highlands and Edinburgh or Glasgow.

For instance, my gr gr grandmother Lilias Smith moved south to Edinburgh between the 1861 census in Fearn, Easter Ross (when she was aged 14) and 1869 when she married in Edinburgh. (Domestic Servant at 11 Carlton Street, Edinburgh at the time of her marriage) What interests me is how exactly did she travel to Edinburgh? It seems likely she and her younger brother Hugh Rose Smith may have travelled together as he also ends up in Edinburgh. Either that, or she went south first and he followed. Can't find Hugh in the 1871 (he's not with Lily, his brother Andrew or his mum...but he's in Edinburgh by 1879, at 77 Cumberland Street) And, did they travel south then find employment as a rule or is it more likely she'd have gone as a result of an advertisement for a domestic servant?

The train came to Tain, Easter Ross in 1864 according to"Tain through the Centuries", Munro & Munro or 1868 according "The Lowland Highlanders", Alan GR Robertson so this method of transport is a possibility, however I believe there may also have been the option of travelling on the regular ships between Invergordon & Portmahomack and Leith, that is, if they took passengers, I'm not sure. Inverness might also have been a departure point as I believe there were sailings from there to Leith. Does anyone know how they were likely to have travelled? -many of Lilias' cousins travelled south too - some to Edinburgh and some to Glasgow, and her youngest brother Andrew went as far as Yorkshire by 1877, having been in Easter Ross in 1871.

Any thoughts on likely modes of transport welcomed.
Best wishes
Lesley

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:48 pm

Lesley

Have a Google for "Wade Roads" ............ and the Crinan and Caledonian canals .................

David

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:45 pm

David
I did a Google and ended up with your article on TS! Talk about taking a along way round...
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic. ... wade+roads

However, the map link in your article now leads to a death entry. Any chance you could repost the map please? As far as I can make so far out Lily would have had to have travelled to Inverness first if she was to take advantage of General Wades roads - does this seem right? (The last stage coach from Inverness to Thurso was apparently 1874 according to Alan GR Robertson "The Lowland Highlanders".)

Best wishes
Lesley

However, the map link in your article now leads to a death entry. Any chance you could repost the map please?
Map link revised - AndrewP

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:40 pm

Hi Lesley

My gt-gt-gts were from Caithness yet they and many other folk from that area seemed to travel freely between there and Edinburgh. Great fleets of fishing boats sailed out of Wick harbour up and down the East and West coasts (of England too). The guttin' lassies followed the trawlers and drifters. If you look at some marriages you wonder how they got together in the first place but they were surprisingly mobile years ago.

Many of the non-perishable supplies for the local shops around that coast were shipped up from the port of Leith and many of the Caithness & Sutherland folk ended up in Edinburgh. My gt-gt-uncle even studied medicine at Edinburgh university.

Many of the boats had fairly flat bottoms so that they could be beached while their cargo was unloaded on islands where there was no harbour. This led to the development of the Clyde Puffer (of Para Handy fame)
The sea may have been higher risk but you usually got there quicker than overland

Russell