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Snippets of History |
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Date/Era 1871, 2000 |
Topic Transport |
District Trotternish |
Person Norman Stewart Parnell, Seton Gordon |
| Norman Stewart of Bhaltos told the Napier Commission in 1883 that the people had no road although they paid road money. According to the testimony he gave at the schoolhouse in May 1883, a road had been erected around 1871 from 'the high road to the boundary at Bhaltos'. He said that 'the whole road as far as Bhaltos was made at the time of the destitution, and further it reached Lon fheàrna. It was made to Lon fheàrna by the Destitution Committee, but to the march of Bhaltos, it was finished by Captain Fraser.' Norman reported that with the exception of Captain Fraser's road, there was no other road in the district whatsoever of which people got the benefit. Following the foundation of the Congested Districts Board in 1897, however, the long work of putting roads to rural places began. Seton Gordon, who made his home at Monkstadt House in Kilmuir, was instrumental in bringing about better roads for the north of Skye. He was a friend of Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald. But with the year 2000 just round the corner, we still find our roads a cause for complaint. Specifically, we want a double track road all the way to Portree - that is from the Storr lochs to Portree. | |