Sutherland: Vignettes of Landscape and Passion
Written: May 27 '00 (Updated May 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Rich history, scenic beauty, long stretches of beach along the North Sea
Cons: Old social passions resting just beneath the surface
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| DAnneC's Full Review: Scotland |
[Noble prerogatives and popular memory of past abuses both continue to play a role in modern Scottish life. The case in point is the Sutherland family of Golspie, Sutherlandshire, on the northern mainland of Scotland.]
North of the market town of Dornoch, on the A9 just beyond the village of Golspie, the spires and turrets of Dunrobin Castle rise above the North Sea like an illustration from a story book. Dunrobin is the ancestral seat of the lairds of Sutherland, and since the 13th century, successive additions and reconstructions by Sutherland ancestors have transformed Dunrobin from a medieval fortress into a private "country home" with 189 rooms. Its location on a high terrace above magnificent walled gardens adjacent to the North Sea make for a stunningly dramatic setting.
Over the centuries, the Sutherland estate (with Dunrobin as its seat) has been the source of great political power and considerable wealth. Indeed, the lords of Dunrobin (first as earls, then as dukes) once owned much of the Scottish mainland north of Inverness. By the end of the 19th century, the Third Duke of Sutherland was the largest landowner in all of western Europe. During the Jacobite rebellion that culminated in the battle of Culloden Moor (1746), the family sided with the English crown against Bonnie Prince Charlie. In terms of the politics of power, this was a smart move. With regard to popular regard, however, it added to a long list of grudges for which the "common people" still hold the Sutherlands accountable.
Our visit to Dunrobin included only a tour of the gardens and a museum located in the estate's gardenhouse. (We had arrived just moments too late to join the last tour of the day for the castle itself.) We were fascinated by the gardens. They are quite simply spectacular, and we wondered what it must be like to count these gardens against their North Sea backdrop as a private reserve. The museum, in addition to family memorabilia and trophies from hunting expeditions long past, boasts a respectable collection of Pictish and early Christian artifacts. Various scions of the Sutherland family had been interested in local archeology and during the 19th century had overseen the excavation of several important sites. I was both fascinated and appalled by the archeological finds displayed in the gardenhouse:
~ Fascinated because I was interested in visiting some of the sites excavated by the Suntherlands, and therefore I was in the family's debt for the pioneering efforts of its forebears;
~ Appalled because I knew that the crude techniques and proprietary attitudes of those noble amateurs had probably resulted in the careless handling and destruction of many artifacts and that much potentially important knowledge associated with these sites had been lost forever.
Nearby Cairn Liath, the remains of a Bronze Age broch (or fortified tower), is among those sites originally excavated by the Sutherlands. Like Dunrobin, Cairn Liath is located on a natural terrace overlooking the North Sea. Surrounded by pastureland that leads directly down to a pristine beach, this large circular stone structure—with its surviving entrance passage, lintelled doorway, thick stone walls, and an ancient stone stairway—had been inhabited for several centuries by dozens of successive generations. In its time, it had been a key stronghold protecting the people of the region and it had done so for far longer than the Sutherlands have occupied their fortress at Dunrobin.
The turrets of Dunrobin Castle are clearly visible from Cairn Liath. Also visible is the Sutherland Monument on nearby Ben (Mount) Vraggie. Dedicated to the memory of the first Duke of Sutherland, the monument was erected by his grieving widow in 1834. Although a plaque on the base of the monument declares the Duke's good works, history remembers him as the primary architect of the so-called "clearances," which deprived thousands of crofters (small farmers) of their homes and contributed significantly to the waves of Scottish emigrants who eventually settled in North America, Australia, and elsewhere.
Indeed, the clearances are likely to be the real source of most of the continuing local displeasure with the Sutherlands. Modern Scots periodically demand that the Sutherland Monument be destroyed and replaced by a more fitting memorial to those who were displaced by the First Duke's actions. It is a measure of the Sutherland family's continuing influence that the monument remains in place despite this popular grumbling. Today, it is not unheard of for local people to depart in protest if a ranking member of the Sutherland family enters the same shop or public room. It is clear that even at the turn of the 21st century, noblesse oblige can be a heavy mantle.
Recommended:
Yes
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DAnneC
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Location: Small Town America
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Loves history, travel, gardens, and words in general
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