JULY, 2004


It seems most everywhere we go we run into his name: on bridges, on canals, on roadways, on harbors. There are towns named after him in England and Pennsylvania. We had to find out more about this man whose path we—and Home at First guests to England, Scotland, Wales, and Sweden—so often cross, the man the called "The Colossus of Roads".

THOMAS TELFORD didn’t invent the Industrial Revolution, but he was its first great star, a star of the order of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Bill Gates. He was the most glamorous and most sought after civil engineer of his time. He made engineering into a science and an art. He helped invent modern times, literally paving the way into the future. Like Elvis prepared the world for the Beatles, Telford caught the public’s imagination, making public acceptance easy for the geniuses that followed, especially Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
          Telford was a lowlands Scot, born August 9, 1757, near Langholm, Dumfries & Galloway, a few miles from the English border, and mid-way between dramatic Hermitage Castle and the ill-fated town of Locherbie. In this region where sheep vastly outnumber people, Telford was the son of a poor shepherd, and helped support the family as a shepherd until becoming an apprentice stonemason at 14. From the family farm at Bentpath (west of the A7 on the B709 in Eskdale), Telford’s path led to Scotland, England, Wales, and Sweden, and always went uphill. The path led ultimately to Westminster Abbey, where Telford, who died September 2, 1834, aged 77, was buried among the great kings and citizens of Britain.
          Along the way, the path of Thomas Telford crossed many paths familiar to us at Home at First. Join us as we journey with Telford to some of the fascinating destinations we share.

Edinburgh: In his early twenties Telford left home for Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh. During this time — King George III was on the throne, and the American Revolution was still raging — Edinburgh was one of the great cultural and learning centers of the world, ground zero of the intellectual flowering now called the Scottish Enlightenment. Edinburgh was also the Calcutta of its day — the world’s most densely populated city, gaining its nickname of "Auld Reekie" for its inability to cope with the problems of unbridled growth. When Edinburgh’s town fathers decided to expand the city by filling in a loch below the castle and building New Town, Telford was one of the many artisans brought to do the job. The project transformed Edinburgh into the city visitors admire today, with the majestic old capital perched on its hilltop veined with a maze of roads and alleyways, and the New Town lining its sensible grid of streets in the sophisticated, planned community below. The Old Town is full of history, pomp, and shopping, with the

Princes Street Gardens at
the base of the Castle connect
Edinburgh's Old Town with
its New Town.
Photo © Greg Elwell
(used with permission)

The whitewashed rows of
sturdy Georgian inns and
shops by the harbor at
Thomas Telford's Ullapool
in northwestern Scotland.
Photo © Home At First

military roads to suppress the rebellious Jacobites after Bonny Prince Charlie’s uprisings of 1745-6. Over the next 20 years Telford oversaw the building of almost 1,000 miles of roads with more than 100 bridges, plus numerous harbors, docking facilities and, importantly, the Caledonian Canal. This work, making it possible to sail across (rather than around) Scotland, and avoid treacherous weather and currents, must be considered one of Telford’s great achievements. The canal connected the Atlantic coast of West Central Scotland at Ft. William with the Moray Firth and the North Sea at Inverness in the northeast, and followed a natural fissure line — already partly navigable with Scottish lochs, including famous Loch Ness — called the Great Glen. The Caledonian Canal was an instant failure. It did not attract the commercial shipping expected. But today, 180 years later, the Caledonian Canal has become a great commercial success, drawing pleasure craft, hikers, cyclists, and other tourists to what was once an inaccessible region rich in Highlands scenery. Home at First guests from Central Scotland and Inverness and the North can easily trace the canal by car, and keep an eye out for the Loch Ness Monster while doing so (Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle pictured at right). Like easy walking in classic Highlands scenery? Try walking portions of the 70+ mile long Great Glen Way follows the canal’s towpath all the way from Ft. William to Inverness.

        The harbor at Ullapool and canal in the Great Glen were two major works that changed northern Scotland. But it Telford’s network of roadways, several emanating from the town of Dingwall by the Cromarty Firth, that really opened up the north to transportation. Dingwall — closest market town to Home at First’s Northern Highlands Cottages in Ross-shire — has been an important crossroads since the Viking invasions of 800AD and Shakespeare’s real life King Macbeth was born there 200 years later. Telford recognized Dingwall’s centrality by making it the hub for roads departing in all directions: south to Inverness, east to the Black Isle and Cromarty, west to the coast at Ullapool, and north to the end of Britain at John o’ Groats. When, a

Loch Ness — largest in Scotland — is one
of 3 natural inland bodies of water
Thomas Telford connected with his
Caledonian Canal to cross Scotland
from the Atlantic to the North Sea.
Photo © Home At First

generation later, railways came to the region, Dingwall’s centrality made it the logical junction point for lines north, south and west. Dingwall is no less important as a regional market town and transportation center today. In Northern Scotland, Dingwall is Rome — all roads (and railroads) continue to lead there.

Colorful Tobermory harbor, Isle of Mull,
another Telford fishing settlement that
has become a tourist mecca in Scotland.
Photo © Home at First

Central Scotland: Among the public works Telford built before or during the first two decades of the 19th century were several noteworthy projects in Central Scotland, including the 1793 arched "Bridge across the Atlantic" at Seil Island near Oban, and the Tobermory harbor on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides. Home At First Central Scotland guests easily visit the former on a day trip covering the West Coast of Scotland between Oban and Ft. William. (Stop for a bite at the Tigh an Truish Inn just across the bridge on Seil Island. It’s the place where island Highlanders changed from their kilts to pants

Duart Castle, is another reason besides
Telford's Tobermory to visit Isle of Mull.
Photo © Home At First