Scottish Highlands Heritage for Tourism

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Scottish Highlands Heritage for Tourism

Do you live in the Scottish Highlands and have a passion for where you live? Do you want to show off where you live? Our course starts in September 2024!

Embark on a uniquely enriching journey as you delve into the heart of the Highlands, exploring its rich heritage and captivating tourism landscape. Our CertHE Highland Heritage for Tourism course not only immerses you in the cultural tapestry of this iconic region but also imparts invaluable real-life skills and tour guiding expertise. While tour guide training is a significant component, the emph

asis extends to cultivating skills that are transferable across a spectrum of roles, including leadership, adaptability, teamwork, communication, and problem-solving, all of which are indispensable within the hospitality, cultural, heritage, and tourism sectors. Gain a good understanding of Scotland's historical roots, its current socio-cultural landscape, and the trends shaping its future in the tourism industry and, through examination of the evolution of Scotland's heritage, develop a holistic perspective that will enhance your ability to contribute meaningfully to the sector. Glean insights directly from industry experts who bring their wealth of experience to the forefront of your learning experience. This isn't just a programme: it's a transformative exploration where you not only discover the essence of the Highlands but also acquire tangible, transferable skills that elevate your understanding of heritage and tourism, setting you on a path towards professional excellence. Uncover the secrets of the Highlands with us, where every lesson is a step towards a remarkable future in the world of tourism and heritage.

24/05/2024

The Battle of Glenshiel was fought on the 10th June 1719 between Highland Jacobites, supported by Spanish troops, under the Marquis of Tullibardine, and Government troops, supported by Dutch and Swiss, under General Wightman. The Jacobites were defeated.

Advancing from the west, the Jacobites took up a position at the narrowest part of the gorge, where they threw a barricade across the road and erected stone breastworks on the face of Spanish Hill - named after the Spanish troops who manned them - to the north of the road. Traces of these breastworks still remain. The remainder of the Jacobite army defended the hillock opposite Spanish Hill on the south side of the river.

Wightman's troops, approaching from the east, had little difficulty in driving the Jacobites back from these positions and scattering them in retreat. This battle prevented the projected Jacobite uprising. Only three officers - one British and two Dutch - and 18 men were killed on the Government side, and Jacobite losses were even lighter. The grave of the one British Officer, Captain Downes of Montague's Regiment, is by the river, on the south side and just above the gorge. Local tradition maintains two burial places for the Spanish dead - Eilean nan Gall (NG 9320) and by the old church at Clachan Duich, which the Jacobites had used as a hospital.

The Google map marker is in the wrong position in the map.

The Highlands are full of stories. Join us to find out more. Starting September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

22/05/2024

Willie MacRae is remembered for his mysterious death, in which his car crashed in a remote part of the Highlands and he was found shot in the head with a revolver. The official verdict was undetermined. A memorial was raised at the spot where he went off the road. Was it murder?

The Highlands are filled with stories. Join us to learn more. Starting September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

20/05/2024

Travelling along the A82 on the banks of Loch Ness, you might notice odd nets attached to the rock. These debris flow barriers or catch nets have been designed to contain materials that may fall from the slopes above you. When the road was being upgraded and extended, dynamite was used which destabilised some areas of the rock face. Tree planting has gone a long way towards restabilising the ground, but as the trees have grown to maturity and some have been felled, the land once again is free to start moving. These nets are there to keep the road open.

Transport Scotland are always trying to keep the roads in the Highlands open, with innovations such as the landslide debris catch-pit construction on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful road pictured here.

Learn about our region, course starts in September. The Highlands are full of stories.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

17/05/2024

Known by her call sign R for Robert, a Wellington N2980 Bomber training aircraft went down in Loch Ness on New Year’s Eve 1940. Flying a navigational training exercise, the Wellington lost power in one of its two engines, in near blizzard-like conditions. The weather conditions made her difficult to manoeuvre and she was rapidly losing altitude, so the pilot took the decision to force a landing. Visibility was so poor he could see no clear land, but could clearly see the large body of Loch Ness. This prevented possible civilian casualties or landing in a hilly or forested terrain.

The pilot ordered everyone bar himself and the co-pilot to bail out, but one crew member died in his escape attempt when his parachute snagged on the aircraft’s wing, and therefore failed to open properly. They ditched opposite Urquhart Castle, and managed to scramble across the wing and into a rubber dinghy before she began to sink. The pilot and co-pilot escaped unharmed, and flagged down a passing lorry on the road, which gave them a lift in to Inverness to take in the new year! They were obviously unaware of their colleague’s loss.

The name ‘The Lady of the Loch’ was given during the recovery operation.

She now lives in Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey.

The Highlands are full of stories. Join us to learn more. Starts September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

15/05/2024

The more than 200-year-old Thomas Telford-built Ness Weir on the Caledonian Canal at Dochgarroch underwent major refurbishment in the last few years as Scottish Canals set out to extend the structure’s lifespan by a century. Constructed between 1825 and 1830, the weir raises the water level of Loch Dochfour by almost two metres and Loch Ness by 1.2 metres and retains around 100,000,000m3 (one billion metres cubed) of water. Thanks to this elegant engineering solution, vessels are able to transit through Dochgarroch lock, through Loch Dochfour, and into Loch Ness.

10/05/2024

You would imagine that a funeral cortege to the cemetery of Tomnahurich in Inverness would have followed the route the modern road takes, but this isn't the case. This is because this was also the way to the gallows, and they didn’t want to follow in those footsteps with the coffins of their loved ones.
Tomnahurich, the 'Hill of the Yew Trees.' Now a cemetery, but before this use it was described in the 1793 Statistical Account as a 'most remarkable hill… a beautiful, insulated mount, nearly resembling a ship, with her keel uppermost.' As a prominent landmark it had for centuries been a focus for social activity, being the site of an annual horse race on the 24-25th May, which took place around the hill.

Initially the cemetery was only on the very top of the hill, but it became necessary to extend it. The woodlands comprise oak, beech, sycamore and Scots pine, the latter being remnants of 18th century planting. In general, there are more beech trees on the east slopes and oak on the west. The understorey includes holly, Rhododendron, laurel, Symphoricarpos, gorse, broom and heathers.

Fairies live where the dead lay buried, have lived in that hill for longer than man can remember. Unseen by most and those who saw them, paid for it with their lives. Two fiddlers were once lured in, to play on a night of feasting. When they returned the next morning to breathe the fresh air of Tomnahurich hill, they crumbled to dust. 200 years had passed in what they had believed to be one night.

In the 17th century, a prophesy was given by the Brahan Seer – a man with the gift of the second sight. He prophesised Strange as it may seem to you this day, the time will come, and it is not far off when full-rigged ships will be sailing eastward and west by the back of Tomnahurich Hill. Two hundred years later the Caledonian Canal was opened, and ships did indeed sail west by the back of Tomnahurich Hill.

The Highlands are full of stories. Join us to learn some. Course starts in September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

08/05/2024

John Cobb was a British racing motorist who broke the land speed record in 1939. In 1947 he raised his own land speed record to 394.19 mph (634.39 km/h), and then in 1952, he attempted to break the world water speed record, here at Loch Ness, with speeds in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h).

For six weeks his jet powered boat, the Crusader, was docked at Loch Ness. At dawn each day Cobb waited with his wife for the weather to clear. When the loch was calm and the weather clear, he would climb aboard and a few minutes later his jet engines were set to make another attempt at the water speed record. He would take the Crusader to the centre of the loch and the beginning of the measured mile, whilst the time keepers took their places.

Time and again Cobb made the run, striving for new honours in the world of speed. On one day he touched 185mph, and everyone was certain he would make the 200mph record. On the afternoon of 29th September 1952, Cobb took the Crusader along the measured mile, where he hit 240mph. In order for a record to be official, the speed must be hit twice. Whilst decelerating in order to make his second run, his boat hit an unexpected wake, bounced and broke into a thousand pieces. Cobb was instantly killed in front of the many onlookers.

Cobb was held in very high regard by the people of this area, and a monument was raised in his memory along the banks of Loch Ness. The community went about picking up every piece of wreckage and destroyed it, in order to prevent souvenir hunters, though a modern team of experts managed to locate the debris field at the bottom of the loch. There are no plans for an attempt to recover any of the wreckage.
The Crusader had hit an unexpected wake which led some to ask a single question. There should have been no wakes to disrupt and endanger the boat, as the loch would have been cleared of boat traffic and Cobb would have had as calm as surface as possible. Is "unexpected" the same as "unexplained?" Could the Loch Ness Monster have moved just beneath the surface and produced the deadly wave? Some say so. However, much more likely is that a support boat, getting back to its base later than it should have, left behind a wake, which the Crusader hit.

The Highlands are full of stories. Join us to learn more. Course starts in September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

06/05/2024

In 1724, after the Jacobite uprising of 1715, King George I sent General George Wade to the Highlands to report and recommend measures to minimise further rebellion. The network of military roads that criss-cross the Highlands are his legacy, linking garrisons and barracks and providing easier access between towns and villages. These military road transformed travel in what were previously considered inaccessible areas of the Highlands. One of Wade’s men, Major William Caulfeild, is reputed to have stated ‘if you had seen these roads before they were made, you would hold up your hands and bless General Wade.’ Caulfeild was promoted by Wade and built most of the later military roads. The Wade road through the Great Glen was the first to be built, starting with the fort William – Fort Augustus section in 1725, followed by Fort Augustus – Inverness (Fort George) in 1726 – the route we are parallel with at this point. Today, many straight sections of the modern roads along the Great Glen follow Wade’s military roads exactly.

The Highlands are full of stories. Join us to learn more. Course starts in September.

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

03/05/2024

In yesterday's post we looked at Roderick Mackenzie, who was mistaken as Bonnie Prince Charlie, slain and his head presented to Butcher Cumberland's men, who of course couldn't identify it by the time it reached them because of its decomposed state. Roderick Mackenzie became a cult figure within the Highlands, and a contemporary, Dug-aid Graham – the rhyming historian of The Forty-Five – wrote the following lines:

Rod'rick Mackenzie, a merchant-man,
At Ed'iiburgh town had join'd the Clan,
Had in the expedition been,
And at this time durst not be seen.
Being skulking in Glen-Morriston,
Him the soldiers lighted on.
Near about the Prince's age and size,
Genteely drest, in no disguise,
In ev'ry feature, for's very face
Might well be taken in any case,
And lest he'd like a dog be hang'd,
He chose to die with sword in hand,
And round him like a madman struck,
Vowing alive he'd ne'er be took,
Deep wounds he got, and wounds he gave;
At last a shot he did receive,
And as he fell, them to convince,
Cry'd, Ah! Alas! You've killed your Prince;
Ye murderers and bloody crew,
You had no orders thus to do.

02/05/2024

Roderick Mackenzie, a merchant from Fisherrow and son of an Edinburgh jeweler, bore a striking resemblance to Prince Charles Edward Stuart, which led to him being appointed as one of the Prince's personal bodyguards during the Jacobite uprising. After the Battle of Culloden, Roderick sacrificed his safety by acting as a decoy for the Prince, ultimately leading to his death at the hands of Government troops who mistook him for the Prince. Despite attempts to identify the severed head of Roderick as the Prince's, the decayed state prevented confirmation. Nevertheless, the confusion caused by Roderick's sacrifice allowed the Prince to evade capture and escape to the west. Roderick is commemorated annually by the Clan Mackenzie Society at his grave site on the side of the A887, serving as a reminder of his bravery and sacrifice.

Learn about the stories of the Highlands in this new course, starting September 2024.
https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

30/04/2024

Ever wanted to dive deep into Scotland's amazing history and active tourism scene? Our course covers everything from the roots of Scotland's heritage to its current sense and where it's headed in the tourism world. Not only will you get to explore Scotland's fascinating heritage, but you'll also pick up some seriously handy skills that'll set you up for success in hospitality, tour guiding, heritage, and tourism. 💻📚🖋🗃
Click the link below for information and application! 👇👇👇

https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/certhe-highland-heritage-for-tourism/

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Kirkwall
KW151FL

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