Highland Memories
I grew up in Inverness in mid-40s but my parents only moved there in 1944. My maternal ancestry is Kyle of Lochalsh and paternal side from Loch Droma, near Ullapool. The drive and also the train journey from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh is amazing with beautiful scenery and history. Loch Ness Castle has quite the varied history - from the original timber one destroyed about 1300s to 1412 rebuild in stone, then reconstruction as a courthouse in 1830s and addition of a prison in 1840s. It was still a courthouse when I left Inverness in late '70s and emigrated to British Columbia, Canada.
Kyle of Lochalsh is a lovely little town with two hotels...the one up on main street now owned by a big company but pre-1944 was owned/operated by my maternal grandparents and where my parents met. Back then there was also a smaller hotel across the road owned by great-aunts of mine. Progress has now made it easier to go "over the sea to Skye" but in my day there was a nice little ferry. Near Kyle there is the lovely little village of Plockton on the shores of Loch Carron.
Another nice drive is to Ullapool - a fishing village. There is also lots of history here with surrounding estates still owned by families from England but looked after by Scottish ghillies (gamekeepers) - two of my nephews have the honour of being employed as such they are following my paternal great-grandfather who was a ghillie to Lady Fowler at Loch Droma - just on outskirts of Ullapool.
Image provided by Story Submitter (Anonymous)
The old entrance to Porterfield Prison, Inverness, where the story author's relative once worked
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