The Wragges, Meteorology and Ben Nevis

STITCHING THE TAPESTRY OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS

This audio forms part of a series of audio interviews conducted in 2023 by Smartify as part of the Spirit of the Highlands and Islands project. Listen and discover the Spirit of the Highlands and Islands through the eyes of the stitchers of the Tapestry of the Highlands and Islands.

Join Sara of the South Ness Stitchers as she explains the story behind her group's panel, stitching Ben Nevis and telling the story of the meteorological pioneers Clement and Leonora Wragge.

It's about the story of the man who, in Victorian times, climbed Ben Nevis everyday for 6 months, everyday he could anyway. He did meteorological observations at the top of Ben Nevis and his wife, with their young children, was at Fort William in the town, and she took comparative measurements so he could say actually it's colder and wetter at the top of Ben Nevis which anyone who's gone up a mountain goes 'oh, of course!' but actually there had never been comparative meteorology, nobody knew...