Teacher's Notes - Primary Schoolpack

Historylinks Schoolpacks have been produced to provide Primary School pupils with an understanding of the history of the Royal Burgh of Dornoch from the 6th century to the present day. There are seventeen work sheets including questions on specific Historylinks Trail signs, a time line, investigating why Dornoch is prosperous today (considering the importance of the Cathedral and Tourism), word searches and colouring sheets.

They aim to fit in with the 5-14 National Guidelines for Environmental Studies, specifically for Social Subjects: People in the Past, People in Society and People & Place. It is hoped that by visiting specific sites in Dornoch and completing the tasks on the worksheets, pupils will develop a knowledge and understanding of a number of historical developments that took place over the centuries in this small Highland town.  

Primary Schoolpack Sheets – Summary

Orientation

In order to help you plan your visit to Dornoch each schoolpack includes a copy of the Dornoch Historylinks Trail leaflet showing the main locations of historical interest located in the town. The primary schoolpack is based on the eight town centre sites summarised below, and the interpretation boards for these are reproduced in the pack.

Introduction to Dornoch’s history

It was thought that a brief, general history of Dornoch would be of benefit to teachers bringing students to the town, providing additional material to the information contained in the worksheets and at the various sites on the trail. This is not a comprehensive history of the town, but a brief summary of the main events that shaped Dornoch’s development.

One of the major difficulties encountered in telling the story of Dornoch (both parish and burgh) is that the area’s history is rather disjointed. Long periods of inactivity, where nothing significant ever seems to occur, are briefly punctuated by episodes of interest and importance. Presenting a coherent picture of Dornoch’s past is not made any easier by the absence of both archaeological and documentary evidence. There has never been a major archaeological survey of the parish or burgh, while many of the early written records have either been lost or destroyed.

What we are left with – at least prior to the 18th century – is fragmentary evidence, based on scraps of official documents, Norse Sagas, place-names, legend and tradition, a not wholly reliable 17th century account of the Earls of Sutherland, some minor archaeological finds and the topography of the areas itself. The picture does become much clearer by the 18th century simply because many more (although not all) of the official records relating to the town have survived. What follows is a chronological account of Dornoch’s development from the earliest times to the 20th century.

Dornoch BC

The Embo cairn before excavation

Most of the archaeological evidence relating to life in south-east Sutherland is to be found in the Cyderhall-Camore Wood region. The earliest settlers probably arrived c.5000 BC and established settlements below Skibo Castle. These people would have been hunters and fishermen and one can still make out the sites of shell middens  from the north end of the Dornoch Bridge.Chambered cairns at Embo, Evelix and Clashmore testify to the presence of Neolithic farmers in the area – the Embo grave having been dated at c.2500 BC.The hut circles at Camore indicate that the area was probably populated by an established community of farmers some 500 years before the birth of Christ.

Early medieval Dornoch

St Finbarr and the arrival of Christianity

The figure traditionally associated with bringing Christianity to the Dornoch area is Saint Finbarr of Caithness and Ulster. Finbarr may have arrived in Dornoch c.540 AD and established a muintirr or settlement there. Possible evidence of this settlement was found on Schoolhill at the beginning of the 20th century and in what may have been the ruins of his church at the east end of the Cathedral graveyard.

Place-names in and around Dornoch reflect the saint’s association with the town: Templebar (the reputed site of his church); Cnoc Varr (where he went to pray); and Davochfin. Dornoch’s 13th century Cathedral was originally dedicated to the saint, while the town’s most important annual trading fair was St Barr’s Fair, originally held on 10 September, the date of Finbarr of Ulster’s birthday.

Possible 6th-century view of Dornoch.

If Finbarr did establish a Christian community in Dornoch during the 6th century, then it is likely that it may not have survived the Norse incursions of the mid-to-late 9th century when the Vikings settled in Caithness and Sutherland. There are unsubstantiated indications that St Duthac of Tain may have been ministering in the Dornoch area during the 11th century, but the only proof that any religious settlement might have existed in the area come from an instruction by David I (dated c.1136) to the Norse Earl of Orkney and Caithness, warning him to ‘respect and maintain free from harm the monks and their men dwelling in Durnach’. Even this royal command does not provide conclusive proof that there was a permanent settlement in the town; the monks referred to by David may have only been residing temporarily in the area before moving on to another destination.

Norse invaders

The first Vikings to settle in south-east Sutherland came from Norway and probably arrived in the area c.850 AD by way of Orkney and Caithness. The creation of the Earldom of Orkney by King Harald Harfagri of Norway led to increased Viking activity in Sutherland (the ‘Southern land’ of the Earldom of Orkney) as the new earls sought to consolidate their hold on the northern mainland of Scotland.  

From the time of the arrival of the Vikings in the middle of the 9th century through to the building of Dornoch Cathedral during the 1220s, south-east Sutherland was the site of numerous raids and skirmishes between the local Pictish tribes and the Norsemen.

Gradually violence gave way to peaceful co-existence as the Vikings began to settle in the area, particularly on the fertile coastal strip of land around the Dornoch Firth, and marry into local families. The Viking presence in the area is indicated by a number of local place-names, notably Embo, Skibo and Skelbo (-bol means a ‘large farm on a prime site’).

The role of the Scottish kings

When the Scottish kings began to extend their authority northwards from the 12th century onwards, the Dornoch Firth effectively marked the border between the Kings of Scotland and the Norse Earls. Violence was still common in this frontier country, and although Scots and Norsemen shared the same Christian beliefs, the latter were no respecters of the dignity and sanctity of the Church and its servants – particularly when the Church was viewed by the Norse Earls as a tool of the Scottish Kings designed to extend their authority over Sutherland and Caithness.

David I (1084-1153) probably founded the Diocese of Caithness during the 12th century, and the seat of the diocese was at Halkirk in Caithness, an area effectively outside the control of the Scottish Kings. This lack of authority became evident when two successive Bishops, John and Adam, were attacked by local people: Bishop John was blinded and maimed, while his successor was brutally murdered and roasted in his own kitchen. Although royal retribution was swift and terrible, the attacks prompted Adam’s successor, Gilbert de Moravia to remove the seat of the diocese from Halkirk to the relative safety of Dornoch.  

St Gilbert and the founding of Dornoch Cathedral

St. Glbert – the founder of Dornoch Cathedral – was descended from the Freskyn family that was granted land in Moray by David I as reward for military service. The family was then granted the ‘Southern land’ of Caithness by William the Lion (1165-1214) when it was forfeited by the Norse Earl Harald as the Scottish King sought to extend his influence in the north. Finally, Hugo Freskyn granted his kinsman, Gilbert de Moravia, the coastal strip of Sutherland stretching from Skelbo to Invershin.

Gilbert was made Bishop of Caithness in 1224 and immediately moved the seat of the diocese from Halkirk to Dornoch. This was clearly a sensible choice – for a number of reasons.

As we have seen, his predecessors had been murdered or maimed at Halkirk and Gilbert had no wish to share their fate. Moreover, the new bishop personally owned the land on which the new Cathedral was to be built, and Dornoch was close enough to Gilbert’s powerful relatives in Moray and at Golspie, where his kinsman the 1st Earl of Sutherland resided.

Using his own money, Gilbert started work on the cathedral in 1224 and the first service was held there in 1239. When he died in 1245 his Cathedral was completed, except for the nave which was added some 200 years later.

Gilbert was the last pre-Reformation Scotsman to be canonised, and his achievement in erecting a building of the size and stature of Dornoch Cathedral in such a remote corner of the Scottish Highlands in the 13th century is truly remarkable.

The Battle of Embo

Some doubts remain as to the exact date of this battle: tradition suggests the 1240s, but more reliable recent evidence places the battle in the 1260s. The battle took place after a party of Danes landed at Little Ferry and encamped near Embo. The Earl of Sutherland asked Richard de Moravia (Gilbert’s brother who had been given Skelbo Castle by him in 1235) to engage the Danes and hold them in check until he assembled a strong enough force to come to Richard’s aid. The plan worked, and the Danes were routed on the arrival of the Earl. During the battle Richard was killed and Earl William reputedly slew the Danish leader with the leg of a horse, an incident that accounts for the horseshoe on Dornoch’s present coat-of-arms. After the battle the Earl arranged for Richard de Moravia’s burial in Dornoch Cathedral, where the remains of his damaged sarcophagus can still be seen.  

Dornoch 1300-1600

The Scottish Reformation

We have very little information on life in Dornoch during this 300 year period, and yet two events of major significance for the town did take place during the 16th century. The Scottish Reformation of the 1560s was a defining moment in this nation’s history, although its impact on Dornoch was neither immediate nor dramatic. This was partly due to a lack of Gaelic-speaking Protestant clergy in the area willing to promote the new faith, partly due to the remoteness of south-east Sutherland, and partly due to the religious and political ambivalence of the leading local churchmen and magnates.

Bishop Robert Stewart was a key figure during the Reformation period, and he was careful not to commit himself fully to either side. He had earlier married his sister to the Earl of Sutherland, and when it became clear that the Reformers were engaged in a systematic policy of seizing church lands, the Bishop signed over many Church properties in Sutherland to his brother-in-law, including the ‘palace and citie of Dornoch’. This transaction had major consequences for the town as the Sutherland family, not the church, now effectively owned Dornoch and the surrounding lands.

Feuding clans

The start of the 16th century saw the beginnings of a bitter power struggle between the Earls of Sutherland and the Gordon Earls of Huntly. In 1500 the marriage of Adam Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly to Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, ensured that the Gordons gained control of the Earldom of Sutherland.

Yet the victory of the Gordons did little to promote peace in the region: The Earls of Caithness, the Murrays of Dornoch and the Mackays of Strathnaver, all took advantage of the tumultuous times to pursue personal vendettas. This perpetual state of anarchy had disastrous consequences for Dornoch in 1570. Three years earlier Mackay of Strathnaver and Lord Duffus had, in pursuit of their feud with the Murrays, laid waste the Barony of Skibo and burned the town of Dornoch.

This led to a series of tit-for-tat skirmishes until, in 1570, the town was devastated by fire when it was attacked for a second time. The Cathedral (apart from the tower where the Murrays made their final, desperate last stand against the attackers) was destroyed, as were many private houses in the town. It was only in the next century that serious attempts to repair the Cathedral were made, and for almost fifty years the Church of St Gilbert lay in ruins.  

Dornoch in the 17th century

Becoming a Royal Burgh

Sir Robert Gordon, a younger son of Alexander, 11th Earl of Sutherland and tutor to John, 13th Earl of Sutherland, is an important figure in Dornoch’s history. His extensive account of the Sutherland Family, A Genealogical History of the Earldom of Sutherland, is still a valuable (though occasionally flawed) account of that noble family, and also provides us with a useful insight into life in 17th century Sutherland.

It was through the influence of Sir Robert that Charles I was persuaded to confer the status of Royal Burgh on Dornoch in 1628 and, three years later, to create Sutherland a Sheriffdom in its own right (previously the county had been part of the Sheriffdom of Inverness). Sir Robert also carried out extensive repairs to the Cathedral chancel and trancepts, although the nave fell into absolute ruin.  

Royalist occupation

The 17th century also saw Dornoch occupied by a hostile armed force for the second time in its history. In 1653 a royalist uprising, led by the earl of Glencairn in support of the exiled Charles II, began in Scotland. General George Middleton, a veteran of the wars against Cromwell, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Royalist forces, and both he and Glencairn agreed to unite their respective forces at Dornoch.

By early 1654 the town was occupied by the rebels, but the two factions of the royalist force engaged in petty disputes and quarrels. Inevitably, these petty rivalries led to a more serious confrontation when Glencairn wounded Sir George Munro, one of Middleton’s principal officers in a duel. Unfortunately, this led to a more serious disagreement. Two junior officers from the rival camps fell out over the causes of the original duel between Glencairn and Munro, and staged an early morning duel of their own. One was killed, the survivor was arrested and, following a rapid court-martial, sentenced to death and executed at the town’s mercat cross the same afternoon.

Within two weeks of these unfortunate incidents, Glencairn had led his troops away from Dornoch to safety. English forces sent to crush the rising forced Middleton to abandon the town too, and the English commander of Cromwell’s troops reported that Middleton’s forces had laid waste to the town on their departure. The surrounding countryside must also have suffered through having to supply some 5,000 men with food and fuel during their period of occupation. The rising itself finally ended when Middleton was defeated in a skirmish at Dalnaspidal on the Drumochter Pass by Cromwell’s forces.

Dornoch in the 18th century

Although there is much more documentary evidence detailing life in the town available for the 18th century, much of the material is dull and uninspiring. However, there were two major events that took place in Dornoch during the century – 1727 saw the last judicial execution of a person charged with witchcraft in Scotland, and in 1746 the town and surrounding countryside was occupied by Jacobite forces.

The stone that marks the site of Janet Horne’s burning can still be seen in Littletown, although the date on the stone – 1722 – is wrong, it should read 1727. Nine years after her death the Witchcraft Acts were repealed in Scotland and England and it became unlawful to execute anyone for alleged witchcraft.  

Jacobite activity

Sutherland itself is not normally associated with the Jacobite risings of the 18th century, largely because the staunchly pro-Hanoverian Earls of Sutherland controlled the area, but there was considerable Jacobite activity in and around Dornoch in the early spring of 1746. A strong Jacobite force descended on Dornoch in March and dispersed government troops stationed in and around the town. There followed several weeks of looting and burning by the Jacobites before they were ordered to return to Inverness shortly before Culloden.

On the day before that infamous battle, the remaining Jacobite forces in Sutherland were attacked and routed by local militia units at the Little Ferry, south of Dunrobin. South-east Sutherland, therefore, can justifiably make a claim for being the site of the penultimate battle fought on British soil!  

Dornoch in the 19th century

The 19th century sees an even greater amount of documentary evidence of life in the town becoming available as central government delegated the management of health, education, sanitation, etc. to local authorities. This documentation provides us with a detailed insight into the social conditions existing within the parish – particularly during the latter half of the century. The century begins with the infamous Sutherland Clearances, and ends with the first small steps being taken to promote tourism in the area.

The Clearances

The parish of Dornoch suffered less extensively from the clearances (or improvements, depending on your viewpoint) carried out on behalf of Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland and her husband, the Marquis of Stafford (later 1st Duke of Sutherland whose statue stands atop Beinn a Bhragaidh). The nearby estate of Skelbo was cleared, and families that had been removed from other parts of the county found refuge in Dornoch itself, particularly in the area now known as Littletown.

The 1809 Meikle Ferry disaster

Some 100 lives were lost when the overcrowded Meikle Ferry carrying passengers from Dornoch to Tain capsized. It was a disaster on an unprecedented scale for south-east Sutherland: few families in the area were unaffected by the catastrophe which highlighted the dangers of travel at the time.  

Life within the parish

The 19th century was a period of great change for Dornoch. By 1815 many improvements had been made to the town: the route of the old burn had been diverted; feal-houses were cleared from the vicinity of Castle Close; the old Tolbooth and Council House had been demolished; and the Jail and Council Chamber relocated to the refurbished Bishop’s Palace.

Between 1835 and 1837 major, and somewhat controversial, repairs were made to the Cathedral by the Countess of Sutherland. Nevertheless, there were still regular escapes from the county jail, cholera briefly threatened the community and there was an outbreak of smallpox in the town. Poverty and poor housing were widespread and well-intentioned attempts were made by the parochial Board to alleviate the suffering – to little avail.

However the latter half of the century saw the local council assume a greater responsibility for social and economic conditions within Dornoch, and by the beginning of the 20th century health, housing and sanitation had improved considerably.

The development of tourism

In 1877 Dornoch Town Council granted permission for the Sutherland Golfing Society to play golf on the town links. This was the start of a long – and mutually beneficial – association between the town and the game of golf: today golf is the most important component of the town’s thriving tourist industry.

Council records also show that local inhabitants became aware of the town’s potential as a tourist resort.

Many locals began erecting new houses for the summer visitors, while a number of non-residents built holiday homes for themselves.

Attempts were made (unsuccessfully at first) to connect Dornoch with the main Highland Railway branch-line in order to make the town more accessible to visitors, and a new hotel was built in the town’s main square. The presence of Andrew Carnegie at nearby Skibo Castle (from 1898) enhanced Dornoch’s reputation as a desirable holiday destination for the wealthier classes.

Dornoch in the 20th century

More has happened over the past 100 years to change the social and physical fabric of Dornoch than occurred in the previous 1000 years. New technology, improved transport links, innovative social legislation, two world wars and the growth of the tourism and leisure industries have all combined to provide the town with a brighter future than at any other time in its history.  

Transport

In 1902 a branch line between Dornoch and the Mound (some seven miles to the north of the town) was finally opened, thereby connecting Dornoch with the main Highland line. The line remained in operation for 58 years and opened up the town to increasing numbers of visitors who were attracted to the area by the golf courses, magnificent scenery and the invigorating sea air.

Road transport gradually improved, particularly after World War Two, while between the wars an increasing number of wealthy visitors from England flew north to Inverness before continuing their journey to Sutherland by road. The upgrading of the A9 during the last two decades and the opening of the Dornoch Bridge in 1991 has made the area even more accessible to visitors.  

The world at war

Like many other rural communities throughout Britain, Dornoch suffered terribly from the loss of a significant number of young men who were killed or wounded in action during the two World Wars. To this day the town and parish remembers those who lost their lives at the annual Remembrance Service and Parade on 11 November at the war memorial on the outskirts of the town.

During both wars foreign troops were stationed in and around Dornoch: in both WW1 and WW2 Canadian troops established logging camps in the area, while Norwegian and Indian troops were billeted here during WW2. Other events of note 1939-45 were the formation of a local Home Guard unit and the construction of an airstrip on the town’s links.  

Golf and social change

Today Dornoch’s main industry is tourism. During the 1890s John Sutherland, Secretary to Dornoch Golf Club, tirelessly promoted the town and the golf club in the national press. Every summer wealthy visitors either rented house for the summer months or built their own residences. The opening of the railway and the Station Hotel at the beginning of the century attracted even more visitors. Between the wars the wealthy still patronised the town. Locals recall seeing Rolls Royces and Daimlers lined up in front of the Sutherland Arms Hotel and the Station Hotel. Golf was still the principal attraction, but visitors were beginning to realise that the area had other natural advantages.

After the Second World War the wealthy began to travel abroad for their holidays. Several of the large Dornoch holiday homes were turned into hotels (most notably the Burghfield House Hotel and the Royal Golf Hotel) that catered for the professional middle classes who began to holiday in the Highlands during the summer.

With the opening of campsites at Embo and Dornoch, more and more tourists (from all walks of life) came to the area, particularly after car ownership in Britain expanded during the 1960s.

Official statistics for the early 1990s indicate that as many as 300,000 tourists visit Dornoch annually, an impressive statistic when one considers the many other attractive holiday destinations that can be found throughout the United Kingdom.  

Conclusion

Today Dornoch is a prosperous town known to visitors from all over the world. Golf remains its main attraction, but the beaches, mountains and spectacular ruggedness of the local landscape all contribute to the area’s popularity.

Most of today’s visitors have no real idea of the town’s history; most will assume that Dornoch has enjoyed a fairly placid, undisturbed existence over the centuries. Hopefully this brief summary of the town’s past has shown that Dornoch’s geographical remoteness did not spare it from the bitter disputes, clan rivalries, religious and social divisions that make up so much of the rest of Scotland’s turbulent past. Indeed, the poverty and social deprivation that was so much a part of Dornoch’s way of life during the 18th and 19th centuries, makes the town’s relative prosperity today seem even more remarkable.

Little physical evidence remains of the town’s past, but it is hoped that by following the Historylinks Trail and visiting the museum, today’s young history students will experience at least a taste of what life in Dornoch must have been like before the tourists came.  

Acknowledgement

Historylinks schoolpacks were produced with assistance from Mr Michael Hook, Head of History, Dornoch Academy.

Answers to schoolpack worksheets

P11

pdf file Primary School Teachers Notes (569KB)

Last updated: 19 August, 2005