Dornoch

CLAN FEUDS

This was a wonderful beginning of the history of Dornoch. It boasts of being the only 5* museum in the HIghlands.
One of the most fun exhibits showed the  Earl of Dornoch riding off in the sunset with the head of his enemy on his
saddle. As he rode the teeth bit him and he later died of blood poisioning. So What is the morale?

These homes were built by the crofters when they had been kicked off their land by
the landowners. This occurred between 1807-1820 . More than 8,000 people
were moved fro their homes to make way for large sheep farms.
 This was called the Sutherland Clearances. You can see a variety of home styles.

This is the witches stone. The date that you cannot see says 1727 which was the last a
woman was burned for witchcraft here. Her daughter had a deformity in her hands and feet.
Janet's neighbors accused heer of making a pact with the devil of changing her daughter into a
pony and of having her shod by the devil himself. Mother and daughter were brought to the prison in
Dornoch and tried by Captain David Ross, Sheriff of Sutherland. They were found guilty and condemned
to be burned the following day. The younger woman escaped, but Janet was confused by events and she smiled at the flames and warmed herself at the very fire which was about to consume her alive.

Witches were useful scapegoats for society's ills and many ministers preached about the evil doings of witch heretics urging their congregations to report suspected persons to the Church courts. Anyone who was seen as abnormal or threatening ran the risk of being accused of witchcraft.In 1736 just 9 years after Janet Horne's death, the Witchcraft Acts
were repealed in Scotland and England.

Wouldn't you love to live in one of these cottages?

The Dornoch Cathedral 1239. Inside are 28 stained glass
windows.

Inside the Dornoch Cathedral

The church had a nave with side aisles and a tower in 1239 when
it was consecrated.

In 1570 the church was burnt during a clan battle and it was left with
only the four clusters of pillars, the tower and the quire. The church was
restored in 1616  by Sir Robert Gordon resulting inn the T shaped church
seen today.

10,000 years ago you would have been surrounded by miles of sheet ice.
The sea in front of you was a giant flowing ice-stream.  As the ice melted
the sea rose. The land below had been so badly crushed by the weight of the ice that it
took another 4,000  years to rise back to its present position and to push away the sea. Sand, pebbles and shells
were left stranded high above the water line all along this coast, sometimes for up to a mile inland.
Grass soon grew over the sand, forming the famous links or raised beach that you see in front of you.

Golf was being played on the links by the 16th century. One of the world's earliest written references to golf was made here by Sir Robert Gordon, uncle of the 13th Earl of Sutherland. In 1616 he submitted an expense account of 10 pounds and
12 pounds for My Lord's gold Clubs and golf balls. In current money that would be 2,500 pounds.