Bill McAllister: Wild horses and ‘wild beasts’ cause problems for Inverness Provost

If you think Inverness has traffic problems today, consider the era when the Provost called for action to stop unaccompanied horses rushing to the Ness.

And, as a new prison rises beyond our major retail park, reflect on a time when prisoners were “exposed like wild beasts” to passers-by on Bridge Street.

The Inverness Courier, 205 years ago, reported that 1500 cattle, purchased at the Ross-shire Tryst, were driven through the town in one week. But it was animals of a different kind which were a serious nuisance in 1818, the paper complaining that horses were being driven to be watered at the river.

A correspondent wrote: “It is a common thing to see half a dozen of them at a time galloping through one of those very narrow lanes which run from Church Street to the river – and that, too, when the lane is full of people passing.”

Dr James Robertson, who feued the house and estate of Aultnaskiach off today’s Culduthel Road, was in the first of his four terms as Provost. In the town house entrance hall is his portrait painted by John Syme, assistant to Sir Henry Raeburn, subscribed to in 1835 by his fellow citizens “in testimony of regard for his private worth and public usefulness while Chief Magistrate of Inverness.”

When the Burgh Constables for the next 12 months were sworn in, Provost Robertson called on them to rigidly enforce Sabbath church attendance along with “a vigilant superintendence of public houses and a constant co-operation with the Society for the Suppression of Begging”.

Warming to his main mission, the Provost said:”It is the firm determination of Magistrates to put a stop to the pernicious and dangerous practice of allowing horses to go to the water without some persons to lead them.”

He urged the Constables, “for the safety of their own families as well as for the good of the community, to be vigilant in detecting and to bringing to punishment any who might henceforth offend in this particular.”

The ‘Horse Whisperer’s” strong arm of the law did eventually appear to bring some equine equanimity and curb the clatter of horses to the Ness banks.

The jail, at the corner of Bridge Street and Church Street, was flagged up in ‘The Times’ as having “a miserable appearance”. Upstairs, a stone gallery was where prisoners could exercise and the writer says that, “they were exposed like wild beasts in a cage” to passing members of the public.

The Courier, however, said this gallery overlooked the busiest part of town, allowing prisoners the chance to see and hear everything. This gave them “the liveliest amusement”.

Later, a House of Commons delegation were told by Provost Robertson that the jail was insufficient to accommodate prisoners. He said the burgh bore the expense of maintaining the 30-year-old premises and had also erected the adjoining steeple.

The Courier reported “with much pleasure” a new road line from Telford Street to the town centre. “The present entrance passes through all the filth of the Green of Muirtown, by far the most disagreeable access to the town”, it observed. Mr Duff, of Muirtown, had donated the land for the new road. Calls were made for bridges to connect Ness Islands and £200 was quickly donated.

Three adult skeletons were found by workmen digging on the hill above Haugh Brewery. The paper points out the location was formerly the Gallow Muir and these could be executed victims. However, it also noted that some of Cumberland’s army were interred at that spot after Culloden.

The export of wood from Inverness “had become a business of considerable importance” and two official measurers were appointed. The Caledonian Canal opening had meant great activity, with eight sloops in Loch Ness the same week, while English coal was sold in Fort Augustus at almost half the price of its previous overland cost.

Even wild horses couldn’t drag back progress…

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