Monument record MHG34345 - DUNKELD - DALNACARDOCH - RUTHVEN - AVIEMORE - INVERNESS MILITARY ROAD

Created automatically by NMRS Register Utility
User: Admin, Date: Wed 13 Oct 2004
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NH73NW 42.00 7285 3500 to NH 7037 3999. MR 2 (formerly Lin 501 [part of]).

NH73NW 42.01 7155 3609 Bridge.
NH73NW 42.02 7119 3730 Bridge.

As the military road heads N for the River Nairn, it is walkable, although soft in places. During its passage through forestry land, part of it has been obliterated due to the construction of the A9, although a forest path links it with the next section further N. This stretch takes the form of a well maintained, gravelled road, improved on by the Forestry Commission. The road crosses the Midlairgs Burn on a well preserved military bridge at NH 7155 3609 (NH73NW 42.01). A left fork in thick heather, leading to the farmstead of Mid Lairgs, carries the road for a short distance before it becomes walkable again by the side of the forestry land. The military road then heads N to the B851, the Daviot to Fort Augustus road. Just to the S of this junction is a well preserved Wade bridge traversing the Midlairgs Burn at NH 7119 3730 (NH73NW 42.02).
The Wade road crossed the River Nairn at Faillie on a bridge approximately 50 yards W of the present bridge. The present bridge at NH 7120 3801 (NH73NW 9), therefore, although old, is not original.
N of Faillie Bridge the route on the whole is fairly straight heading N towards Inverness. Immediately N of the bridge, it bears left through a gate, running parallel with the river for a few yards and then turning right at the end of the fenced section. It then rises steeply and is reasonably easy to follow, despite being noticeably overgrown with gorse and broom. Stone-built banks giving the appearance of walls provide a good guide to the line of part of the route. The military road then crosses the minor road to Daviot at the top of the steep incline and heads into the Culloden Forest. A good forestry road carries the route for a quarter of a mile and then it becomes a more typical Wade road, although still readily walkable.
J B Salmond 1938; W Taylor 1976; J and A Baker 1982.

It is probable that the A9 has cut the line of Wade's road between NH 7265 3528 and NH 2234 3590. There is a rough forest track on the E side of the dual-carriageway, part of which has densely overgrown flanking banks. This may be on the 18th century line. A circular turning point is to be found at the end and no traces exist of a route going further S. Any alternative possibilities have been obliterated by the up-grading of the A9 in this vicinity.
The route comes to open moorland, where it becomes a stretch of disused and overgrown tarmac road. Then,heading N to a bridge over the Midlairgs Burn at NH 7155 3609 (NH73NW 42.01), the road is initially a 5m wide modern forest track with a ditch along the E side, mainly in reasonable condition and quite well drained, although deteriorating towards the S end. No traces of original road fabric remain. Just S of the bridge the track is only 3m wide with banks on either side and in places suffering from erosion by the Midlairgs Burn. N of the burn the road passes through a conifer plantation, being visible as an overgrown grassy track S of Midlairgs farm. From a sand and gravel quarry S of Scatraig farm the Wade road runs N along a modern tarmac road.
Aerial photographs show a linear feature running through a field under pasture to the S of the River Nairn, although there are no remains visible on the ground. To traverse the river, it is believed that Wade constructed a bridge slightly W of the present one at NH 7120 3801 (NH73NW 9). N of the river, the track, which ascends a slope, is somewhat indistinct in parts, being merely a badly eroded path, overgrown with gorse. The Wade road then crosses the modern tarmac road to Daviot.
M Logie (Highland Council) 1997; NMRS MS 1007/2.