Inverness. The New British Traveller was one of a number of publications by Alexander Hogg aiming to tap the bouyant market for works on British topography and antiquities. It included text on each couny, a set of county maps by T. Conder and others, and numerous copperplate prints by a variety of engravers. The work was initially issued in 60 parts from c1783, and then as a complete work from 1784. Inverness stands at the north-eastern end of the Great Glen, beyond which the River Ness meets the sea. A Pictish settlement existed on the site from the 6th century, and the town received its first charter from King David I in the 12th century. Inverness has survived many troubles - raids from the Lords of the Isles, the campaings of the the English during the wars of Independence, and the Jacobite uprisings, culminating the nearby Battle of Culloden. Today it is regarded as the capital of the Highlands, and is regularly voted as one of the most pleasant places to live in the country. This print has a small worm-hole in the lower margin (just to the left of the title on the image.)
Invernesshire - Danish Forts in Glen Elg. The Antiquities of England and Wales was the product of Alexander Hogg who was well known as a partwork publisher. Under the claimed authorship of Henry Boswell it was issued serially from c1787-9, and subsequently made available as a complete work. The format was typically 2 (though sometimes up to 6) prints to a page, with one or two accompanying pages of descriptive text on each pair of subjects. It also included the set of English county maps by Thomas Kitchin first used in the London Magazine from 1747-54. At the time this print was taken, the study of antiquities was much in vogue, and the structures in Glen Elg are mentioned in a number of late 18th and early 19th century works. They were variously interpreted as Danish forts, Pictish Hunting Houses or even Druidic temples. Today they are known as brochs - iron-age, hollow-walled, drystone dwellings dating from the 4th to 1st centuries BC. Scholars are still undecided as to their exact functions, but clearly they were built with defence in mind. This print, engraved by Eastgate, offers 6 views on 1 sheet, and is supplied with the original, accompanying text.
Inverness-shire - Duntuilm Castle & Dunvegan Castle - Isle of Skye . The Antiquities of England and Wales was the product of Alexander Hogg who was well known as a partwork publisher. Under the claimed authorship of Henry Boswell it was issued serially from c1787-9, and subsequently made available as a complete work. The format was typically 2 (though sometimes up to 6) prints to a page, with one or two accompanying pages of descriptive text on each pair of subjects. It also included the set of English county maps by Thomas Kitchin first used in the London Magazine from 1747-54. Duntuilm and Dunvegan Castles are both on the Isle of SkyeThe former stands on a promontory on the coast at the northern end of the island. It was bult by the MacCleods in the15th century, as a 4 story tower house, but by the 17th century had become the seat of the Clan Macdonald. It was abandoned after the Jacobite rebellions, becoming a roofless ruin by the time this print was taken.
Dunvegan Castle is on the west coast some 25 miles south-west of Duntuilm.It was founded by the Chiefs of the Clan MacCleod in the mid 13th century on the site of an earlier Norse settlement. The clan extended and improved the castle in the 14th, 16th and 17th centuries, after which it suffered a period of neglect, before resoration and updating in the 19th century. It is today still owned by the Chiefs of the Clan, who open it to groups by appointment. This print, engraved by Eastgate, is supplied with the original, accompanying text.