The Commissioners of Highland Roads and Bridges (formally the Commissioners for Roads and Bridges in the Highlands of Scotland) was created in 1803 to take responsibility for the construction and maintenance of the long-distance roads in the Scottish Highlands.
Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act for granting to His Majesty the Sum of Twenty thousand Pounds to be issued and applies towards making Roads and building Bridges in the Highlands of Scotland; and for establishing the Proprietors of Land in Scotland to charge their Estates with a Proportion of the Expense of making and keeping in Repair Roads and Bridges in the Highlands of Scotland. |
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Citation | 43 Geo. 3. c. 80 |
Territorial extent | Scotland |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 4 July 1803 |
Commencement | 4 July 1803 |
Repealed | 6 August 1872 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1872 |
Status: Repealed |
The commission was created following the 1802 inspection by Thomas Telford (on behalf of the government) of the state of the roads. The Scottish Highland Roads and Bridges Act 1803 (43 Geo. 3. c. 80) established the commission. [1] The initial commissioners, named in section 4 of the 1803 Act, were the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and His Majesty's Advocate for Scotland, all for the Time being, the Rt Hon William Dundas, Sir William Pulteney, Bt, Isaac Hawkins Browne, Nicholas Vansittart, Charles Grant, William Smith, and Charles Dundas.
The commission was dissolved by the Highland Roads and Bridges Act 1862 with effect from 31 December of that year, [2] and the roads managed by the Commissioners and other property relating thereto was transferred to the Commissioners of Supply (except in the counties of Argyll and Caithness, where transfer was to the Road Trustees of those counties). [3] Management of the roads was also transferred to the Commissioners of Supply and Road Trustees. [4]
Thomas Telford was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed the Colossus of Roads, and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death.
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west.
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
The Caledonian Canal connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William in Scotland. The canal was constructed in the early nineteenth century by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford.
Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirlingshire to the east, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire to the south, and Argyllshire to the west.
The A82 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Inverness via Fort William. It is one of the principal north-south routes in Scotland and is mostly a trunk road managed by Transport Scotland, who view it as an important link from the Central Belt to the Scottish Highlands and beyond. The road passes close to numerous landmarks, including Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor, Glen Coe, the Ballachulish Bridge, Ben Nevis, the Commando Memorial, Loch Ness, and Urquhart Castle. Along with the A9 and the A90 it is one of the three major north–south trunk roads connecting the Central Belt to the North.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Viking era when the area was ruled by the Jarl of Orkney; although Sutherland includes some of the northernmost land on the island of Great Britain, it was called Suðrland from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness.
The A830, also known as the Road to the Isles is a major road in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands. It connects the town of Fort William to the port of Mallaig.
Crofting is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were established on the better land, and a large area of poorer-quality hill ground was shared by all the crofters of the township for grazing of their livestock. In the 21st century, crofting is found predominantly in the rural Western and Northern Isles and in the coastal fringes of the western and northern Scottish mainland.
Sir William Pulteney, 5th Baronet was a Scottish lawyer, Whig politician and landowner who sat in the British House of Commons between 1768 and 1805. One of the wealthiest Britons during his lifetime, he invested in the construction of several prominent buildings in Britain, including the Pulteney Bridge and other properties in Bath, Somerset, several beachfront residences in Weymouth, Dorset and roads in Scotland. Pulteney was also a patron of architect Robert Adam and civil engineer Thomas Telford. He also owned slave plantations in British America.
The West Highland Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line from Craigendoran to Fort William and Mallaig. The line was built through remote and difficult terrain in two stages: the section from Craigendoran to Fort William opened in 1894, with a short extension to Banavie on the Caledonian Canal opening in 1895.
Commissioners of Supply were local administrative bodies in Scotland from 1667 to 1930. Originally established in each sheriffdom to collect tax, they later took on much of the responsibility for the local government of the counties of Scotland. In 1890 they ceded most of their duties to the county councils created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. They were finally abolished in 1930.
Stob a' Choire Odhair is a Scottish mountain situated eight kilometres north west of Bridge of Orchy on the border of the Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas.
Joseph Mitchell was a Scottish civil engineer.
A network of military roads, sometimes called General Wade's Military Roads, was constructed in the Scottish Highlands during the middle part of the 18th century in the wake of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
John Gibb (1776–1850) was a Scottish civil engineer and contractor whose work included the construction of harbours, bridges, roads, lighthouses, and railways in the United Kingdom, primarily in Scotland. He was a close associate of Thomas Telford, who employed him on many of his civil engineering projects during the first half of the 19th century.
Events from the year 1803 in Scotland.
Events from the year 1811 in Scotland.
Events from the year 1799 in Scotland.
Events from the year 1788 in Scotland.