Undiscovered Scotland

 

"A Scotsman Returns: Travels with Thomas Telford in the Highlands and Islands" by Paul A Lynn tells the story of one of Scotland's most influential sons, a man who over 20 years undertook a programme of civil engineering work that - it is no exaggeration to say - transformed the Highlands and Islands of Scotland for the better. And yet Thomas Telford is in some ways more celebrated outside the land in which he was born in 1757 than inside it. The town named after him is in Shropshire rather than in Scotland for example. Perhaps that's simply a reflection of his sheer capacity for hard work and the breadth of his achievements, which though transforming many different parts of Scotland also had great impact in England and Wales, and in Sweden.

The book is well written and clearly reflects a considerable depth of research by the author. It is also nicely illustrated, largely with modern colour photographs sourced from Wikipedia or Geograph. The end result is both an excellent primer on the life and achievements - especially the Scottish achievements - of Thomas Telford and an essential point of reference for anyone intending to track down for themselves what remains today of the roads, bridges, canals, harbours, churches and more built by Thomas Telford in Scotland. It is a book we'd highly recommend as a glovebox companion for anyone setting out to explore the story of how Scotland came to be what it is today.

"A Scotsman Returns" has a number of different elements. We start with an account of Telford's early life and his achievements outwith Scotland. We then look at the dire situation of Scotland in terms of economy and infrastructure that led to Telford's return to the land of his birth in 1801 and are given an account of his work on the Caledonian Canal. A large part of the middle of the book is given over to tracing the course of a tour made in 1819 by the poet Robert Southey, who travelled with Thomas Telford to visit many of the projects he had been - and was still - engaged in across Scotland. Southey's "Journal of a Tour in Scotland in 1819" gives a remarkable insight into the character of Thomas Telford. Paul A Lynn mines it very effectively to provide modern readers with an account of the tour made by the two men and to highlight what remains today of the projects they visited.

Southey and Telford did not visit all of Scotland on their tour, and much of the rest of "A Scotsman Returns" is given over to filling the gaps with travelogues of the parts they omitted, including the far north; roads to the isles; and the inner Hebrides. We finish with an assessment of what Telford achieved in Scotland and the influence he has had on the country over the intervening two centuries.