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The Ord of Caithness - Described
in History of Caithness by J T Calder 1887
There are several lofty headlands along the coast, but the four most
celebrated are the Ord of Caithness, Holborn-Head, and the promontories of
Dunnet and Duncansby. The Ord so well known as a formidable pass between
Sutherland and Caithness, is situated at the eastern boundary of the two
counties. According to Jamieson, the derivation of the term Ord is either
from the Gaelic �ard� or the Icelandic �urd� both of which signify a steep
hill or eminence. I am inclined to think it from the Icelandic, more
especially as the names of most places along the Caithness coast are
Norwegian. Besides, in Shetland, where the names of the places are all
purely Scandinavian, there is a promontory near Lerwick called the Ord of
Bressay. The Ord is the �Verubium Promontorium� of Ptolemy; and in a
curious geographical fragment, entitled, �De Situ Albaniae,�* and
generally ascribed to Andrew, Bishop of Caithness, who died in 1185, it is
called �Mons Mound.� The Ord forms the termination of a long mountain
ridge, and is, strictly speaking, the brow of a steep hill overhanging the
sea, whose strand, at the lowest state of the tide, is the perpendicular
face of the rock. On the Sutherland side, the headland is cleft into a
huge ravine or gorge of great depth, running a long way up into the
interior among the hills. The old road, the only practicable route without
making a circuit of some twelve or fourteen miles, was a mere path, or
rather shelf, along the outer edge of the promontory, and without any
protection from the precipice, so that it could not be passed with any
safety in stormy weather. This terrific path, which never failed to
inspire travellers with dread, was about a mile in length. Its dangers
have been alluded to by several tourists. Pennant, who was accustomed to
such passes, describes it as �infinitely more high and horrible then
Penmaen Mawr, in Wales.� The Rev. John Brand, in his �Description of
Orkney, Shetland and Caithness,� in the year 1701, quaintly says, � The
Ord, which divideth Caithness from Sutherland is a high mountain down
which our way from Caithness to Sutherland doth lie. The road is narrow
and the descent steep, and if any stumble thereupon they are in danger of
falling down a precipice into the sea, at the bottom of the rock, which is
very terrible to behold.� Travellers in carriage or on horseback, when
they came to the Ord, always alighted and crossed it on foot, leading
their horses, or having them led by servants. In 1802 a Government survey
of the Ord was made by Mr Charles Abercrombie, an eminent engineer, who
suggested a new plan of a road, by which all danger would be avoided; and
the ascent, instead of being so uncommonly steep, would not exceed one
foot in thirty in any part of it. It was not, however, till1811 that the
new road was constructed, and a bridge thrown across the wild yawning
chasm, by which means the entrance from the one county to the other is now
rendered perfectly safe and easy at any time. By the traveller from
Helmsdale the old path may still be seen like a sheep track winding up the
steep brow of the hill, some three or four hundred feet above the rolling
surge. The scene altogether is one of that wild and savage character which
would have afforded a fit subject for the pencil of Salvator Rosa.
More of Calder's History of Caithness |