Helmsdale

Helmsdale ( Gaelic Bun of Ilidh ) is a village in the Scottish Highland Unitary Authority. It is located about 45 km south of Thurso and southwest of Wick on the north coast of the Moray Firth in the traditional county of Sutherland. In 1991 Helmsdale recorded 828 inhabitants, whereas in 1871 1511 people lived there.

History

Helmsdale was developed in the early 19th century as a fishing settlement for the settlement of the region by the Highland Clearances. As in many regions of the Highlands began with the decline of the herring fishery in the tourist development of the village. The River Helmsdale, which opens at Helmsdale in the Moray Firth, is still considered one of the best Scottish rivers for fly fishing of Atlantic salmon.

At the site of today's Helmsdale was once a hunting lodge built in 1488th, where John Gordon 11th Earl of Sutherland was poisoned along with his wife by his aunt Isobel, in July 1567. The Earl died five days later. Isobel was designed to promote this fact her own son, the heir to the title. Unfortunately, this also ate the poisoned food and died two days later. Isobel committed suicide on the day of her execution in Edinburgh suicide.

Traffic

With the A9 trunk road, the most important of the Scottish Highlands runs directly through Helmsdale. Earlier they crossed on the old bridge - a structure Thomas Telford - the Helmsdale few hundred meters inland. The new bridge is, however, near the coast. The town has its own railway station, which is serviced regularly by the Far North Line on their route from Inverness to Thurso. From Helmsdale the tracks no longer run along the A9 and the coast, but bend in the direction of north and follow the course of Helmsdale.

Station of Helmsdale

Church in Helmsdale