History

Nethy Bridge is a village shaped as much by its houses as by its landscape. From croft houses and forest workers’ homes to villas, farms, hotels and estate buildings, each place carries traces of the people who lived and worked here and the changing life of the parish.

There has come into my possession a long list of Gaelic place names, mainly hills, burns and farms, from this area, compiled by my uncle, Bill Macaulay, who farmed at Laggan of Clachaig before emigrating to Australia in 1965, where he died in 1987. 

I have discovered by leafing through a fascinating piece of history – the account book, from 1892 to 1902, of the shop at Old Bridge End – the “Butcher, Baker and General Merchants” owned by my Great-Grandfather, John Macaulay.

This autumn marks the bicentenary of the completion of the four bridges: one over the Aultmore, near the East Church; the culvert across the burn in the middle of the Golf Course; the bridge across the Duack on the Boat of Garten side of the village, and the main bridge with its three impressive arches.