Chester Society for Landscape History – The study of how people have altered the landscape through time.
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Description: Explore the architectural history of the UK's country houses and stately homes
In September 1872, Queen Victoria was invited to stay at Dunrobin Castle in Scotland, seat of the Dukes of Sutherland. She naturally travelled by train, having used them for long-distance journeys since 1842 . After being met by crowds at Inverness, her train left on the final leg in the late afternoon.
Just after passing the head of the Cromartie Firth, her afternoon tea was unexpectedly interrupted as the train stopped at Bonar Bridge station. Here, she records in her diary, ‘ the Duke of Sutherland came to the door in such a curious get up, that I did not at first recognize him. He had been driving the engine since Inverness, but only appeared now on account of this being the boundary of the Sutherland railway. ‘. The Sutherland being a private railway line which the Duke had conceived, financed and now
Such power and enthusiasm, stoked by immense wealth, were often the hallmarks of the development of the Victorian railway network. With it came the curious demands of landowners and aristocracy for the network to accommodate their personal needs, with the provision of not only private waiting rooms, platforms, and stations, but also entire railway lines.
Chester Society for Landscape History – The study of how people have altered the landscape through time.
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