Brora, United Kingdom

History

Brora is a small industrial village, having at one time a coal pit, boat building, salt pans, fish curing, lemonade factory, the new Clynelish Distillery (as well as the old Clynelish distillery which is now called the Brora distillery

), wool mill, bricks and a stone quarry. The white sandstone in the Clynelish quarry belongs to the Brora Formation, of the Callovian and Oxfordian stages (formerly Middle Oolite) of the Mid-Late Jurassic. Stone from the quarry was used in the construction of London Bridge, Liverpool Cathedral and Dunrobin Castle. When in operation, the coalmine was the most northerly coalmine in the UK. A comparison of the first and second edition Six-inch Ordnance Survey maps gives an interesting picture of Brora's industrial development. Brora was the first place in the north of Scotland to have electricity thanks to its wool industry. This distinction gave rise to the local nickname of "Electric City" at the time. Brora also houses a baronial style clock tower which is a war memorial.

Like many of the smaller fishing ports, Brora's involvement with fishing declined in the years before the First World War. In the 1906 report by the Fishery Board we read that Brora was "becoming yearly more popular as a summer resort and declining as a fishing port. A considerable number of the fishermen find employment ashore as labourers during the greater part of the year".

From the History section of Brora on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.