Shopping in Dornoch - Go directly to Jail...

If you've read the last few posts you already know that while staying at the little Caravan Club site at Grummore we'd driven through the empty hills of Sutherland and enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Dornoch Castle Hotel. With lunch over we stepped out, full stomached and smiling into the late spring sunshine.

As we ambled along the pavement towards our first shop, a little antique store right at the end of the street, the air was ripped by the wailing roar of jet engines as two Tornado GR4s of the RAF tore across the skyline, either en-route to the bombing range just down the coast, or heading back to their base at RAF Lossiemouth. This set the scene for the rest of the afternoon, as more Tornadoes and a brace of Typhoon FG4s went through their paces in the distance. I mention this partly because I'm a plane geek and partly because these awesome machines are a real feature of this stretch of Scotland's East coast, and a great contrast with the peace and tranquillity which is the default setting for the Highlands. I always find the contrast refreshing.

It wasn't a day for plane spotting though. We browsed the antiques for a while, buying a rather lovely little bud vase that we couldn't resist and then made our way to the rather brilliant Jail*, an establishment which is too grand and eclectic to be considered a mere shop and must at the very least be worthy of the title emporium. Housed, rather unsurprisingly in the old prison building Jail is in many ways a strange mix. 

 

 As you walk through the door you are greeted by a selection of ceramics. Not the workaday tableware sort, but the decorative arty kind. To the left of the door is a narrow corridor leading to what were clearly at one point the actual cells. Each cell caters to a different style of merchandise - one is full of designer soap, another books and CDs with a Highland theme, another crammed to the very gills with posh toys for children. If none of that floats your boat, walk straight on through the ceramics section and you enter a world of handbags before emerging, blinking and awestruck into a magic kingdom of tweed outdoor wear and really nice shoes.

Jail is, in essence, a little bit of Kensington dropped into the North East Highlands and it is, quite frankly glorious because it's clever. You see Dornoch attracts some seriously well heeled people - people who think spending four hundred quid on a handbag is economising - but it also attracts people like us. Jail caters to both sets of clientele and makes everyone they serve feel like a million dollars. If you want to spend four hundred quid on a handbag you can - and a damn fine handbag it will be - but you can also spend one pound ninety nine on a felt flower brooch and the person behind the counter will make you feel every bit as special. We love the place, and their formula of mixing quirky and high quality goods with friendly service is clearly a winner because they've actually expanded recently and opened an interior design department in the old post office on the other side of the street.

Around the corner though, sits what is for us the shopping highlight not just of Dornoch, but of the whole of the north East Highlands - the very, very wonderful Dornoch Bookshop. Much has been said in recent years about how Amazon is destroying independent bookshops, but the Dornoch Bookshop, like Fred Holdsworth's in Ambleside, shows why good independent booksellers will always survive.

It's a tiny little place, cramming an awful lot of great things into a small area, and using every centimetre of space to maximum effect. Eye catching window displays draw the wood be reader in, often by showcasing the kinds of books that Amazon would never know you wanted. Over the years I've picked up the autobiography of traditional Scottish musician and Gaelic speaking legend Norman Maclean - I man I would never even have heard of had his book The Leper's Bell not been shown off to such good effect in the bookshop's window - and a novel based on the true story of the construction of Orkney's famous Italian Chapel. I've never seen either of these books anywhere else, and they were both fantastic reads.

A good bookshop, to my way of thinking, doesn't just sell you the things you think you want, the best sellers and latest "must reads" - although you'll find these things at the Dornoch Bookshop if you want them - but also the things you don't know you want because you've never heard of them. That's what this place does so well, and that's why we love it.

But you're not reading this to find out about bookshops. No, you're reading this to find out about Dornoch Cathedral because in the last post I promised to finish the story about the siege of Dornoch and what happened when the forces of Caithness attacked the townspeople who had taken refuge in the cathedral tower. (Nip back and read the previous post if you missed it - don't worry, we'll wait for you. OK? Good. All ready? Right, here we go...)

So. When we left this exciting story the town had been sacked by the forces of Caithness and Mackay and the people of the town were sheltering in the Cathedral - all hope seemed lost. but then - and I promise that I'm not making up any of what follows  - the invaders went too far.

When St Gilbert founded the cathedral in 1214 he laid down a terrible curse, calling on the "wrath and indignation of Almighty God" to cast into eternal damnation anyone who would "distract and injure" this place of worship. Given that the Cathedral had now been burned, and William Sutherland had desecrated the tomb of the Saint, I think we can agree that a good deal of distraction and injury had been done.

The actions of William Sutherland, and their consequences were described by Sir Robert Gordon - and I'm quoting directly here from information picked up at the castle:

"He opened Gilbert his grave, burst St Gilbert his coffin with his foot, and threw the ashes of that holy man with the kind which enormitie the Almighty God did most justlie punish; for that same foot that burst St Gilbert his coffin did afterwards rot away and consume, to the great terror of all beholders, whereby, this William Sutherland grew so lothsum that no man was able to come neir with him, and so he died miserable."

Allegedly, when Sutherland finally died, the devil himself came to collect him and dragged him down to hell - which actually made me wonder why Old Nick would care so much that a Saint had been offended, but that's by the by.

As for the people of Dornoch, well, their suffering wasn't quite over. As part of the peace settlement between the victorious Caithness and Mackay clans the people of the town were instructed to send three Murrays as hostages to ensure good behaviour. these hostages were promptly beheaded by the Earl of Duffus in an act of savagery "against all humanitie and the laws of nations duelie observed amongst the greatest infidels".

The Earl then seems to have been struck down by an unnamed sickness and "never rose againe out of his bed". The young master of Caithness, who had led the sacrilegious attack on the Cathedral was punished by his father the Earl, who apparently threw him into a dungeon where he languished for seven years before succumbing to "famine and vermine". Finally, the Mackay of Strathnaver also died "partlie through grief and... the torment... of his concience".

This demonstrates a couple of things. First of all, don't mess with thirteenth century saints. When they laid a curse, they really really didn't muck about. It also tells us that Sir Robert Gordon - my major source for all of this - couldn't spell and had a real flair for the dramatic. It also tells us that we should be careful to take such histories with a small pinch of salt - it is worth pointing out that Sir Robert Gordon wasn't actually born until seven years after the events he has chronicled.

Whatever the veracity of Gordon's retelling of events, it is true to say that the Cathedral is certainly a much more tranquil place in modern times. After the destruction of 1570 - which left nothing much beyond a cluster of stone pillars, the tower and the quire - it took nearly fifty years before some restoration was undertaken. Sir Robert Gordon (yes, him again) organised the restoration of the quire and transepts, but then bricked off the ruins of the nave to create a T shaped church. It stood in that unusual configuration until 1835, when Elizabeth, Duchess of Sutherland - wife of the Duke responsible for the Strathnaver Clearances and popular hate figure in some circles - paid to have the nave rebuilt.

The result is the fine building which now stands as the heart of this little town. In many ways it puts me in mind of the little iron church at Syre, just on a larger scale - in spite the age of its foundations this is not some gothic pile that presents you with a grand spectacle, but instead exudes an unpretentious air of contemplative peace.

There is an awful lot more to do in Dornoch - there are some fantastic beaches on this stretch of coast for a start. Mention should also be made of the wonderful Historylinks Museum which features some excellent displays telling the story of the history of this part of the world. We didn't stop for a look on this particular visit, but we do heartily recommend it. This part of the world seems to do small museums particularly well - I would also point you at the direction of the Timespan Museum in Helmsdale too, although I'll leave that for another time.

*I believe I made my feelings about this kind of slapdash American spelling in the last post. The British spelling is "gaol", but, as is so often the case they didn't ask me when they ordered the sign...