The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland organized the 'Telford in the Highlands' project in 2007 at Alness Academy to celebrate Scotland's Year of Highland Culture and Thomas Telford's 250th birthday. Students used maps to plot Telford's infrastructure projects across the Highlands, including studying the still-standing bridge he built in Alness in 1810 and mapping changes to the town over time. The project mapped Telford's other major Scottish bridges and showed the scope of his engineering work.

1. Telford in Alness Academy In association with RCAHMS

2. In 2007, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland organised 'Telford in the Highlands’, a schools project aimed at celebrating both Scotland's Year of Highland Culture and the 250th anniversary of the birth of the great Scottish civil engineer Thomas Telford. It was our privilege to work with RCAHMS in Alness Academy. The following slides show student work in progress.

3. Laura, Lewis, Andrew, Miss McD and Annie use detailed and outline maps to plot the locations of Telford's work across the Highlands The Telford workshop at Alness Academy looked at the Telford bridge in the town (which is still in day-to-day use) and investigated the social and architectural changes which have happened in the town since Telford built the bridge in 1810. Our students mapped buildings in the town which have survived from the nineteenth century and before, and also mapped the main changes which have happened in the town since.

4. Using large-scale copies of the First Edition Ordnance survey map of Alness, and comparing these with current maps to plot changes in the town since the late 1880's. Mapping Change

5. Working on large-scale modern maps, the pupils begin to see some of the areas of the town which have changed since Telford's time. The map takes shape

6. The location of Telford's other main bridges in Scotland were also mapped, to show the range of his work in the Highlands and elsewhere. Telford in Scotland

7. Telford's bridge over the Averon was built in 1810, but it is still in daily use today, carrying far heavier - and far more - traffic than Telford could ever have imagined. Alness Bridge

8. The quality of Telford's work can be seen in this close up of the careful stone shaping in the bridge's archwork. Alness Bridge - Detail