medieval-atlas/introductory/5
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Routeways Within the landmass of Scotland itself, the bedrock configuration together with the recency and severity of glaciation are key factors in the landscape patterns within which Scotland's history has been acted out. Because of glacial disruption of drainage, outwith the major Firths of Forth, Clyde and Tay, Scotland has few navigable rivers. The long freshwater and sea-lochs are, however, a positive legacy from glaciation, offering fast routes to boatmen through rugged mountain country, though characteristically in directions controlled by south-west to north-east orientation of the "Caledonian trend" of bedrock structures. This trend, and the way the structures were trenched out by the ice, has certainly influenced the pattern of overland routeways, lending special value in trade and war to valleys breaching the trend. Though the heyday of Scotland's drove roads was largely after the formal limit of this atlas, they offer a good indication of routes feasible in topographic terms throughout history. Those actually favoured in different periods ofcourse reflected human factors ranging from politics and lawlessness to market forces, as much as physiography. Major lochs Drove roads kms o 25 ~,O 75 100 10 20 30 40 50 60 miles Routeways: major lochs 3mtd. drove roads 5 lAMTranscribers who have contributed to this page.
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Aberdeenshire County, Angus County, Argyll County, Ayrshire County, Banffshire County, Berwickshire County, Buteshire County, Caithness County, Clackmannanshire County, Cromarty County, Dumfriesshire County, Dunbartonshire County, East Lothian County, Fife County, Inverness-shire County, Kincardineshire County, Kinross-shire County, Kirkcudbrightshire County, Lanarkshire County, Midlothian County, Morayshire County, Nairnshire County, Orkney County, Peeblesshire County, Perthshire County, Renfrewshire County, Ross County, Ross And Cromarty County, Roxburghshire County, Selkirkshire County, Shetland County, Stirlingshire County, Sutherland County, West Lothian County, Wigtownshire County