Rent record for Simon MacKenzie, innkeeper at Sligachan, 1860-61 (SL/D123/9a)
This early photograph of Sligachan was taken by Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843-1920). Abney was an inspector of science schools at the Department of Science and Art in South Kensington and carried out his own photographic research. He was a keen traveller and often visited the Swiss and Italian Alps. This photograph has been digitised from a series of glass plates portraying the Cuillin and surroundings and probably dates to the late 19th century.
Although there had been a hostelry at Sligachan since early times, linked to a drovers’ stance, a new inn was built on the current site around 1830. From 1869, when visitor records survive, the growing popularity of the Cuillin among walkers and climbers can be traced. The publication of Rock Climbing in Skye (1908), by Ashley Abraham, complete with illustrations, encouraged more and more people to climb in Skye. Many world-famous climbers, including Everest mountaineer George Mallory and his wife Ruth, stayed at the inn and signed the visitor books.
Scottish architect James Shearer (1881-1962) designed a further extension to Sligachan Inn in 1930. The rounded façade of Collie’s lounge, named after pioneer climber Norman Collie, bears a resemblance to the Elgin Hostel in Portree, also designed by Shearer. This Elgin Hostel has been home to the Skye and Lochalsh Archive Centre since 2009. You can read more about early visitors to Sligachan Inn in Fiona Campbell, Sligachan Inn/Hotel: Visitors Books, 1869-1936: Selected Entries (2007).
