B847

Cuiltaloskin

The B847 is a medium-length B-road in north Perthshire. It starts at the House of Bruar, about 3 miles west of Blair Atholl. It is unclear whether the road starts on the A9, and then almost immediately TOTSOs, or whether the true start point is on the B8079 (signs claim the latter). Either way it heads west, winding gently along some sinuous bends to the north of the River Garry. This is the old route of the A9, the new route of which crossed overhead, and is quickly followed by the Highland Main Line. Beyond the railway, the road enters the small village of Calvine, passing throuugh to rejoin the A9; however this is just a spur, with a junction in the village being the original start point of the route before the A9 was upgraded.

From Calvine the old road therefore heads south, simultaneously passing under the railway and over the River Garry to enter Struan, another tiny village. After passing a few houses, the route starts its journey properly as it heads west up Glen Errochty, a sparsely populated glen of few houses and surprisingly few views. The road often passes through trees, with the river hidden from view even when it is just a few paces away, and the views that are available are of barren hillsides and vast forestry plantations. The road is generally wide, however, with few sharp bends, and makes for a pleasant journey deep into one of the less visited areas of Highland Perthshire. Large moorland fields fill the valley floor, with the road often hugging the bottom of the gently rising hills to the north.

After about 3 miles the road takes avoiding action with a sharp left hand bend at the entrance to Auchleeks House, again hidden behind trees. As it curves back to the west, it runs along a particularly pleasant section with some shapely roadside trees, and the hills ahead closing off the vista. A scattering of farms sit on the roadside as the small village of Trinafour is approached. This is where the B847 briefly follows the route of General Wade's military road. The route is picked up just across Trinafour Bridge, with Wade's old bridge accessible by foot a short distance uphill. Less than a mile later, the military road forks left to cross the hill to Tummel Bridge, while the B847 continues heading south west.

End of the road near Kinloch Rannoch

After crossing a low summit - at 329m its not that low, but less than a 100m above Trinafour - it drops steadily down with some stunning views south across Loch Dunalastair to Schiehallion beyond. Patches of woodland and a large forestry plantation sit above the road, but there is a long stretch without any houses to be seen. Some long sinuous stretches with reasonably good visibility are interrupted by a handful of tighter bends, and for those wishing to pause there are a number of parking areas to choose from. Eventually another cottage is passed, and the another as the road nears its end, terminating half a mile further on, on the B846 about two-three miles east of Kinloch Rannoch.

History

The history of this route is difficult to be precise about. Obviously, around a mile at Trinafour was built by General Wade in the 1720s as part of his military road from Crieff to Inverness. The remainder of the route is somewhat newer. Perthshire resisted the offers of road building support from Thomas Telford and his commission on Highland Roads and Bridges, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but by the 1830s the county's roads were in such poor condition that various engineers were engaged to advise and assist in reconstruction, and indeed the development of new roads. It seems likely that the road through Glen Errochty was constructed (probably along a pre-existing pathway) at this time. The continuation towards Kinloch Rannoch probably dates from the same time, although as it could be considered to be less useful, it might have been built somewhat later.

The draft proposals for the 1935 renumberings would have seen the B847 extended along the B846 into Aberfeldy, with the B846 re-routed along the B8019 to the A9. While this sensible suggestion is marked as 'Agreed', it was never carried through. Many years later when the A9 was upgraded, the B847 gained an extension along that road's former route. From the former junction at Calvine, the B847 was extended west for a couple of hundred yards to the new A9 alignment and east through the village, under the A9 and on to Bruar where it terminates either on the B8079, which continues along the pre-bypass A9, or the main road itself.

The 1922 MOT Road List defines this route as: Kinloch Rannoch - Struan