The Black Isle Show is the North of Scotland's annual premier farming
show which has literally brought Highland life to a stop for a day
each year for most of the last 160 years.This year's show, which took place on Thursday at the show's permanent ground at Mannsfield Park, Muir of Ord, Ross-shire, was bigger and better than ever, with thousands of people from all over the Highlands and much further afield attending or taking part.
Sadly, though, an accident involving three teenage display motorcyclists stunned the crowd into silence after they crashed into each other during their set. The teenagers, who suffered broken limbs and other injuries, are recovering in hospital in Inverness.
The first Black Isle Show was held, not unsurprisingly, on the Black
Isle - which is not in fact an island, but a large peninsula a
stone's throw north of Inverness, bounded by the waters of the Moray
Firth on the southern side and Cromarty Firth on the northern side.
The town of Fortrose was the venue and October 6, 1836, was the date of that first show. The show was the brainchild of the then recently formed Black Isle Farmers' Society, itself inaugurated only a mere seven months earlier. On display was an exhibition of stock, including black cattle, sheep, pigs and horses.
In 1848 the Easter Ross Farmers' Club tried to muscle in on the act by proposing a joint annual agricultural show to be held on the other side of the Cromarty Firth at Invergordon, but to get there would have meant a ferry crossing.
The Black Isle Farmers' Society therefore rejected the overtures, explaining that exhibitors "desirous of showing their stock must be entirely dependent on the state of the tides and weather for the means and opportunity of crossing the ferry."
The year 1850 saw the show move from October to August and continue
to grow in popularity, with horses becoming more and more of a
feature. In the mid 1880s, one show had no fewer than 130 horse
entries, followed by 100 cattle, 48 sheep, 45 poultry, 10 collie dogs
and six ''swine''. Stock from the south had to cross the ferry at
Kessock, near Inverness, with the tariffs sixpence for a cow and a
penny for a sheep.
During the 1890s the venue of the show was changed to the nearby village of Avoch, although within the first year or two of the new century, Fortrose was again the stage. The First World War saw the continuation broken but it was back in the annual calendar at the end of hostilities. The 1920s and 1930s saw the show begin to develop into something like it's modern counterpart, with all sorts of entertainment becoming an important part of the occasion. Again the show was halted during the Second World War. It was resumed again in August 1949 in a field belonging to Munlochy Mains, a farm on the Black Isle. Other Black Isle farms hosted the event in subsequent years until the show made its final move to its present permanent showground at Mannsfield.
The Black Isle Show has never looked back since, with improved
communications enabling thousands to make the annual trip to this
premier farming event. With its first class livestock exhibits, all
manner of farm machinery and equipment, its hundreds of trade stands
from all over the country, and, of course, the ever-growing feast of
attractions and entertainments on offer, the show adds up to a great
day out for all the family.
If your visit to the Highlands next year happens to coincide with the start of August, then head north out of Inverness and across the Kessock Bridge into Ross-shire. Follow the clearly-marked Black Isle Show roadsigns for an extraordinary - and a very Highland - experience!
