26 October 2026, Starts: 10:00, Ends: 12:30

The Market Town

Talk by Richard Lockett

Organised by Dingwall 800.Venue, Robertson House, Dingwall

Tickets via Eventbrite

Late summer. For centuries, Dingwall was one of the great meeting points of the Highland year. Drovers brought cattle and sheep from across the north and west – from Kintail and the far northwest, from Ullapool, from Braemore and Garve, from farms and crofts across Easter Ross. The drovers are one of the most vivid expressions of what made Dingwall a market town, celebrated in a bronze statue outside the mart today.

That world is now largely invisible, but it is still written into the landscape – in placenames that mark crossings, fords, and routes through the hills, in poetry, story and song celebrating colourful characters and dramatic events. Ross-shire farmer, ecologist, and modern-day drover Richard Lockett has helped bring that tradition back into lived experience. Alongside archive voices, he will help us trace the drove routes that converged on Dingwall, discussing the relevance of cattle to ecological restoration in the modern era.