It’s the road that many believe was originally built as a railway and by Lord Leverhulme… but they would be wrong on both counts.

There are a number of common misconceptions around the Pentland Road, which cuts across the Lewis moor from just outside Stornoway to Breasclete and Carloway.

But the record is out to be put straight with a new book coming out soon.

The Pentland Road: A Road or a Railway is the eighth book by Colin Tucker, an island author and historian, and it will soon be available in outlets including the Baltic bookshop and An Lanntair.

Colin, a retired geography teacher, has self-published the book with support from Point and Sandwick Trust and is delighted to finally see it in print.

Colin’s previous books include a number about steamship and sea crossings, including Steamers to Stornoway, Hebridean Coasters and Make Your Way to Stornoway, about the history of cruise ships, as well as Mary Jane and The Marquis.

He has also written about the Gress and Upper Coll land raids, compiled the Hebridean Voyages anthology, and is part way through a new book as well, which will be called Stornoway Packets and Mailboats, about the history of short sea crossings to Lewis.

Colin loves research. “I get hold of something and the fun is in the chase,” he said. “The fun is in the research and I’m lucky that I can write fairly easily.”

Colin grew up in Edinburgh but has lived in Lewis for years, being married to a woman from Stornoway.

His fascination with the story about the Pentland Road began when he first drove over it in the 1970s, when it was unsurfaced, and he wondered “what it was about”.

He learned something of its history and then began to notice how many gaps and mistakes there were in local knowledge – and felt called to dig a bit deeper.

“There seemed to be so many people who’ve got wrong ideas about the Pentland Road”, he said. “There are things in writing that are quite wrong.”

He was struck by a conversation with a council official, whom he expected to know about such things, when even that official thought the road had been built by Leverhulme.

While Leverhulme did plan some railway lines in Lewis, including one north of the Laxdale bridge which would split in two, the Pentland route was not part of these ambitions.

Colin wondered, if the man in the council has got it wrong, how many others do too?

Rather than being built as a railway by Lord Leverhulme, the origins of the Pentland Road actually go back to the Napier Commission Report of 1884. This landmark inquiry examined the economic conditions and issues affecting crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands.

Colin explained that, while the Napier Commission looked at security of tenure, it also looked at ways of alleviating poverty – how to bring about the “diminution or removal of the causes of depression and discontent”. 

And one of the recommendations was to find a way to improve the fishing industry on the west coast of the island by making it easier to get the fish to Stornoway to get them to market on the mainland. 

The report said: “A line from the remoter parts of Lewis to Stornoway would be of benefit” – and that was the first mention of what would become the Pentland Road.

It took a long time for the idea to become reality though.

“It took longer than building a CalMac ferry,” said Colin. “Because it took them from then until 1912 to get the road completed.”

The money to build the road came from a grant from the government. Lewis District Council had thought they were getting a grant for a railway but that was not how it turned out.

“Everyone thought it was going to be built as a railway… but the grant came to build a road”.

The plan was to build the road in such a way, “with gentle gradients and long straights, just like it is today”, so that it could be converted into a railway, if the opportunity arose.

The pleas continued, at various times throughout the project up until its completion, to build it as a railway instead.

There were delays, diversions and arguments all along the way, including “the stupidest one”, in Colin’s opinion, “about who was to open the tenders for the contracts”.

And throughout it all there were seven different governments and 11 different Secretaries for Scotland.

The road was named after the Secretary for Scotland Lord Pentland because “he was the one that pushed, in the end, to get it built, which was why the road was named after him” – although there were arguments about that too, among the powers that be.

Learning about all the twists and turns, Colin knew it was a story to tell.

Now the book is finished, Colin admits he is “dead chuffed” to see it in print and is amazed at how it has turned out, following his decision to self-publish.

He thanked all those who had helped. “Without them it wouldn’t be there.”

Colin remains a fan of the Pentland Road, with its gentle gradients and long straights. “I love it. I love driving across the road.”