Heritage Paths ~ The Comply
Grampian
The Comply Return to Map
Start location: Old School near Lumphanan (NJ 570 037)
End location: Milton of Auchinhove near Lumphanan (NJ 557 035)
Geographical area: Grampian
Path type: Rural Path
Path distance: 1.3km
Accessibillity info: Suitable for horses, Suitable for pedestrians
From the cross-roads at the old schoolhouse (NJ570037) a rough gravel track leads westwards and gives access to a few houses. After the last house, a swathe the width of a road but extremely vegetatious, leads on in the same direction and can be seen stretching all the way to Marywell, a kilometre ahead. The vegetation can be trodden down, though much of it is chest-high; fortunately, few of the plants are thorny. The first 400m or so leads downhill, and the vegetation eases after the burn at the foot of the dip. The western half of the route is along faint wheel-tracks, lightly grass-grown and easier to walk. Approaching the first houses at Marywell, there is an openable gate, the track progressively strengthens and eventually becomes a narrow tarred road before reaching the public road at the T-junction at NJ560036.
OS Landranger 37 (Strathdon & Alford)
Known locally as The Comply, the origin of this name is so far unknown. It was the route used daily by children from the west to reach school before the schoolhouse closed in the 1960s.
The school appears in the 1st edition of Ordnance Survey's 6 inch to the mile map, which was surveyed in 1866/1867. As the school existed for at least a century, the path must have been used by schoolhildren for at least that length of time.
