Born and brought up in Cromarty, Hugh Miller was apprenticed as a stone mason at the age of 16, a career he followed for the next 17 years. He developed an interest in fossils and explored the landscapes of the Black Isle, reading widely and eventually becoming one of the best-known exponents of the new sciences of palaeontology and geology. He also wrote occasional articles for the 'Inverness Courier'.

Hugh became deeply involved in church politics and was the leading journalist of the Disruption, editing 'The Witness' from 1835 until his death. He shot himself at his home in Portobello in 1856 in controversial circumstances which included possible brain disease, exhaustion, depression and perhaps an inability to reconcile his science with his theology.

Hugh Miller's Cottage in Cromarty, in which he was born, is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland and contains a museum of his life and work.

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