Fort William

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Fort William from Loch Linnhe

Fort William is the largest town in the western Scottish Highlands, and a major tourist centre.

The town is a few miles from Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, and the beautiful Glen Nevis. It lies on the shores of Loch Linnhe and Loch Eill, and is north of Glen Coe and east of Glen Finnan. It is also at the southern end of the Great Glen.

Historically, Lochaber was strongly Cameron country, and there were a number of mainly Cameron settlements in the area (such as Blarmacfoldach). The nearby settlement of Inverlochy was the site of the Battle of Inverlochy.

However, the town grew up as a settlement next to a fort constructed to control the population following Oliver Cromwell's invasion during the English Civil War, and then to suppress the Jacobite uprisings of the 18th century. The original name of this settlement was Maryborough; this was later changed to Gordonsburgh, and then to Duncansborough. Eventually, the settlement adopted the name of the fort. Given the ignominious origins of the town, there have been various suggestions over the years to rename the town (for example Invernevis) but these proposals have led to nothing as of yet.

Just outside the town is a large aluminium plant, powered by the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme, in its day the biggest tunnelling project in the world.

Source: Romantic Lochaber, Donald MacCulloch.

Fort William was also a city in the Canadian province of Ontario, which was merged with the nearby city of Port Arthur to form the new city of Thunder Bay.