Inverness
This article is about the city of Inverness in Scotland. For other places of the same name, see Inverness (disambiguation).
| Inverness Lieutenancy (Site of city shown in red) | |
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Inverness is the only city in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies at the mouth of the River Ness as it flows into the Moray Firth in northwest Scotland. The river flows from nearby Loch Ness via the Caledonian Canal, which connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy. Loch Ness is the home of the famous Loch Ness Monster, commonly known as Nessie. The city is the administrative centre for Highland Council, and was formerly the county town of Inverness-shire. The name Inverness is given to the most extensive of the Lieutenancy areas of Scotland.
The buildings of Inverness include Inverness Castle and St Andrew's Cathedral. The castle was built on the site of a previous building from 1835 and is now a Sheriff Court; an older wooden castle was located further east in the 11th century, and may have been the basis for the castle in Shakespeare's Macbeth. St Andrew's Cathedral has a curiously square-topped look to its spires, as funds ran out before they could be completed.
Islands in the River Ness, and the river banks, form a pleasant series of walks. The town is well served with shops, as it is the shopping centre for an area of nearly 10,000 mile² (26,000 km²).
Inverness was granted city status by the Queen in December 2000, and celebrated its new status officially in March 2001. Its population was approximately 62,000 in 1991. The city's economy relies mainly on tourism, with its many bed and breakfast establishments, and is boosted by tweed production, leather tanning, engineering, and distilling. Salmon fishing is also popular, and smoked salmon is a local delicacy. The city is also home to the football clubs Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C and Inverness Clachnacudden F.C
Inverness is linked to the Black Isle across the Moray Firth by the new Kessock Road Bridge. It has a railway station with services to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Wick, Thurso and Kyle of Lochalsh. There is an airport at Dalcross.
Culloden moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite Rebellion.
History
Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in 565 was visited by Saint Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrick (550 ft, 168 m)), 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of the town. The castle is said to have been built by Malcolm Canmore, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Macbeth according to tradition murdered Duncan, and which stood on a hill 1/2 mile (800 m) to the north-east.
William the Lion (d. 1214) granted the town four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican abbey founded by Alexander III in 1233 hardly a trace remains. On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411 Donald of the Isles harried the town, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were executed for asserting an independent sovereignty.
In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Queen Mary was denied admittance into the castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards therefore caused to be hanged. The house in which she lived meanwhile stands in Bridge Street.
Beyond the northern limits of the town Oliver Cromwell built a fort capable of accommodating 1000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks, and in 1746 they blew it up.
On September 7 1921 the only Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland. The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
The history section of this article is primarily taken from an 1911 encyclopedia.