Evanton
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Picture of the town as one enters from the south-west. |
Evanton ( or
Baile Eòghainn in
Gaelic) is a small town, or rather, a large village in
Easter Ross, in the
Highland region of
Scotland. It lies between the river
Sgitheach and the
Allt Graad, is 24 kilometres (15 miles) north of the city of Inverness, some 6.5 km (4 miles) south-west of
Alness, and 10 km (6.5 miles) north-west of
Dingwall. The village has five streets, the main one being Balconie Street (B817). It has been desribed by analysts at Highland Council as a "commuting settlement", because most of the inhabitants work in other areas of Easter Ross and the greater Inverness area.
[Councilor Val MacIver, "Ross and Cromarty East Local Plan" (pdf), p. 65.] The current town was founded in the early
nineteenth century by
Evan Fraser of Balconie, but the core of the village buildings date from the Victorian era.
[loc. cit.] Evanton has several tourist attractions, including the
Fyrish monument, the
Black Rock Gorge and the ruined church of
Kiltearn lying near the river Sgitheach as it flows into the
Cromarty Firth, as well as other miscellaneous natural, historical and archaeological attractions in the surrounding area. There are two Churches, one
Church of Scotland and one
Free Church of Scotland. There is one primary school, but the nearest high schools are in Dingwall and Alness. It has one convenience store, a post-office, two public inns (Balconie Inn and Novar Arms) and several other miscellaneous businesses. The village hall is named the 'Diamond Jubilee Hall.'
Evanton lies within the ancient parish of
Kiltearn (
Gd: Cill Tighearna), within the medieval lands known as Ferindonald (
Fearann Dhòmhnaill) in the heart of the old "Earldom" of
Ross. Traditionally, Ferindonald is supposed to be derived from a grant of King
Máel Coluim III to Domnall "Munro" (
Domhnall mac an Rothaich), the legendary progenitor of
Clan Munro. However, there is no evidence for the existence of this family until the
fourteenth century, and it is not likely to be historically accurate.
[ Alexander Grant, "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba" in E.J. Cowan and R.Andrew McDonald (eds.) Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, (Edinburgh, 2000), p. 105.]Evanton is in close proximity to
Balconie Castle, an old seat of the
Mormaers and
Earls of Ross. By the early modern period, the area was dominated by the
Munros of
Foulis (
Foghlais), who had
their castle just a few kilometres away. Indeed, the latter began to bury their family at Kiltearn after
1588.
[Rev. Thomas Munro, "Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty (1834-45)" in Account of 1834-45, vol.14, p.313.] The
Cille place-name in Kiltearn tells us that there had been a very ancient Gaelic church near Evanton, like all
Cille place-names, founded before
800.
[See, for instance, W.F.H. Nicolaisen, Scottish Place-Names, (Edinburgh, 1976), 2nd ed. (2001), pp. 165â€"191 ; Simon Taylor, "Place-names and the Early Church in Eastern Scotland", in Barbara Crawford (ed.), Scotland in Dark Age Britain, (Aberdeen, 1996), pp. 93â€"103] The current Gaelic name
Cill Tighearna ("Church of the Lord") is probably a corruption of an older form, both because the name formation is unusual in being dedicated to the Lord Himself, and because the form given in
1227 is
Kiltierny, suggesting some kind of connection to
Tigernach in
Ireland. Other suggestions have included a dedication to St Ternan.
[W.J.Watson, Place-Names of Ross and Cromarty, (Inverness, 1904), p. 85.] The church lay next to the lordly residence of Balconie. By the
later middle ages, Balconie was one of the five lordships of Ross, as well as an individual seat of the Earls of Ross. Place-name evidence suggests that the site was once a Pictish residence. A charter granted by
Aodh, Earl of Ross in
1281 records the name
Petkenny, but in a charter of
1333 refers to a location called
Balkenny. The development of the name
Pitlochry, where Pictish
Pit- is replaced by Gaelic
Baile, suggests the names are the same, but the great early
twentieth century toponymist William J. Watson was doubftful.
[W.J.Watson, Place-Names of Ross and Cromarty, (Inverness, 1904), p. 87.]Before the industrial era, Scotland had nothing that we would call a city, although it had many towns. For most of the country though, there was just a series of scattered hamlets and lordly estates. So it was in Kiltearn. There had been a settlement, an old
ferm toun known as Drummond (
Drumainn), near the location of Evanton, and several lordly residences, such as Foulis, Novar and Balconie Castle. In
1807, the local landowner
Evan Fraser of Balconie was clearing his estates to make way for sheep, and founded Evanton as a planned settlement for the relocated residents,
[Undiscovered Scotland, The Ultimate Online Guide: Evanton.] modestly naming it after himself. To this day, in the words of one historian, Evanton "remains today an attractive example of a well planned, regularly laid out estate village".
[Ian R. M. Mowat, Easter Ross: 1750-1850, (Edinburgh, 1981), p. 69.]The Reverend Thomas Munro expressed similar sentiments in the
1840s, when he wrote that "the village was built on a waste of land, and differs from all others in the country by its regular and neat appearance".
[Munro, p. 326-7.] The village suffered from the severe famine that plagued the Highlands in
1840s. There was a riot in village in
1846, because the authorities continued to export grain despite the failure of the previous year's potato crop; similar riots occurred in
Rosemarkie,
Balintraid and
Avoch. In
1847, there was near starvation in the village, and the villagers managed to maintain themselves on
turnips.
[Mowat, (1981), p. 110.] However, the village population recovered. By the beginnings of the
First World War, Evanton had taken much of its physical current shape, and at this point in time contained businesses as diverse as a tobacconist and a bicycle shop,
[Christopher J. Uncles, Easter Ross and the Black Isle, (Ochiltree, 1998), p. 67.] which have both subsequently disappeared.
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Top view of a B-17H in flight.
From the Maxwell Air Force Base website (original image).'' |
In the twentieth century, the village enjoyed a variety of fortunes. The distillery closed in 1926 (see below) and one of the most important historical locations in Easter Ross,
Balconie Castle, was demolished in
1965. It had been an old seat of the Earls of Ross, but by the
1960s the owner could not afford to repair the dry rot.
[ibid., p. 68.] There was a
RAF airfield constructed near Evanton in
1922, on Alness Bay. It was known as the "Novar Base", because of its location on the Novar Estates. It was serviced from
Leuchars, and was used by the aircraft from the nearby
Home Fleet base of
Invergordon. The largest aircraft to have landed there was a
USAAF B17. On
Empire Day,
1939, RAF bases all over the United Kingdom were opened to the public, and the Evanton Aerodrome was the most northerly location to participate, attracting 9000 visitors.
[See, Evanton Airforce Base, in ww2inthehighlands Local History.] The base closed in the
1970s. However, the oil boom of the 1970s caused radical expansion of the village. It has been growing steadily ever since.
[Councilor Val MacIver, loc. cit.]The modern village is on average a little younger than the Highland region in general.
[Again, see 2001 Census, Evanton Zone.] The population of Evanton varies depending on how it is calculated. The Evanton "Settlement Zone" is different from the Evanton "Settlement", and the former is of course larger. There are 671 households and 1678 inhabitants in total in the Evanton-zone. Evanton-settlement on its own however has only 1105 inhabitants. The population in both cases though is growing steadily, and the 1990s saw a moderate increase of 8.12% for the zone, rising from 1552 to 1678;
[2001 Census, Evanton Zone.] and 10.72% for the settlement on its own, rising from 998 to 1105.
[General Register Office for Scotland Census analysis.] Over two thirds of the houses in the zone are owner-occupied. Roughly 16.4% or 275 people who live in Evanton-zone were born outside of Scotland, almost always coming from
England.
[Again, 2001 Census, Evanton Zone.] |
The Black Rock Gorge, on the Allt Graad, viewed from the top. |
Evanton is enclosed more or less to the north-east and the south-west by two rivers, the River Allt Graad and the River Sgitheach. The Allt Graad, sometimes called the River Glass, is a picturesque river that flows from
Loch Glass, near
Ben Wyvis, for 9 km (5½ miles) until it passes the northern end of the village, and empties into the
Cromarty Firth. However, some 3 km (2 miles) before it reaches the
Cromarty Firth, it passes through the
Black Rock Gorge. The latter is a few hundred metres in length and reaches 36 metres (120 feet) in height. In April,
2004, ten days of filming took place in the area for the movie
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the Gorge is the setting for one scene.
[See, Veritaserum: Movie 4- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:Locations-Black Rock Gorge.] The River Sgitheach, sometimes written as Skiack, is not as large a river as the Allt Graad and for many of the summer months it can be almost dry. It flows from the mountains of inland Ross and is complemented by numerous other streams until it passes several waterfalls before flowing past the southern end of the village, and the northern end of the old settlement of Drummond, into the Cromatry Firth about 1 km from the mouth of the Allt Graad.
[Dornoch and Alness, Invergordon and Tain (Landranger Maps), Ordinance Survey, 2002.]A significant but small percentage of people have employment in the oil industry owing to the proximity of oil rigs on the
Cromarty Firth. Other locally significant industries include
forestry, tourism and catering. A significant number of people work in larger nearby localities, such as
Inverness,
Dingwall,
Alness and
Invergordon, which is why only 13% of households in the zone own no car. 10.4% of the population of the zone are self-employed, and 28% economically inactive, roughly corresponding with the Highland averages.
[Again, 2001 Census, Evanton Zone.] There are also two hotels and two bars, which soak up much of the tourist income that the town generates.
There had been a distillery in the Evanton area of the Kiltearn parish as early as the
eighteenth century, its existence being reported by Harry Robertson, the author of the late eighteenth century Kiltearn section of the late eighteenth century
1st Statistical Account.
[ Harry Robertson, "Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty" in Account of 1791-99, vol.1, p.286. ] The Glen Skiack distillery opened in
1896 [The date 1896 is given here; it is also given here.] and only ever produced a relatively small amount of Whisky. However, the effects of the U.S.
Prohibition law, which damaged the income of all Scottish distilleries, proved too much for Glen Skiack, and the operation was forced to close in
1926. The building itself was demolished in
1933.
[Christopher J. Uncles, (1998), p. 66.]In
1860, the government decided to construct a railway line going from Inverness through
Easter Ross. The line was completed by
1862, and the following year, on May 23rd 1863, Evanton gained its own train station. However, the station was called Novar, and was not renamed "Evanton" until
1937. Sadly for the local economy, the station was closed in June
1960. The platforms remain there to this day, but the signal posts have been destroyed.
[See, Scotrail: "Inverness and Ross-shire Railway".] The Inverness to Thurso railway line, known today as "Far North Line", still passes by the seaward side of the town, and the trains can still be heard from a great distance. The nearest train station is Alness.
The A9, the great road connecting Inverness with the far north, once ran through Evanton, on the path of Balconie Street. However, a bypass was created as part of a general scheme to shorten the journey between Inverness to Invergordon. This reduced the amount of traffic going through the village, but decreased the revenue available to local businesses. The road also cut through much of the farmland of the zone, distorting the shape of the fields.
[J.S. Smith, "Modern Times", in Donald Omand (ed.), The Ross and Cromarty Book, (Golspie, 1984) p. 191] This was compounded by the closure of the filling station in the village. For those who do not have cars, the only means of transport is either by foot or by the #25 bus service operated by
Stagecoach.
[ See, Service #25.] Recently, the express service running from Inverness to Dornoch began to stop in Evanton. Now residents can travel from and to Inverness without the long diversion through Dingwall, and making it easier to work in the city of Inverness without personal transport.
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The old church of Kiltearn, 1905. |
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The old church of Kiltearn, 2005. The current church is located in the heart of Evanton, on Balconie Street. |
In
1845, the local minister wrote that the "the language generally spoken is an impure form of Gaelic, but it is rapidly losing ground"
[Munro, p. 322.] and that "in Evanton, both English and Gaelic are spoken indifferently".
[Munro, p. 323.] The minister wrote that the people, especially the children, learned English with ease after they had learned to write Gaelic. The minister also gave some reasons why the people were keen to learn English, telling us that "English being the language universally spoken by the higher classes, the mass of the people attach a notion of superior refinement to the possession of it".
[loc. cit.] Half a century previously, Harry Robertson had praised the spirit of one watchmaker in the region, but added "it is a pity that he can hardly read nor write, and hardly speaks English".
[Robertson, p. 300.] Today, one can see Gaelic written on the walls of the parish church, but the language has effectively died out, and English is totally dominant. Nevertheless, there are still some 72 residents (4.3%) of the village who know the language.
[2001 Census, Evanton Settlement Zone.] The village is also a big location on the Highland folk-circuit, and enjoys a vibrant musical culture in the Gaelic tradition. It is a regular practice for local musicians to meet in the Balconie Inn, one of the two
licenced establishments of the town, and engage in evening-long sessions. Many prominent musicians on the
Celtic music scene have visited, including
Dougie MacLean.
Evanton is home to the Headquarters of the international
charity Blythswood Care.
[See, Blythswood Care homepage.]The famous "naked rambler"
Stephen Gough was reported and arrested at Evanton in November,
2003. He was engaged in a naked trek through Britain. While walking through Evanton wearing only a hat, a backpack and boots, he was spotted and reported by a local resident. He was sentenced two months later at Dingwall
Sheriff Court. His arrest at Evanton meant that he still had one hundred miles to go in order to complete his journey.
[BBC News:"Another jail term for naked walker"] He completed his journey in January 2004 and repeated the feat in 2006.
[BBC News: "Naked rambler completes his trek"]Evanton was the venue for the premier of the 1st tour of the new Scottish National Theatre in 2006. Unable to find a suitable location in Inverness, the National Theatre chose to present "Home" at the studio of Arts In Motion, on the Evanton Industrial Estate http://www.artsinmotion.co.uk
Evanton has a number of public facilities including the Diamond Jubilee Hall, Sports Centre (opposite Kiltearn Primary School) and a good sized park at Teandallon. In recent years a local group of parents and young people has worked with Highland Council and various funding bodies to install a multisport area, a BMX track and a Half-Pipe ramp. http://evantoneye.tripod.com
Evanton Oral History Project (1991/2)available from Adrian Clark, 7 Camden St, Evanton and local libraries
*
Dornoch and Alness, Invergordon and Tain (Landranger Maps), Ordinance Survey, 2002
* Grant, Alexander, "The Province of Ross and the Kingdom of Alba" in E.J. Cowan and R.Andrew McDonald (eds.)
Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, (Edinburgh, 2000)
* MacIver, Councilor Val,
"Ross and Cromarty East Local Plan" (pdf)* Munro, Rev. Thomas, "Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty (1834-45)" in
Account of 1834-45, vol.14, pp. 313-332
**
Statistical Account of 1834-45 on EDINA* Mowat, Ian R. M.,
Easter Ross: 1750-1850, (Edinburgh, 1981)
* Nicolaisen, W.F.H.,
Scottish Place-Names, (Edinburgh, 1976), 2nd ed. (2001)
* Robertson, Harry, "Kiltearn, County of Ross and Cromarty" in
Account of 1791-99, vol.1, pp. 259-300
**
Statistical Account of 1791-99 on EDINA* Taylor, Simon, "Place-names and the Early Church in Eastern Scotland", in Barbara Crawford (ed.),
Scotland in Dark Age Britain, (Aberdeen, 1996), pp. 93â€"110.
* Smith, J.S., "Modern Times", in Donald Omand (ed.),
The Ross and Cromarty Book, (Golspie, 1984)
* Uncles, Christopher J., ''Easter Ross and the Black Isle, (Ochiltree, 1998)
*
2001 Census, Evanton Zone*
Blythswood Care homepage*
Evanton Airforce Base, in ww2inthehighlands Local History*
Footstompin Evanton Folk Festival*
Scotrail: "Inverness and Ross-shire Railway"*
SCRAN photograph of Novar Airfield*
Walking on "Fyrish Hill"*
General Register Office for Scotland Census analysis*
Undiscovered Scotland: Evanton
