Inverness
This article is about the Scottish city of Inverness
, and closely associated uses of the name. For other uses see Inverness (disambiguation). ). Also,
Kyle of Lochalsh services run to and from Inverness via the Far North Line to
Dingwall. with services to
Perth,
Edinburgh,
Glasgow and
London, to
Aberdeen, to
Thurso and
Wick, and to
Kyle of Lochalsh.
Inverness Airport[Ordnance Survey grid reference for Inverness Airport (access from A96 road): .] is located 15 km east of the city and has scheduled flights to airports across the U.K. including
London,
Edinburgh and the islands to the north and west of Scotland. Three trunk roads (the
A9,
A82 and
A96) provide access to Aberdeen, Perth, Elgin, Thurso and Glasgow.
Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the
Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the
Jacobite Rising of 1745-1746.
Inverness also serves as somewhat of a Mecca for lovers and players of the
bagpipes. Every September the city hosts the
Northern Meeting, the most prestigious solo piping competition in the world. The
Inverness cape, a garment worn by pipers the world over in the rain, is not necessarily made in Inverness.
Another major event in calendar is the annual City of Inverness
Highland Games. In 2006 Inverness hosted Scotland's biggest ever
Highland Games over two days in July, featuring the Masters World Championships, the showcase event for heavies aged over 40 years. 2006 was the first year that the Masters World Championships had been held outside the
United States, and it attracted many top heavies from around the world to the Inverness area.
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Inverness Lieutenancy (Site of city shown in red) |
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St. Andrew's Cathedral on the banks of the River Ness |
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 Phadrig (168 m), 2.4 km west of the city. 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 around 1 km to the north-east.
William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness 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,
Lord of the Isles, harried the city, 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 stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development. The city's
Marymass Fair, on the Saturday nearest
August 15th, (a tradition revived in 1986) is said to commemorate Queen Mary as well as the
Virgin Mary.
Beyond the northern limits of the city
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. In 1727 the government built the first
Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up.
On
September 7 1921 the only
UK 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.
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River Ness and Inverness Castle |
See also: Politics of the Highland council areaThe
committee area consists of 23 out of the 80
Highland Council wards. Each ward elects one
councilor by the
first past the post system of election.
The area is represented by 13
independent councillors, six
Labour councillors, two
Scottish National Party councillors and one
Liberal Democrat councillor.
There is one vacancy at present, due to the death, in May 2006, of the councillor for the Lochardil ward, and a by-election has been scheduled for August 10. There are six candidates for the seat.
As a component of
Inverness District of Burghs Inverness was a
parliamentary burgh from 1708 to 1918. The other burghs of this
district of burghs constituency were
Forres,
Fortrose and
Nairn. It was a constituency of the
Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918.
In 1918 the Inverness burgh was merged into the then new
Inverness constituency. The other components of the district of burghs were divided between the
Moray and Nairn constituency and the
Ross and Cromarty constituency.
The rest of the new Inverness constituency consisted of the mainland and
Inner Hebridean areas of the former
Inverness-shire constituency. The
Outer Hebridean area of the Inverness-shire constituency was merged into the
Western Isles constituency.
In 1983, eight years after the
local government county of
Inverness-shire had been divided between the
Highland and
Grampian regions and the
Western Isles council area, the Inverness constituency was largely replaced by the
Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber constituency.
Ballifeary,
Balloch,
Beechwood,
Bught,
Carse,
Castle Heather,
Clachnaharry,
Cradlehall,
Crown,
Croy, Highland,
Culcabock,
Culduthel,
Culloden,
Dalneigh,
Drakies,
Drummond,
Haugh,
Hilton,
Holm,
Inshes,
Kinmylies,
Leachkin,
Lochardil,
Longman,
Merkinch,
Millburn,
Milton,
Muirtown,
Ness Castle,
Ness-Side,
Raigmore,
Scorguie,
Seafield,
Slackbuie,
Smithton,
South Kessock,
Torvean and
Westhill.
*
Augsburg,
Germany*
Inverness,
Florida,
United States*
La Baule,
France*
St Valery-en-Caux, France
* The Wikipedia travel guide to Inverness including accommodation, how to get around and places to visit.
*
A map of Inverness from 1716*
Sightseeing around Inverness*
Inverness Highland Games*
Inverness Airport - News and flight schedules*
Google map for InvernessCoordinates: 
