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 AirportOrdnance 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.

Inverness Lieutenancy (Site of city shown in red)

St. Andrew's Cathedral on the banks of the River Ness

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 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.

River Ness and Inverness Castle

Area committee

See also: Politics of the Highland council area

The 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.

Parliamentary burgh and constituency

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.

Areas of the city

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.

Town twinning

* Augsburg, Germany
* Inverness, Florida, United States
* La Baule, France
* St Valery-en-Caux, France

Footnotes

Useful links

* 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 Inverness

Coordinates: