church has a square tower surmounted with a steeple, containing one of the bells which Cromwell removed from Fortrose cathedral. On the left bank of the river stands St Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral, in the Decorated Gothic, erected in 1866 from designs by Dr Alexander Ross. Among the schools are the High School, the collegiate school, the school of science and art, and the Royal Academy, incorporated by royal charter in 1792. Other public buildings are the museum, public library, observatory, the northern infirmary, the district asylum, an imposing structure at the base of Dunain Hill (940 ft.), the Northern Counties Blind Institute, the Highland Orphanage and the Town Hall, opened in 1882. In front of the last stands the Forbes Memorial Fountain, and near it is the old town cross of 1685, at the foot of which, protected since the great fire of 1411, is the lozenge-shaped stone called Clach-na-Cudain (Stone of the Tubs), from its having served as a resting-place for women carrying water from the river. The old gaol spire, slightly twisted by the earthquake of 1816, serves as a belfry for the town clock. Half a mile to the west of the Ness is the hill of Tomnahurich (Gaelic, “The Hill of the Fairies”), upon which is one of the most beautifully-situated cemeteries in Great Britain. The open spaces in the town include Victoria park, Maggot Green and the ground where the Northern Meeting—the most important athletic gathering in Scotland—is held at the end of September. Inverness is the great distributing centre for the Highlands. Its industries, however, are not extensive, and consist mainly of tweed (tartan) manufactures, brewing, distilling, tanning, soap and candle-making; there are also nurseries, iron-foundries, saw-mills, granite works, and the shops of the Highland Railway Company. There is some shipbuilding and a considerable trade with Aberdeen, Leith, London and the east coast generally, and by means of the Caledonian Canal with Glasgow, Liverpool and Ireland. The Caledonian Canal passes within 1 m. of the town on its western side. In Muirtown Basin are wharves for the loading and unloading of vessels, and at Clachnaharry the Canal enters Beauly Firth. There is little anchorage in the Ness, but at Kessock on the left bank of the river-mouth, where there are piers, a breakwater and a coastguard station, there are several acres of deep water. The river at Inverness is crossed by four bridges, two of them for pedestrians only, and a railway viaduct. The town, which is governed by a provost, bailies and council, unites with Forres, Fortrose and Nairn (Inverness Burghs) in sending one member to parliament.
Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in 565 was visited by 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.), 112 m. W. 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 12 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 burned 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 therefor caused to be hanged. The house in which she lived meanwhile stands in Bridge Street. Beyond the northern limits of the town 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 barracks, and in 1746 they blew it up.
INVERNESS-SHIRE, a highland county of Scotland, bounded
N. by Ross and Cromarty, and the Beauly and Moray Firths,
N.E. by the shires of Nairn and Elgin, E. by Banff and Aberdeen
shires, S.E. by Perthshire, S. by Argyllshire and W. by the
Atlantic. It includes the Outer Hebrides south of the northern
boundary of Harris, and several of the Inner Hebrides (see
Hebrides) and is the largest shire in Scotland. It occupies
an area of 2,695,037 acres, or 4211 sq. m., of which more than
one-third belongs to the islands. The county comprises the
districts of Moidart, Arisaig and Morar in the S.W., Knoydart
in the W., Lochaber in the S., Badenoch in the S.E. and the
Aird in the N. Excepting comparatively small and fertile
tracts in the N. on both sides of the river Ness, in several of the
glens and on the shores of some of the sea lochs, the county is
wild and mountainous in the extreme and characterized by
beautiful and in certain respects sublime scenery. There are
more than fifty mountains exceeding 3000 ft. in height, among
them Ben Nevis (4406), the highest mountain in the British
Isles, the extraordinary assemblage of peaks forming the Monadhliadh
mountains in the S.E., Ben Alder (3757) in the S., and the
grand group of the Cairngorms on the confines of the shires of
Aberdeen and Banff.
In the north-west the Beauly river (16 m. long) is formed by the confluence of the Farrar and the Glass. The Enrick (18 m.), rising in Loch-nan-Eun, takes a north-easterly direction for several miles, and then flowing due east falls into Loch Ness, just beyond Drumnadrochit, close to the ruined keep of Castle Urquhart. The Ness (7 m.), a fine stream for its length, emerges from Loch Dochfour and enters the sea to the north of Inverness. The Moriston (19 m.), flows out of Loch Clunie, and pursuing a course E. by N.E. falls into Loch Ness 4 m. south of Mealfourvounie (2284 ft.) on the western shore opposite Foyers. The Lochy (9 m.), issuing from the loch of that name, runs parallel with the Caledonian Canal and enters Loch Linnhe at Fort William. The Spean (18 m.), flowing westwards from Loch Laggan, joins the Lochy as it leaves Loch Lochy. The Nevis (12 m.), rising at the back of Ben Nevis, flows round the southern base of the mountain and then running north-westwards enters Loch Linnhe at Fort William. The Leven (12 m.), draining a series of small lochs to the north-west of Rannoch, flows westward to Loch Leven, forming during its course the boundary between the shires of Inverness and Argyll. The Dulnain (28 m.), rising in the Monadhliath Mountains, flows north-eastwards and enters the Spey near Grantown, falling in its course nearly 2000 ft. The Truim (1512 m.), rising close to the Perthshire frontier, flows N.N.E. into the Spey. Three great rivers spring in Inverness-shire, but finish their course in other counties. These are the Spey, which for the first 60 m. of its course belongs to the shire; the Findhorn (70 m.), rising in the Monadhliath Mountains a few miles N.W. of the source of the Dulnain; and the Nairn (38 m.), rising within a few miles of Loch Farraline. The two falls of Foyers—the upper of 40 ft., the lower of 165 ft.—are celebrated for their beauty, but their volume is affected, especially in drought, by the withdrawal of water for the works of the British Aluminium Company, which are driven by electric power derived from the river Foyers, the intake being situated above the falls. Other noted falls are Moral on the Enrick and Kilmorack on the Beauly.
The number of hill tarns and little lakes is very great, considerably more than 200 being named. Loch Ness, the most beautiful and best known of the larger lakes, is 2212 m. long, 134 m. broad at its widest point (Urquhart Bay), has a drainage area of 696 m., and, owing to its vast depth (751 ft.), uniformity of temperature, and continual movement of its waters, never freezes. It is the largest body of fresh water in Great Britain, and forms part of the scheme of the Caledonian Canal. A few miles S.W. is Loch Oich (4 m. long), also utilized for the purposes of the Canal, which reaches its summit level (105 ft.) in this lake. To the S.W. of it is Loch Lochy (912 m.), which is also a portion of the Canal. Loch Arkaig (12 m.) lies in the country of the Camerons, Achnacarry House, the seat of Lochiel, the chief of the clan, being situated on the river Arkaig near the point where it issues from the lake. The old castle was burnt down by the duke of Cumberland, but a few ruins remain. After Culloden Prince Charles Edward found shelter in a cave in the “Black Mile,” as the road between Lochs Arkaig and Lochy is called.
