fort george

Returning to Inverness, a diversion on the B9092 north-west to Fort George is essential. Built on a strategic headland that juts into the Moray Firth, less than a mile across the water from the Black Isle, this Hanovarian stronghold, named after George II, was the final nail in the Jacobite coffin. Erected to replace the castle at Inverness that was blown up by the Jacobites in 1746, its construction commenced in 1748, two years after the Battle of Culloden. When it was finished in 1769 there was no longer any trace of hostility, the Highlanders suppressed beyond sedition.

Kept as a military barracks, which it still is today, it is a large fortress essentially in its original condition. Ironically, many generations of Highland soldiers have been trained within these walls and the Regimental Museum of the Queen's Own Highlanders reflects their exploits with its collection of arms, colours, uniforms and medals connected with every major campaign fought by the British Army over the past two centuries. The chapel's stained glass windows include an image of the bagpipes but the most impressive aspect of the place has to be its vigourous military architecture, perhaps the most impressive of its kind in Europe.