Fort Augustus
33 miles south west of Millwood House
On the eastern fringes of Lochaber, at the head of Loch Ness, stands
the village of Fort Augustus. Following the Jacobite uprising in 1715, a
fort was built on a site formerly known as Kilchumein at the southern tip
of Loch Ness to house a garrison. The fort was named after King George
II's son, William Augustus. William Augustus became the Duke of Cumberland
and later became known throughout the highlands as 'Butcher Cumberland'
after he defeated the uprising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Fort
remained in army occupation until 1854. Thomas Alexander, the 14th Lord
Lovat, bought the buildings from the government in 1867 and nine years
later, his son gave them to the English Benedictines.
The fort was dismantled and incorporated into an
abbey which for many years, used to
house a boys' private boarding school. The school had to close a few years
ago but for some years after that, the few remaining monks kept the
building open by running it as a visitor attraction but regrettably, the
doors have recently had to be closed and the public no longer have access.
There is a golf course on the edge of the town which was relocated there
to make way for tree planting upon condition that it would have to share
the land with sheep - this is still true today. Fort Augustus has a series
of five locks on the Caledonian Canal, and there are numerous boat trips
available and boats can be hired in the village. The main road from the
west coast to Inverness (A82) crosses the Caledonian Canal before heading
up the northern shore of the loch towards Inverness. |
