Avoch

infobox UK place
country = Scotland
official_name= Avoch
scots_name=
gaelic_name= Abhach
population= 891 [cite web|publisher=Scotland's Census Results Online|title =Comparative Population Profile: Avoch Locality | url=http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Population&mainArea=avoch&mainLevel=Locality | date = 2001-04-29| accessdate =2008-08-31 ] (2001 census)
est. 1,000 [http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data] (2006)
os_grid_reference= NH699553
map_type=Scotland
latitude=57.569327
longitude=-4.175335
unitary_scotland= Highland
lieutenancy_scotland=
constituency_westminster=
constituency_scottish_parliament=
post_town= AVOCH
postcode_district = IV9 8xx
postcode_area= IV
dial_code= 01381 62

Avoch ( _gd. Abhach - mouth of the stream) is a harbour-village located on the Black Isle, on the Moray Firth. The village's name is pronounced "Och" (as in the well-known Scots interjection "Och aye the noo").

Ormond Castle or "Avoch Castle" was a stronghold built on the site and served as a royal castle to William the Lion; passed on to the Morays of Petty then Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway, upon his marriage to Joanna de Moravia in 1362. Descendants of Archibald, were to take the title of Earl of Ormonde from the castle.Legend has it that the village was founded by survivors of the Spanish Armada.

Intrepid Scottish-Canadian explorer Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the first European to explore the great Canadian river now known as the Mackenzie River, crossing North America twice, to the Arctic Ocean in 1789 and Pacific Ocean in 1793, retired to Avoch in 1812 where he died in 1820 and was buried in the old Avoch Parish churchyard.

Avoch was the location of Rosehaugh (Pittanochtie) House, perhaps the most magnificent mansion house in the Scottish Highlands until it was demolished in the 1959.

Craigie Well at Avoch on the Black Isle has offerings of both coins and clouties. Rags, wool and human hair were also used as charms against sorcery, and as tokens of penenace and fulfilment of a vow (Sharp 1998).

Much of Avoch's wealth once came from its fishing industry, which in modern times has decreased with Cromarty taking most of the business. Wildlife-watching boat trips still run, taking visitors to see the dolphins in the inner Moray Firth at Chanonry Point. Tourists now provide much of the village's income.

ee also

* Clootie well
* Chanonry Point
* Moray Firth

References

External links

* [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/avoch/avoch/index.html Avoch at Undiscovered Scotland]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=36643 Sir Alexander MacKenzie at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]