Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus (Ordnance Survey gbmapping|NH379090) is a settlement in the Scottish Highlands, at the south west end of Loch Ness. The village has a population of around 646 (2001) [ [http://www.highland.gov.uk/plintra/iandr/cen/sz/fortaugustus.htm www.highland.gov.uk] ] . The village is heavily reliant on tourism.

The Gaelic name for the modern village is "Cill Chuimein", and the accepted etymology is that the settlement was originally named after Saint Cummein of Iona who built a church there. [ [http://ambaile.org/en/item/item_illustration.jsp?item_id=18212 am baile - Fort Augustus] ] Other suggestions are that it was originally called "Ku Chuimein" after one of two abbots of Iona of the Comyn clan, whose badge "Lus mhic Chuimein" refers to the Cumin plant, [ [http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/cumming2.html Clan Comyn, Cumming] ] or that it was called "Cill a' Chuimein" ("Comyn's Burialplace") after the last Comyn in Lochaber. [ [http://www.cameron-site.com/Private%20Site/macmillan3.html MacMillan 3] ]

In the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising in 1715, General Wade built a fort (taking from 1729 until 1742) which was named after the Duke of Cumberland. The settlement grew, and eventually took the name of this fort. The fort was captured by the Jacobites in April 1745, just prior to the Battle of Culloden.

The actual fort was sold to the Lovat family in 1867 and in 1876 they passed the site and land onto the Benedictine order. The monks set up Fort Augustus Abbey from the fort and later constructed a school there, but abandoned the site in 1998. For several years after that it was owned by Terry Nutkins.

The village was served by a rail line to Spean Bridge from 1903 until 1933, built by the North British Railway, but initially operated by the Highland Railway. The Caledonian Canal connecting Fort William to Inverness passes through Fort Augustus in a dramatic series of locks stepping down to Loch Ness.

The village is served by the "Cill Chuimein Medical Centre". [ [http://www.streetwise-highland.org/list.asp?subject=5 ICSH - Home] ]

Notes

Terry Nutkins also owned the Lovat Arms Hotel, a purpose built station hotel standing on the site of Kilwhimen Barracks, one of four built in 1718. The west curtain wall of the old fort, 34 metres long by 4 metres high in some places, still stands in the hotel grounds. The wall is pierced by a central gateway and ten gun embrasures. The monument is of national importance as the remains of one of the four Hanoverian forts built to pacify the highlanders after the 1715 & 1719 Jacobite uprisings.

Standing in the shadows of this monumental wall will conjure up images of the time Bonny Prince Charlie was in the barracks before he ordered the bombardment of the later Abbey Fort where the present day Fort Augustus Abbey now stands.

The first recorded date of the Lovat Arms being a hotel was thought to have been in 1869, known simply as "The Inn" & run by one Murdoch Bayne.

It was changed, however, in 1880 when the railway was built through Fort Augustus running to Spean Bridge, to "The Lovat Arms & Station Hotel." When the railway closed down in 1911, the hotel became "The Lovat Arms Hotel". It is the Gregorys that are now building on the hotel’s history, rebranding & marketing the hotel, as ‘ [Lovat Arms, Hotel Bar Restaurant] [http://www.lovatarms-hotel.com] ’.

External links

* [http://www.fortaugustus.org/ Fort Augustus]
* [http://www.fortaugustusabbey.com/ Fort Augustus Abbey]
* [http://www.railscot.co.uk/Invergarry_and_Fort_Augustus_Railway/frame.htm Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway]
* [http://www.kilchuimenacademy.highland.sch.uk/ Kilchuimen Academy]
* [http://www.fortaugustus.net/ Unofficial Fort Augustus Website]