Inverness

Inverness and its immediate hinterland have a large number of originally Gaelic place names, as the area was solidly Gaelic-speaking until the late 19th century.[28]

Several springs which were traditionally thought to have healing qualities exist around Inverness. Fuaran Dearg, which translates as the "Red Spring", is a chalybeate spring located near Dochgarroch. Fuaran a' Chladaich ("The Spring on the Beach") near Bunchrew was once accessed by a causeway from the shore. Although submerged at high tide it continues to bubble and was traditionally known for treating cholera. Fuaran Allt an Ionnlaid ("Well of the Washing Burn") at Clachnaharry, where the Marquis of Montrose was allowed to drink while on his way from his capture in Sutherland to his execution in Edinburgh, was known for treating skin conditions. Also at Clachnaharry, Fuaran Priseag ("The Precious Well") was said to have been blessed by Saint Kessock and could treat weak and sore eyes, as well as expelling evil and shielding curses if a silver coin was offered. Tobar na h-Oige ("Well of the Young") is located near Culloden and was known for curing all ailments. Fuaran a' Chragan Bhreag ("Well of the Speckled Rock") is located near Craig Dundain and Fuaran na Capaich ("The Keppoch Well") is located near Culloden.[29]

Inverness is also home to the Munlochy Clootie Well.[30]

Although a Gaelic name itself, Craig Phadraig is alternatively known as Làrach an Taigh Mhóir, or "the place of the Great house".[31] "Several Gaelic place names are now largely obsolete due to the feature being removed or forgotten. Drochaid an Easain Duibh ("Bridge by the Small Dark Waterfall"), referred to in the tale Aonghas Mòr Thom na h-Iubhraich agus na Sìthichean ("Great Angus of Tomnahurich and the Fairies") has not yet been located within Inverness and Slag nam Mèirleach (meaning "Robbers' hollow"), adjacent to Dores Road in Holm is no longer in use. Until the late 19th century, four mussel beds existed on the delta mouth of the River Ness: Scalp Phàdraig Mhòir ("Scalp of Great Patrick"), Rònach ("Place of the Seals"), Cridhe an Uisge ("The Water Heart") and Scalp nan Caorach ("Scalp of the Sheep") – these mussel beds were all removed to allow better access for fishing boats and ships.[32]

Allt Muineach (The Thicket River) now runs underground between Culcabock Roundabout and Millburn Roundabout. An Loch Gorm (The Turquoise Loch), a small sea loch which was situated beside Morrisons supermarket, was filled in during the 19th century and lives on only in the name of Lochgorm Warehouse. Abban Street stems from the word àban, a word of local Gaelic dialect meaning a small channel of water.

Many prominent points around Inverness retain fully Gaelic names.

• Beinn Bhuidhe Bheag – "Little Yellow Hill"
• Beinn Uan – "Lamb Hill"
• Cnoc na Mòine – "The Peat Hill"
• Cnoc na Gaoithe – "The Hill of the Wind"
• Cnoc an t-Seòmair – "The Hill of the Room"
• Creag Liath – "Grey Crag"
• Creag nan Sidhean – "The Crag of the Fairies"
• Doire Mhòr – "Great Oakwood"
• Carn a' Bhodaich – "The Old Man's Cairn"
• Meall Mòr – "Great Hill"

In the colonial period, a Gaelic speaking settlement named New Inverness was established in McIntosh County, Georgia, by settlers from in and around Inverness. The name was also given by expatriates to settlements in Quebec, Nova Scotia, Montana, Florida, Illinois, and California. The name Inverness is also given to a feature on Miranda, a moon of the planet Uranus, as well as a 2637 m tall mountain in British Columbia, Canada.[33] Inverness is also known by its nicknames Inversnecky or The Sneck, with its inhabitants traditionally known as Clann Na Cloiche ("Children of the Stone" in Gaelic) owing to the importance of the Clach Na Cudainn stone in the city's history.

Inverness College is situated in the city and is a part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, a federation of 15 colleges and research institutions in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland delivering higher education.

Plans for a new Business R&D and academic campus have been in place for some time with the college at its current Longman site relocation to a new development at the new Inverness Campus at Beechwood Farm.

The planning application for phase 1 of a new campus, lodged by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) was passed by The Highland Council in May 2010. The original outline planning application for the entire landholding submitted early 2009 remains live. This application forms a vision for the development over the next thirty years. The application includes:

• Academic buildings – up to 70,480 m²
• Business and incubation units – up to 49,500 m²
• Indoor sports complex – up to 9,000 m²
• Student and other short term residences – 44,950 m²
• Associated landscape, open space, outdoor recreation, infrastructure and services necessary to support the development phases
• Up to 200 residential units
• A social enterprise-run hotel[58][59]

The 80-hectare (200-acre) campus at Beechwood, just off the A9 south of Inverness, is considered to be one of the most important developments for the region over the next 20 years. The principal of UHI, James Fraser, said: "This is a flagship development which will provide Inverness with a university campus and vibrant student life. It will have a major impact on the city and on the Highlands and Islands. UHI is a partnership of colleges and research centres throughout the region, and the development of any one partner brings strength to the whole institution."[60]

It is estimated that the new campus would contribute more than £50m to the economy of the Highlands because it could attract innovative commercial businesses interested in research and development, while increasing the number of students who study within the city by around 3,000.[61]

Inverness bus station

Inverness bus station is situated at Farraline Park and can be accessed from Academy Street and Margaret Street. The bus station is managed by The Highland Council and is a short walk away from the Inverness railway station and the main shopping area.

Permission was granted to demolish the existing bus station in 2000. It was then replaced with a new terminal building in the early 2000s.

The bus station's main operators include Stagecoach in Inverness and Stagecoach in Lochaber. Buses operate from the bus station around the town of Inverness and to Inverness Airport and to places as far afield as Fort William, Ullapool, Thurso and Aberdeen.

Megabus and Scottish Citylink operate a regular coach service to the Scotland's capital Edinburgh with connections to Glasgow at Perth.

National Express Coaches operate an overnight service from Inverness to London (Victoria) via Edinburgh taking 15 hours 5 minutes.[63]

A Stagecoach Highlands bus in Inverness, 1999

Stagecoach Highlands is the division of the Stagecoach Group which covers most of the former Rapson Group operations after the take-over by Stagecoach. It covers the following depots of the Stagecoach Group.

• Fort William (Ardgour Road, Caol) (t/a Stagecoach in Lochaber)
• Kirkwall (Scott's Road Hatston Industrial Estate) (t/a Stagecoach in Orkney)
• Portree (Park Road) (t/a Stagecoach in Skye)
• Thurso (Janet Street) (t/a Stagecoach in Caithness)

There are various outstations over the division area due to the rural nature of the area covered.

The operation from Aviemore depot comes under the East Scotland division as it trades as Stagecoach in Inverness.

Plans are in place to convert the A96 between Inverness and Nairn to a dual carriageway and to construct a southern bypass that would link the A9, A82 and A96 together involving crossings of the Caledonian Canal and the River Ness in the Torvean area, southwest of the town.[64]

The bypass, known as the Inverness Trunk Road Link (TRL), is aimed at resolving Inverness's transport problems and has been split into two separate projects, the east and west sections. The east section will bypass Inshes Roundabout, a notorious traffic bottleneck, using a new road linking the existing Southern Distributor with the A9 and the A96, both via grade separated interchanges. This proposed new link road would bypass Inshes roundabout, as stated before, and separate strategic traffic from local traffic as well as accommodating proposals for new development at the West Seafield Retail and Business Park and also a new UHI campus.

At the west end, two options for crossing the river and canal were developed. One involving a high level vertical opening bridge which will allow the majority of canal traffic to pass under without the need for opening. The other involved a bridge over the river and an aqueduct under the canal. Both of these designs are technically complex and were considered in detail along by the key stakeholders involved in the project. Ultimately it was decided that a bridge over the river and a tunnel under the canal were the best option, although more expensive.[65]

In late 2008 the controversial decision by the Scottish Government not to include the full Inverness bypass in its transport plan for the next 20 years was made. The government's Strategic Transport Projects Review did include the eastern section of the route, which will see the A9 at Inshes linked to the A96.

But the absence of the TRL's western section, which would include a permanent crossing over the Caledonian Canal and River Ness, sparked dismay among several Highland councillors and business leaders in Inverness who feel the bypass is vital for the city's future economic growth.[66]

Evening at Kessock Bridge

In late 2008 the Scottish Government's transport plan for the next 20 years was announced. It brings forward planned improvements to the A9 in an attempt to stimulate the economy and protect jobs.

Work costing a total of £8.5 million was undertaken at Moy, Carrbridge and Bankfoot. Northbound overtaking lanes were created and the carriageway was reconstructed at both Moy and Carrbridge. Junction improvements were also made at Moy.

In November 2011 the Scottish Government announced that it will upgrade the entire road from Perth to Inverness to dual carriageway. Work on this project is expected to start in 2015 is scheduled to be completed in 2025, at a cost of £3 billion.[67]

In July 2013, the Scottish Government announced a plan to install average speed cameras on the A9 between Perth and Inverness. This has been undertaken with an aim to reduce accidents and fatalities on the road, and will be the second permanent average speed camera scheme in Scotland.[68]

The Port of Inverness is located at the mouth of the River Ness. It has four quays and receives over 300 vessels a year.

Inverness Airport[69] is located 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of the city and has scheduled flights to airports across the UK including London, Manchester, Belfast and the islands to the north and west of Scotland, as well as a number of flights to Europe. Flybe operate flights to Belfast, Birmingham and a seasonal service to Jersey. Loganair operate Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft on routes to Benbecula, Dublin, Kirkwall, Stornoway and Sumburgh. Flybmi operates an Embraer regional jet on services to Bergen and Manchester on behalf of Loganair. EasyJet operate Airbus aircraft to London Gatwick three times per day, Luton twice a day and Bristol. British Airways operates a daily service to London Heathrow, and KLM operate a daily service to Amsterdam.

Inverness was an autonomous royal burgh, and county town for the county of Inverness (also known as Inverness-shire) until 1975, when local government counties and burghs were abolished, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, in favour of two-tier regions and districts and unitary islands council areas. The royal burgh was then absorbed into a new district of Inverness, which was one of eight districts within The Highland Council region. The new district combined in one area the royal burgh, the Inverness district of the county and the Aird district of the county. The rest of the county was divided between other new districts within the Highland region and the Western Isles. Therefore, although much larger than the royal burgh, the new Inverness district was much smaller than the county.

In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994,[70] the districts were abolished and the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary The Highland Council, however, adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created area committees to represent each. The Inverness committee represented 23 out of the 80 Highland Council wards, with each ward electing one councillor by the first past the post system of election. Management area and committee area boundaries later became disconnected as a result of changes to ward boundaries in 1999. Ward boundaries changed again in 2007, and the council management areas were replaced with three new corporate management areas.

Ward boundary changes in 2007, under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004,[71] created 22 new Highland Council wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, a system designed to produce a form of proportional representation. The total number of councillors remaining the same. Also, the Inverness management area was merged into the new Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate management area, covering nine of the new wards and electing 34 of the 80 councillors. As well as the Inverness area, the new area includes the former Nairn management area and the former Badenoch and Strathspey management area. The corporate area name is also that of a constituency, but boundaries are different.

Within the corporate area there is a city management area covering seven of the nine wards, the Aird and Loch Ness ward, the Culloden and Ardersier ward, the Inverness Central ward, the Inverness Millburn ward, the Inverness Ness-side ward, the Inverness South ward and the Inverness West ward. The Nairn and Cawdor ward and the Badenoch and Strathspey ward complete the corporate area. Wards in the city management area are to be represented on a city committee as well as corporate area committees.

In 2000, city status was granted to the Town of Inverness, and letters patent were taken into the possession of the Highland Council by the convener of the Inverness area committee.[72][73] These letters patent, which were sealed in March 2000 and are held by Inverness Museum and Art Gallery,[74] create a city of Inverness, but do not refer to anywhere with defined boundaries, except that Town of Inverness may be taken as a reference to the burgh of Inverness. As a local government area the burgh was abolished 26 years earlier, in 1975, and so was the county of Inverness for which the burgh was the county town. Nor do they refer to the former district or to the royal burgh.

The Highland area was created as a two-tier local government region in 1975, and became a unitary local government area in 1996. The region consisted of eight districts, of which one was called Inverness. The districts were all merged into the unitary area. As the new local government authority, the Highland Council then adopted the areas of the districts as council management areas. The management areas were abolished in 2007, in favour of three new corporate management areas. The council has defined a large part of the Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate area as the Inverness city management area.[75] This council-defined city area includes Loch Ness and numerous towns and villages apart from the former burgh of Inverness.

In January 2008 a petition to matriculate armorial bearings for the City of Inverness was refused by Lord Lyon King of Arms on the grounds that there is no legal persona to which arms can be granted.[76]

There are three existing parliamentary constituencies with Inverness as an element in their names:

• One county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), created in 2005:
  • Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, currently represented by Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of Parliament (MP) Drew Hendry.
• One constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood), created in 2011:
  • Inverness and Nairn, currently represented by Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Fergus Ewing[77]

These existing constituencies are effectively subdivisions of the Highland council area, but boundaries for Westminster elections are now very different from those for Holyrood elections. The Holyrood constituencies are also subdivisions of the Highlands and Islands electoral region.

Historically there have been six Westminster constituencies:

• One burgh constituency:
  • Inverness Burghs, 1708 to 1918
• Five county constituencies:
  • Inverness-shire, 1708 to 1918
  • Inverness, 1918 to 1983
  • Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber, 1983 to 1997
  • Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, 1997 to 2005
  • Ross, Skye and Inverness West, 1997 to 2005

Inverness Burghs was a district of burghs constituency, covering the parliamentary burghs of Inverness, Fortrose, Forres and Nairn. Inverness-shire covered, at least nominally, the county of Inverness minus the Inverness parliamentary burgh. As created in 1918, Inverness covered the county minus Outer Hebridean areas, which were merged into the Western Isles constituency. The Inverness constituency included the former parliamentary burgh of Inverness. As created in 1983, Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber was one of three constituencies covering the Highland region, which had been created in 1975. As first used in 1997, the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, and Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituencies were effectively two of three constituencies covering the Highland unitary council area, which had been created in 1996.

• Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany
• La Baule-Escoublac, Pays de la Loire, France[78]
• Saint-Valery-en-Caux, Normandy, France

The use of preaspiration in different Scottish Gaelic dialects throughout the Highlands, from 1 (strong) to 6 (absent). Preaspiration was used in the dialect of Inverness Gaelic and is still evident in both the Gaelic and English spoken in Inverness today.

Historically, Inverness had a solidly Scottish Gaelic speaking population, with the majority of the population having Gaelic as their first language. From approximately the end of the 19th century, following the 1872 Education Act, Inverness suffered a decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in line with the rest of the once Gaidhealtachd / Scottish Highlands. Despite the local dialect of Scottish Gaelic gradually falling out of use (although it continued to affect local English language dialect), the language is still spoken in other dialects and standardised forms. By the end of the 19th century, some rural areas to the south east of Inverness still had completely Gaelic speaking populations, such as Strath Dearn where almost 100% of the population were still Gaelic speaking.

1677: Inverness was described as "overwhelmingly" Gaelic speaking by the traveller Thomas Kirk.

1704: Close to 100% of the population was fluent in Gaelic with over 75% of the population only able to speak Gaelic.[87] Edward Lhuyd published major work on Inverness Gaelic and after collecting data from between 1699 and 1700, his findings showed a distinct dialect in the area.[88] The clear dialect of Inverness Gaelic was held in high regard by speakers of other forms, such as those from Lewis, Sutherland and Ross.[89] Gaelic remained the principal language of Invernessians for the rest of the 18th century, despite growing pressure from outwith the Highlands in both political and social contexts.

1798: Thomas Garnett (Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the Royal Institution of Great Britain) observed that Inverness had become largely bilingual with Invernessians using Gaelic as the language of the home but English as the language of foreign trade – however, the older generation at the time generally only had the Gaelic. Speaking of those in the countryside immediately surrounding Inverness, Garnett stated that although in Inverness both Gaelic and English "are spoken promiscuously...the language of the country people is Gaelic."

1828: John Wood praised the standard of both the Gaelic and English spoken in Inverness stating that both languages were spoken with "utmost purity." He noted that children would casually flit between the two languages while playing, asking questions in Gaelic while receiving answers in English and vice versa.

1882: The Celtic Magazine, published in Inverness, complained that enumerators of the 1881 census who assessed whether families were Gaelic speaking, English speaking or both, had supplied false information. The magazine wrote that "whole families .... scarcely any member of whom can express the commonest idea intelligently in English – who are in every sense Gaelic-speaking people only – were returned by the enumerators as English-speaking."

1901: Inhabitants of Inverness voiced regret at the very swift decay of the native language in the short space of twenty years following a complete absence of bilingual education and disregard for Gaelic.[90]

For its size, Inverness today still has a relatively high density of Gaelic speakers and a relatively lively Gaelic scene, making it one of the centres of the Scottish Gaelic Renaissance. According to the 2011 census, 4.8% of residents of greater Inverness over age 3 speak Gaelic compared to 1.1% nationally. At 2,800 Gaelic speakers, only Greater Glasgow and Edinburgh have a higher absolute total.[91] The number of Gaelic speakers has fluctuated over the last century. In 1881, the census reported 4,047 Gaelic speakers in Inverness (23.3% of the population) which by 1891 had risen to 6,356 speakers (30.47%).[92] By 1901 this figure had dropped to 5,072 speakers (23.88%) of the population, from which it continued to drop to present day numbers through emigration and language shift.[92] Scottish Gaelic is slowly re-appearing in the linguistic landscape, appearing on some signs around Inverness. Bun-sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, which opened in August 2007 offering primary school education through the medium of Gaelic, is nearing full capacity and was extended to allow for more pupils in August 2010.[93] Bòrd na Gàidhlig, an organisation responsible for supporting and promoting the use of Scottish Gaelic, has its main office in Inverness.[94] Other Gaelic related groups include the Inverness Gaelic Choir which has existed for over 70 years.[95] Inverness also hosted the Royal National Mòd in 2014, a festival celebrating Gaelic culture.[96]

Inverness has a unique accent of Scottish English. While the r's in most places in Scotland are tapped or rolled, in Inverness they are not. This has contributed to some considering the accent to be more akin to those of Ireland and the English West Country than those of Scotland. However, due to the overall decay of local accents across the United Kingdom, this is less prominent today than it once was.

St. Andrew's Cathedral on the banks of the River Ness

Important buildings in Inverness include Inverness Castle, and various churches.

The castle was built in 1835 on the site of its medieval predecessor. It is now a sheriff court.

Inverness Cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew, is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church and seat of the ordinary of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. The cathedral has a curiously square-topped look to its spires, as funds ran out before they could be completed.

The oldest church is the Old High Church,[97] on St Michael's Mount by the riverside, a site perhaps used for worship since Celtic times. The church tower dates from mediaeval times, making it the oldest surviving building in Inverness. It is used by the Church of Scotland congregation of Old High St Stephen's, Inverness,[98] and it is the venue for the annual Kirking of the Council, which is attended by local councillors.

There is no Catholic cathedral in the area as the Diocese's cathedral (St Mary) is at Aberdeen, the seat of the Diocese of Aberdeen. The Catholic population is served by two parish churches: St Mary's, Inverness founded in 1837, is the older of the two and the first Catholic church founded in Inverness since the Reformation.[99] St Ninian's was built during the 1960s and 1970s.[100]

Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute.[101]

Porterfield Prison, officially HMP Inverness, serves the courts of the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney Isles and Moray, providing secure custody for all remand prisoners and short-term adult prisoners, both male and female, who are segregated.[102]

Inverness is connected to three long-distance footpaths:

• The Great Glen Way – connects to Fort William along the Great Glen
• The John o' Groats Trail – connects to John o' Groats along the coast
• The South Loch Ness Trail – connects to Fort Augustus along the southeast side of Loch Ness