Fortrose

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For the place in New Zealand, see Fortrose, New Zealand.
Fortrose
Fortrose Cathedral
Fortrose is located in Ross and Cromarty
Fortrose
Fortrose
Location within the Ross and Cromarty area
Population1,680 (mid-2020 est.)[1]
OS grid referenceNH7256
• Edinburgh118 mi (190 km)
• London449 mi (723 km)
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townFORTROSE
Postcode districtIV10
Dialling code01381
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
57°34′55″N 4°07′55″W / 57.582°N 4.132°W / 57.582; -4.132
Fortrose ("Channery") in an 18th-century Jacobian broadside

Fortrose is a town and former royal burgh in Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom.[2][3] It is located on the Black Isle, a peninsula on the Moray Firth. It is about six miles (ten kilometres) northeast of Inverness. The burgh is a popular location for trying to spot bottlenose dolphins (see Chanonry Point) in the Moray Firth. The town is known for its ruined 13th century cathedral, and as the home of the Brahan Seer.

Names[edit]

The origin of the name Fortrose is uncertain. One possibility is that it came from nearby Chanonry Point and originally meant the headland (ros) of the Fortriu,[4] a local ethonym.[5] Compare the etymology of Montrose in Angus. The locals pronounce the name /ˈfɔːrtroʊz/, with the stress on the first syllable.

The former name of the place was Channery, an anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic A' Chananaich and Scots Chainry, likewise from Chanonry Point.

History[edit]

Archaeological investigations, by Headland Archaeology, in 2013, as part of a planning condition for the creation of a housing development found domestic activity dating from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age. There was evidence of cereal production and the gathering of wild resources. The archaeologists also found that funerary practices change on the peninsula during that time from stone cist burials to cremation burials.[6]

In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the bishopric of Ross, and formerly called Chanonry, for being the Chanory of Ross.[7] Fortrose owes its origins to the decision by Bishop Robert in the 13th century to build a new Cathedral of Ross there. This was to replace the Church of St Peter in nearby Rosemarkie.[8] The cathedral was largely demolished in the mid-seventeenth century by Oliver Cromwell to provide building materials for a citadel at Inverness.[9] The vaulted south aisle, with bell-tower, and a detached chapter house (used as the tollbooth of Fortrose after the Reformation) remain. These fragments, though modest in scale, display considerable architectural refinement, and are in the care of Historic Scotland (no entrance charge).

Fortrose was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Inverness, Forres and Nairn, in the Inverness Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. The constituency was abolished in 1918 and the Fortrose component was merged into the then new constituency of Ross and Cromarty.[citation needed]

Fortrose Academy[edit]

Fortrose Academy is the only secondary school on the Black Isle. It feeds in pupils from the respective primary schools of Avoch, Cromarty, Culbokie, Munlochy, North Kessock, Resolis, and Tore. There are around 640 pupils enrolled. Notable former teachers include Mr A. Tait, who won the Teacher of the Year Award in Scotland, 2006. The rector of the school is Jacquie Ross.[10]

Fortrose Library[edit]

Built into the school is Fortrose library, which is part of the Highland Libraries group. The library is regularly used by pupils in Fortrose Academy, for which the younger years take out books to participate in the "power readers" scheme, which involves pupils getting rewards for reading a certain number of books, and passing on to the next level. Due to the library's small size, the stock is always changing.[citation needed]

Black Isle Leisure Centre[edit]

Situated next to the school is the Black Isle Leisure Centre. It consists of a gym, and one single indoor court which has space for four badminton courts, four small basketball courts or one full sized basketball court. It also has goals at either end for football. Pupils of Fortrose Academy regularly have PE lessons in the Leisure Centre.[citation needed]

Transport[edit]

The A832 runs through the town.

There is a bus service from Inverness that runs half-hourly weekdays (with a few gaps for schools traffic). The buses continue hourly to Cromarty.

There was a railway station at Fortrose, which closed in 1951. The line it was situated on closed in 1960.[citation needed]

People from Fortrose[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Mid-2020 Population Estimates for Settlements and Localities in Scotland". National Records of Scotland. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Fortrose". The Gazetteer for Scotland. School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh and The Royal Scottish Geographical Society. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  3. ^ "The Online Scots Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
  4. ^ McGuigan, Neil (2021). Máel Coluim III, 'Canmore': An Eleventh-Century King. Edinburgh: John Donald. p. 59. ISBN 9781910900192.
  5. ^ Rhys, Guto (2015). "Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic" (PDF). University of Glasgow. University of Glasgow. p. 155.
  6. ^ "Vol 91 (2020): The Excavation of Neolithic Pits and a Bronze Age Burial Site at Ness Gap, Fortrose | Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports". journals.socantscot.org. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  7. ^ John Ramsay McCulloch (1847). A Dictionary, Geographical, Statistical, and Historical, of the Various Countries, Places, and Principal Natural Objects in the World: Illustrated with Maps. Harper & Brothers. p. 921. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  8. ^ "Fortrose Feature Page on Undiscovered Scotland". www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  9. ^ The Scots Magazine. D.C. Thomson. 1956. p. 155. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  10. ^ "About Fortrose Academy". Fortrose Academy. Retrieved 22 December 2023.

Further reading[edit]

  • Bond, Elizabeth (1814) Letters of a Village Governess. 2 vols. London: printed for the Author, by E. Blackader

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fortrose.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Fortrose".
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