Fort George, Highland
Encyclopedia
Fort George is a large 18th century fortress near Ardersier
, to the north-east of Inverness
in the Highland
council area of Scotland
. It was built to pacify the Scottish Highlands
in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising
of 1745, replacing an earlier Fort George built with the same aim after the 1715 Jacobite rising. The fortress has never been attacked and has remained in continuous use as a garrison
.
The fortification is based on a Star
design, it remains virtually unaltered and nowadays is open to visitors with exhibits and recreations showing use at different periods, while still serving as army barracks
. Originally the depot of the Seaforth Highlanders
and later the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)
, it was more recently home to the Royal Irish Regiment, and as of 2007, the new garrison of the Black Watch
, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.
, a large fortress capable of housing 400 troops on a hill beside the River Ness
, on the site of (and incorporating portions of) the medieval castle which had been rebuilt as a citadel
by Oliver Cromwell
then abandoned. The first commanding officer of the original Fort George was Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet, Colonel of the 42nd Royal Highlanders
(Black Watch) and chief of the highland Clan Munro
.
In 1747 Colonel William Skinner, the King's Military Engineer for North Britain
, let a contract to rebuild the fortress, but Inverness Council made a claim for compensation for the loss of part of its harbour and an alternative site was found.
, about 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Inverness
, which forms a promontory jutting into the Moray Firth
and controls the sea approach to Inverness
. With its own harbour below the walls, the fort could be supplied by sea in event of a siege. Work began in 1748, with Colonel Skinner in charge, and the Adam brothers, John
, Robert
and later James, acting as contractors, overseeing around 1,000 soldiers who provided labour and defended the site against attack. By 1757 the main defences were in place and Fort George was finally completed in 1769. The original budget was £92,673 19s 1d, but the final cost was more than £200,000, a vast figure for the time. There would be no more Jacobite rebellions for the fort to control and it became a base for the Highland regiments
recruited from the clan
s in the same way as the Black Watch
. The main walls are stone faced, in plan faceted and angled with projecting bastion
s and redoubt
s so that every wall face is covered by fire from guns sited on top of other walls. The walls are many yards wide and grassed over, on top of barrel vaulted casemate
s which form underground bunker
s designed to protect the entire garrison from artillery
fire. The approach to the fortress from the landward side is across a wide area of loose shingle, unsuitable for siting heavy guns, so that besieging artillery is kept out of range. Sloping grassy banks designed to absorb artillery shells all but hide the fort from view. The entrance is reached via a ravelin
, a free standing defensive structure incorporating a guardhouse
and completely exposed to fire from the main fort, then by a raised wooden walkway, complete with drawbridge
, bridging across a wide ditch set between heavily defended bastion
s. The ditch forms a wide killing ground openly exposed to gunfire from these walls.
Historic Scotland
use part of one of the barracks to display reconstructions of life in the early days of the fort, and the Grand Magazine displays the Seafield Collection of Arms as well as forming a stage for actors recreating the lives and stories of soldiers in the 18th century.
and Lovat Scouts
. The exhibits include uniforms, weapons, medals, World War I memorial placques
known as “death pennies”, photographs, paintings, memorabilia and regimental regalia. Displays include the history of the regiments, their links to the clans
, the Highland charge
, Sergeant Alexander Edwards
and other notable regimental members, and the regiments' activities in different conflicts.
The regimental Chapel is also open to visitors, and features many regimental colours and memorials.
Ardersier
Ardersier is a small former fishing village in the Scottish Highlands, on the Moray Firth, east of Inverness, near Fort George, and Nairn . Its name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic "Àird nan Saor", or "Headland of the joiners", one local legend being that carpenters working on the construction...
, to the north-east of Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
in the Highland
Highland (council area)
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...
council area of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It was built to pacify the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
of 1745, replacing an earlier Fort George built with the same aim after the 1715 Jacobite rising. The fortress has never been attacked and has remained in continuous use as a garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
.
The fortification is based on a Star
Star fort
A star fort, or trace italienne, is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when cannon came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy....
design, it remains virtually unaltered and nowadays is open to visitors with exhibits and recreations showing use at different periods, while still serving as army barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
. Originally the depot of the Seaforth Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
and later the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)
Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)
The Queen's Own Highlanders , officially abbreviated "QOHldrs," was an infantry regiment in the Scottish Division of the British Army. It was formed on 7 February 1961 at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, with the amalgamation of 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders and 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron...
, it was more recently home to the Royal Irish Regiment, and as of 2007, the new garrison of the Black Watch
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....
, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.
The First Fort George
The first Fort George was built in 1727 in InvernessInverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, a large fortress capable of housing 400 troops on a hill beside the River Ness
River Ness
The River Ness is a river flowing from Loch Ness in Scotland, north to Inverness and the Moray Firth. On a hill above the river in Inverness stands Inverness Castle. The river is overlooked by the Eden Court Theatre, one of the largest theatres in Scotland. St. Andrews Cathedral also lies along...
, on the site of (and incorporating portions of) the medieval castle which had been rebuilt as a citadel
Citadel
A citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
then abandoned. The first commanding officer of the original Fort George was Sir Robert Munro, 6th Baronet, Colonel of the 42nd Royal Highlanders
42nd Regiment of Foot
The 42nd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army. Originally the 43rd Highlanders they were renumbered the 42nd in 1748.- Early history :...
(Black Watch) and chief of the highland Clan Munro
Clan Munro
-Origins:The main traditional origin of the clan is that the Munros came from Ireland and settled in Scotland in the 11th century and that they fought as mercenary soldiers under the Earl of Ross who defeated Viking invaders in Rosshire...
.
In 1747 Colonel William Skinner, the King's Military Engineer for North Britain
North Britain
North Britain is a term which has been occasionally used, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, for either the northern part of Great Britain or to Scotland, which occupies the northernmost third of the island...
, let a contract to rebuild the fortress, but Inverness Council made a claim for compensation for the loss of part of its harbour and an alternative site was found.
Siting and construction
The site chosen was a level spit of land at ArdersierArdersier
Ardersier is a small former fishing village in the Scottish Highlands, on the Moray Firth, east of Inverness, near Fort George, and Nairn . Its name is an anglicisation of the Gaelic "Àird nan Saor", or "Headland of the joiners", one local legend being that carpenters working on the construction...
, about 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, which forms a promontory jutting into the Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...
and controls the sea approach to Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
. With its own harbour below the walls, the fort could be supplied by sea in event of a siege. Work began in 1748, with Colonel Skinner in charge, and the Adam brothers, John
John Adam (architect)
John Adam was a Scottish architect. Born in Linktown of Abbotshall, now part of Kirkcaldy, Fife, he was the eldest son of architect and entrepreneur William Adam. His younger brothers Robert and James Adam also became architects.The Adam family moved to Edinburgh in 1728, as William Adam's career...
, Robert
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...
and later James, acting as contractors, overseeing around 1,000 soldiers who provided labour and defended the site against attack. By 1757 the main defences were in place and Fort George was finally completed in 1769. The original budget was £92,673 19s 1d, but the final cost was more than £200,000, a vast figure for the time. There would be no more Jacobite rebellions for the fort to control and it became a base for the Highland regiments
Highland Brigade (Scottish)
The Highland Brigade is a historical unit of the British Army, which has been formed a number of times. It recruited men from the Highlands of Scotland.-Crimean War:...
recruited from the clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
s in the same way as the Black Watch
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The unit's traditional colours were retired in 2011 in a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth II....
Fortifications
The fortifications form an example of defence in depthDefence in depth
Defence in depth is a military strategy; it seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of an attacker, buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space...
. The main walls are stone faced, in plan faceted and angled with projecting bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s and redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
s so that every wall face is covered by fire from guns sited on top of other walls. The walls are many yards wide and grassed over, on top of barrel vaulted casemate
Casemate
A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired. originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress.-Origin of the term:...
s which form underground bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
s designed to protect the entire garrison from artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
fire. The approach to the fortress from the landward side is across a wide area of loose shingle, unsuitable for siting heavy guns, so that besieging artillery is kept out of range. Sloping grassy banks designed to absorb artillery shells all but hide the fort from view. The entrance is reached via a ravelin
Ravelin
A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress...
, a free standing defensive structure incorporating a guardhouse
Guardhouse
A guardhouse is a building used to house personnel and security equipment...
and completely exposed to fire from the main fort, then by a raised wooden walkway, complete with drawbridge
Drawbridge
A drawbridge is a type of movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a castle surrounded by a moat. The term is often used to describe all different types of movable bridges, like bascule bridges and lift bridges.-Castle drawbridges:...
, bridging across a wide ditch set between heavily defended bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...
s. The ditch forms a wide killing ground openly exposed to gunfire from these walls.
Visitor access
The barracks are still in use as a military establishment, but much of the site is open to the public (entrance charge).Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...
use part of one of the barracks to display reconstructions of life in the early days of the fort, and the Grand Magazine displays the Seafield Collection of Arms as well as forming a stage for actors recreating the lives and stories of soldiers in the 18th century.
Highlander's Museum
The former Lieutenant Governors’ House is home to the Highlander's Museum, the official regimental museum of the Queen's Own HighlandersQueen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)
The Queen's Own Highlanders , officially abbreviated "QOHldrs," was an infantry regiment in the Scottish Division of the British Army. It was formed on 7 February 1961 at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, with the amalgamation of 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders and 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron...
and Lovat Scouts
Lovat Scouts
The Lovat Scouts were a British Army unit. The unit was first formed during the Second Boer War as a Scottish Highland yeomanry regiment of the British Army and is the first known military unit to wear a ghillie suit...
. The exhibits include uniforms, weapons, medals, World War I memorial placques
Memorial Plaque
The Memorial Plaque was issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war....
known as “death pennies”, photographs, paintings, memorabilia and regimental regalia. Displays include the history of the regiments, their links to the clans
Scottish clan
Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Clan Chiefs recognised by the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which acts as an authority concerning matters of heraldry and Coat of Arms...
, the Highland charge
Highland charge
The Highland charge was a battlefield shock tactic used by the clans of the Scottish Highlands which incorporated the use of firearms.-Historical Development :...
, Sergeant Alexander Edwards
Alexander Edwards
Alexander Edwards VC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces....
and other notable regimental members, and the regiments' activities in different conflicts.
The regimental Chapel is also open to visitors, and features many regimental colours and memorials.
Gallery
External links
- Fort George on Undiscovered Scotland
- Highlander's Museum - official site