English

Proper noun

1. A city in Scotland
2. Any of several cities in the United States and Canada (and one county in Nova Scotia, Canada), named after the Scottish city

Translations

Noun

1. a type of cloak without sleeves and having a removable cape

Inverness (lang-gd Inbhir Nis ) is a city in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and it is promoted as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland. Inverness is unusual in that although there are letters patent, dating from 2001, the city has no statutory boundaries. Tourism is important to the city's economy, as are service industries and healthcare. According to Telegraph.co.uk 3 February 2008, Inverness is Europe's fastest growing city and is ranked fifth out of 189 British cities for its quality of life.

The city lies where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth and is a natural hub for various transport links. A settlement was established by sixth century AD, the first royal charter being granted in the thirteenth century. It lies near the site of the eighteenth century Battle of Culloden.

Because Inverness has no statutory boundaries population figures vary from about 40,900 to about 66,600, depending on what notion or definition of boundaries is used (in addition, normally urban area is used to define the boundaries for a settlements population - not arbitrary official bounderies which are nomally out of sync with the actual size of the settlement but this hard to obtain for Inverness). Inverness is twinned with three other European cities. The city is home to numerous sporting and cultural groups and events, including the annual Highland Games and football club Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C., who play in the Scottish Premier League as well as Clachnacuddin F.C. who play in the Highland League. Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute. City status was granted in 2001.

Scottish Gaelic appears on the majority of road signs around Inverness, with around 3,555 people (5.47% of the population) speaking the language.

Toponymy

The name Inverness is Gaelic and means 'mouth of the river Ness'. See Aber and Inver as place-name elements. Since the town predates Gaelic settlement, it is likely the name is a Gaelic adaptation of an older form with Aber-. In the colonial period the name was given by expatriates to Inverness, Nova Scotia and other places.

History

Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the Picts, and in AD 565 was visited by St Columba with the intention of converting the Pictish king Brude, who is supposed to have resided in the vitrified fort on Craig Phadrig (168 m), 2.4 km west of the city. A church or a monk's cell is thought to have been established by early Celtic monks on St Michael's Mount, a mound close to the river, now the site of the Old High Church and graveyard. The castle is said to have been built by Máel Coluim III of Scotland, after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad mac Findláich had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad, and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east.

Inverness had four traditional fairs, one of them being Legavrik (leth-gheamradh).

William the Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a royal burgh. Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre. On his way to the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, Donald, Lord of the Isles, harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were executed for asserting an independent sovereignty.

In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Queen Mary was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards therefore caused to be hanged. The Clan Fraser and Clan Munro took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development. The city's Marymass Fair, on the Saturday nearest August 15th, (a tradition revived in 1986) is said to commemorate Queen Mary as well as the Virgin Mary.

Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration. The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower. In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up.

Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite Rising of 1745-1746.

On September 7, 1921, the only UK Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George, on holiday in Gairloch, called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland. The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Geography

Inverness lies at the mouth of the River Ness, and it is from this that the city derives its name: Inbhir Nis is Scots Gaelic for "mouth (or confluence) of the Ness". In nominal terms, the river mouth is at the southwestern and most inland extremity of the Moray Firth (). The Beauly Firth may be seen, however, as a westward and more inland extension of the Moray Firth. Also, Inverness Firth has some currency as a name for the section of the Moray Firth between the mouth of the River Ness and the more eastward promontory of Fort George ().

The river flows from nearby Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal and connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Loch Lochy.

Islands in the River Ness, the Bught and the river banks form a pleasant series of walks, as do the forested hills of Craig Phadraig and Craig Dunain. The city is well served with shops, as it is the main shopping centre for an area of nearly 26,000 km².

Health

Raigmore Hospital

Raigmore is the main hospital in Inverness and the entire Highland authority. The present hospital opened in 1970, replacing wartime wards dating from 1941. Raigmore is also a teaching hospital catering for both the Universities of Aberdeen and Stirling.

Economy

Most of the traditional industries such as distilling have been replaced by high-tech businesses, including the design and manufacture of diabetes diagnostic kits. Highlands and Islands Enterprise has partly funded a Centre for Health Science with a view to attracting more businesses in the medical and medical devices business to the area.

Inverness City Centre is divided from North West to South East by the River Ness. Both sides are connected by Frairs Bridge to the North and Tomnahurich Street to the South. The main shopping area, which is to the east of the River, consists of the High Street, Eastgate and Inglis Street being surrounded by the Eastgate Shopping Centre (Inverness). Another shopping area, where the Victoria Market exists , can be found nearby. The main Inverness railway station is directly opposite. A major supermarket is even present on the fringe of the centre. The west bank contains both The Eden Court Theatre and St Andrew's Cathedral.

Inverness is the home for Scottish Natural Heritage following that body's relocation from Edinburgh under the auspices of the Scottish Executive's decentralisation strategy. The body provides a large number of jobs in the area.

Transport

Inverness is linked to the Black Isle across the Moray Firth by the Kessock Bridge. It has a railway station with services to Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Aberdeen, Thurso, Wick and to Kyle of Lochalsh. Inverness is connected to London by the Caledonian Sleeper, which departs six times a week and by the Highland Chieftain which runs 7 days a week. Inverness Airport is located 15 km east of the city and has scheduled flights to airports across the UK and Republic of Ireland including London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and the islands to the north and west of Scotland. Some local controversy arose when British Airways sold off the landing slots at Heathrow for the three daily flights to and from Inverness as part of the proposed link up with American Airlines which eventually failed. Three trunk roads (the A9, A82 and A96) provide access to Aberdeen, Perth, Elgin, Thurso, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Plans are being drafted to convert the A96 between Inverness and Nairn to a dual carriageway.

Politics

Local Government

See also Politics of the Highland council area

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 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, the districts were abolished and the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary Highland Council, however, adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created area committees to represent each. The Inverness committee represents 23 out of the 80 Highland Council wards, with each ward electing one councillor by the first past the post system of election. However, management area and committee area boundaries have been out of alignment since 1999, as a result of changes to ward boundaries. Also, ward boundaries are changing again this year, 2007, and the council management areas are being replaced with three new corporate management areas.

Ward boundary changes this year, 2007, under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, create 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 remains the same. Also, the Inverness management area is being 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 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.

City Status

In 2001 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. These letters patent, which were sealed in March 2001 and are held by Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, 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. 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.

Parliamentary representation

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 Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) Danny Alexander
• Two county constituencies of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood), created in 1999:
  • Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, currently represented by Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Fergus Ewing
  • Ross, Skye and Inverness West, currently represented by Liberal Democrat MSP John Farquhar Munro

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.

Town twinning

• flagicon Germany Augsburg, Germany
• flagicon USA Inverness, Florida, USA
• flagicon France La Baule, France
• flagicon France St Valery-en-Caux, France

Health Services

The main hospital serving Inverness is Raigmore Hospital. This hospital comes under NHS Highland which controls many hospitals in the Highlands and Islands. There are however several other hospitals in the general area, notably New Craigs hospital which deals which mental health care. The current building occupied by New Craigs was opened in 2000.

Culture & sports

Inverness is an important centre for bagpipe players and lovers, since every September the city hosts the Northern Meeting, the most prestigious solo piping competition in the world. The Inverness cape, a garment worn by pipers the world over in the rain, is not necessarily made in Inverness.

Another major event in calendar is the annual City of Inverness Highland Games. In 2006 Inverness hosted Scotland's biggest ever Highland Games over two days in July, featuring the Masters' World Championships, the showcase event for heavies aged over 40 years. 2006 was the first year that the Masters' World Championships had been held outside the United States, and it attracted many top heavies from around the world to the Inverness area.

The current music scene within Inverness generally leans towards an emo/punk/hardcore style, but there are also bands who show features of different genres such as rock, metal, pop, classical, grunge, industrial and traditional Scottish music. The Ironworks venue has attracted a greater variety of music to Inverness.

The city is home to two football clubs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in 1994 from the merger of two Highland League clubs, Caledonian F.C. and Inverness Thistle. 'Caley Thistle' play at The Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and are currently in the Scottish Premier League and lay claim to have the longest name for any football club in the world. The other football club Clachnacuddin F.C., play in the Highland League. Inverness Citadel F.C. was another popular side which are now unfortunately defunct. Bught Park, located in the centre of Inverness is the finishing point of the annual Loch Ness Marathon and home of Inverness Shinty Club.

Cricket is also a popular sport in Inverness, with both Highland CC and Northern Counties playing in the North of Scotland Cricket Association League and 7 welfare league teams playing midweek cricket at Fraser Park. Both teams have been very successful over the years. Highland joined the league in 1957 and won their first league title in 2002 and recaptured the title in 2007.

In 2007, the city hosted Highland 2007, a celebration of the culture of the Highlands, and will also host the World Highland Games Heavy Championships (21 & 22 July) and European Pipe Band Championships (28 July).

Buildings

Important buildings in Inverness include Inverness Castle, Inverness College 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, 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, and it is the venue for the annual Kirking of the Council, which is attended by local councillors.

Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute.

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 (segregated).

Famous people

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Charles Kennedy, was born in Inverness.

Yvette Cooper, the Minister of State for Housing in the Brown Cabinet was also born in Inverness.

Areas of the city

Towns and Villages

Apart from the former burgh of Inverness, the Highland Council's city management area includes Ardersier, Beauly, Culloden,Balloch, Drumnadrochit, Fort Augustus, Invermoriston, Smithton, Tomatin, Kirkhill and Kiltarlity.

Footnotes

External links

• wikitravel Inverness
• Sightseeing around Inverness
• Inverness Information
• Inverness Riverside Churches
• Inverness Highland Year of Culture
• A map of Inverness from 1716