Cromarty

-- ~- -------:;-----., f-0 R, A n$t,# . ~'I WOLIDAY O~~ICIAL GUIDf.. ~******•**************************** * * ·:l:: THE LEADING ESTABLISHMENT ! :l:: IN CROMARTY :l:: ** * * MORNING ROLLS * *** CONFECTIONERY * ! FROZEN FOODS :l:: :l:: VEGETABLES :l:: * * * ~ * ~ ~ : ~ "~~~([; ~~ ! : \.i ~~ ~'e'>~~<\. :l:: : \~~ c~~- c<.O'e'>.~ tr. : ~~~ 0~0 ~~~ ~~ : # ~~ ~\.Y~ c.,\.0~ -\)\.'\.~~ :l:: : ~~ o~"' <'\ ~~ tr. * ~~ 'e'>\.~~y *-)(- * * * * :* *t * VISITORS SPECIALLY * * CATERED FOR * * REGULAR VAN D ELIVERIES * * IN TOWN AND COUNTRY * * * *# BANK STREET, CROMARTY :l::* * Telephone 209 * * . : :l:: . * ~**********************************~ *~**********************************~ * * * ~ R. M. CHAPMAN ~ * * * * ~ Church 8t . Cromarty ~ * * *:l:: NEWSAGENT AND :l::* * STATIONER * * * * * * * * * Local Views and Devon Pottery * * * * * :l:: f***************************** :l:: * * :l::* D. J. MACKENZIE :l::* * * * - Ironmonger - * !* Phone: Cromarty 263 :l::* :l::* HARDWARE ffiONMONGERY :l::* * * * LocaL Souvenirs and Fancy Goods. Fishing * :l:: TackLe. China, G ~ass and aH HousehoLd :l:: :l:: Equipment. Modern Furniture, Bedding, :l:: * Rugs, LinoLeum, etc * :l::* T e"Levision and ELectricaL AppLiances :l::* :l::* Agent for " CaLor Gas " and FueL OiL :l::* * * t**********************************~~ !* When visiting the BLACK ISLE . !* ! stay at t * * * THE ROYAL HOTEL * * * !* CRO·MARTY * * * * * * over looking the Cromarty Firth * !* . and enjoy every comfort . !* * good food, good service, good * * accommodation . moderate charges * * * !* Telephone : Cromarty 217 !* * * * * t**********************************: CROMARTY T.he Official Guide Published by CROMARTY TOWN COUNCIL Printed in Scotland by HIGHLAND PRINTERS LTD., INVERNESS Cromarty from the West CR.OMARTY "Meane weH, speak weit and doe wei!" IF YOU LOOK at •a map of the north of Scotland you will observe that the town of Croma.rty is perched at the end ·Of a peninsula jutting into the Moray Firth, one side of it washed by the Cromarty Firth and the other side by the Inverness Firth. The town itself is situated near the mouth of the Cromarty Firth under the shelter of the South Sutor, one of the massive headlands which guard the entrance to the magnificent Land-locked harbour known to the ancient map-makers as Portus Salutis. By virtue of its geographical situation, its extremely low rainfall, and its modern water and drtainage systems, Cromarty is one ·of the most br•acing ·and health-giving holiday resorts in Scotland, an ideal spot set amid unrivalled scenery. Cromarty, which at the 1951 census had 726 inhabitants in the burgh,, has had quite a romantic history. To the antiquary the Grey Cairn at Glen Urquhart ·and the <hut circles rwhich are dotted over the moor, :will appeal as relics of the days of the Vikings. In historic times, however, the place was an import•ant element in the military and adminis trative machine of the Scottish Kings. lt was a Royal Burgh from the twelfth •century until 1685. In 1179 William the Lion erected a castle of the motte-·and bailey type at Uunscaith, Nigg. The revenues of the Ferry, which were attached to the castle, appear in the Royal Accounts and the Ferry to the present d ·1 y is known as "the King's Ferry." At a later date a similar ·castle was erected on the motehill, where Cromarty House now stands, and there is an explicit statement about it in a charter by .James Ill in 1470. The stone belonging to Sir Thomas Urquhut, the famous translator of Rabelais, was lbuilt on the same site in 1507 and 1631, •and stood there until 1772. Other important documents referring to Cromarty are those of Edward I, in 1305, Robert B ruce in 1316 and David II in 1364. B ruce was in rCromarty in 1309 and ·again in 1323. The Ferry was on the main " road " to the north. When King J ames IV journeyed to the shrine of St. 5 Duthus at T ain, his route 'Was ·from Aberdeen to Cromarty by the coast. Accompanied tby his picturesque retinue 'he rode along the high road to the Black Isle into Cromarty by the path n:>w skirt ing the Gaelic churchyard known as " The P ave," down the Big Vennel to the beach, thence across the Ferry. In March, 1497, he stayed overnight with the priest at Crom arty, and it is on record that the three boats required for himself and his party cost His Majesty half a guinea. On 13th November, 1501, h e aga.in crossed the Ferry when 'he paid the ferryman eight shillings, returning from Tain by the same route. In 1592, the Earl of 'Bothwell ·also crossed the F erry on his fli ght to the ;far north. Later in February, 1746, Lord Loudon' s for·ce crossed the ferry on their way io Sutherland, chased by Prince Charlie's Jacobites. In May, 1957, Her !Majesty Q ueen Elizabeth II and the Duke of 'Edinburgh, reviewed the Home Fleet ~n Cromarty Firth, 'arriving on the Royal Y·acht, Britannia, ·and remaining for three days. The existing town of Cromarty is really the third of that name. The site of the fi rst is now covered by the sea, .a nd the " Kirk-stanes " below the Fishertown m ark the spot where .a chur·ch and churchyard once stood. The site of the second is a lso p 1rtly covere:l by the sea, but a part remains at " T he Causeway,'' where the Town Cross (now in front of the Town Hall) used to stand, a nd which is the road to St. Regulus' Churchyard and the Hill. The •present town is divided into two parts, one of them is the Fisher town which, like the rest of the town, is industrially only a shadow of its former self. Durin g the nine teenth century a nd until compan tively r e c€ nt years a flourishing fishing industry wa s •carried on, but t he .change from sailing-'boats to steam-tboats and motor bo·ats, the flight of the herring, the destruction of the inshore fishing by the depredations of trawlers, and other su.bsidhry causes have reduced the in:iustry almost to vanishing point a nd with it the number of intrepid fishermen. Tempera muta,ntur, nos et mutaanur in illis. On the land the m ain industry is farming on a l arge scale. Other industries include forestry, fruit growing a nd salmon fi shing. In the burgh itself on the west, the derelict 'hemp factory is now utilized as stores, etc., and there is also the old brewery on the €ast. G How can the tourist get to this old-world burgh which is such a stronge mixture of the old with the new? There is no :railway line. The visitor from the south can reach it from Invergordon by a ·comfort able motor-boat, and the half-hour sail across the Firth is an enj·oyable experience; or he can cross Kessock Ferry (half-hourly service, cars transported) at Inverness and be conveyed by motor-bus, if on foot, to his des t in:~tion. There is a good bus service .. also from Din~wall which runs along the other side o1' the peninsula. The m otorist can choose his own route, and the roads are excellent. Hugh MilLer's birthplace LOO·KING AROUND Notable p eople and buildings THE VISITOR HAS plenty of opportunities to occupy his leisure time. One with a knowledge of geology will find much to interest him in a <iistrict made famous by HUGH MILLER, WhO was in his day (1802-1856) one of the country's leading geologists. A fossil bed lies on the beach just 1below " The <Reeds " park. Behind the town stands a monument to Hugh Miller over looking his humlble birthplace on Church Street. His birthplace, now one of the properties held by the National Trust for Scotland, is open to visitors, and contains a number of fossils arranged by Mr Hugh Miller, the geologist's son, as well as a number of important manuscripts, including those of Miller's works, and letters from eminent contemporary writers and men of science. Visitors are referred to Miller's books, particularly to My Schools and School masters and Scenes and Legends, which deal witn Cromarty, its history and folk-lore, .and, for an estimate of Miller's work to Hugh Miller : A C ritical Study, ·by the late Dr. W. 'Mackay Mackenzie. THE TOWN cRoss dates from the 16th •century. 'The 18th-century TOWN HALL rand the Gaelic Chapel on the Kirky Brae are part of Ross's good work. A bell in the dome of the Hall has t'ne !following inscription : S . Dimas Carraea Ano, 1571. Close by •are the WAR MEMORIALS and the HUGH MILLER INSTITUTE with its public library and reading rooms. Further east is the old PARISH CHURCH, an early post-Reformation building. The records of the Kirk Session of this church date from 1678. Outwardly it is severely plain, but the inside is intensely interesting. To quote Dr. Mackenzie : " All the internal fittings of the church are of wood, and their archaic character has been carefully preserved. The lofts are supported on p;ain square wooden pillars, with capitals of simple mouldings ; and the uncovered joists are still thickly studded with long nails and pieces of stout wire, from which depended in simpler times the flat bonnets or other coverings of the worshippers." Further east, past the old brewery, the gardens of Cromarty House. the tennis courts and the bowling green on the path to the South Sutor, the visitor 8 COIIlleS to ST. REGULUS CHURCHYARD. In pre-Reformation days the parish of Cromarty had four chapels, three of them situated at NAVITY (Gaelic Neamhaididh, "consecrated land"), now a large :Darm, tbut once a considera-ble township. Just a bove the beach at Navity is ST. BENNET' s WELL, now a "wishing well," under a hawthorn bush on which votive offerings are still fixed.

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