Secret Inverness

The city of Inverness sits at the northerly end of the Great Glen, a fault line in the earths crust that runs from one side of Scotland to the other. The current city can date its origins back to Pictish times, however, there is evidence of the area being habited long before then, with the Clava Cairns, which sit just a short distance from the city, dating back to between 1500 and 200 BC, giving it a long, and often forgotten history. Inverness has connections with several major figures in early Scottish history, including St. Columba, who ‘tamed’ the fabled Loch Ness Monster, MacBeth, who lived in a castle in the city, and King David 1st, who built the first stone castle on the site of the earlier timber strong holding. The city grew to become an important trading port, which in turn brought conflict with others, including the Vikings, and the Clan MacDonald, The Earls of the Isles. Despite this, the city continued to grow, yet due to its remoteness from Edinburgh, it was notable for not bowing to the political powers of the country. This was perhaps best demonstrated when Mary, Queen of Scots visited and was forced to stay in a small house having been refused entry to the Castle. The 'Capital of the Highlands' has many secrets just waiting to be discovered and in Secret Inverness, author Gregor Stewart pulls back the curtains of history to peer into the distant and not so distant past to reveal the forgotten, the strange and the unlikely.