Old Photographs Beauly Highlands Of Scotland

Tour Scotland wee travel video of old photographs of Beauly, Scottish Gaelic: A' Mhanachainn, a town in the Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish Highlands. The town historically traded in coal, timber, lime, grain and fish. Mary Queen of Scots is said to have visited Beauly in 1564 and stayed overnight. The history of the village is inextricably linked with a number of the Scottish clans, most notably the Lovat Frasers who owned much of the land around the town. The Chisholms owned much of the land on the north side of the River Beauly and ruled from Erchless Castle while the Mackenzie clan ruled the lands to the North of Beauly. Beauly is the site of the Beauly Priory, or the Priory Church of the Blessed Virgin and John the Baptist, founded in 1230 by John Byset of the Aird, for Valliscaulian monks. Following the Reformation, the buildings, except for the church, which is now a ruin, passed into the possession of Lord Lovat. Beauly is also the site of Lovat Castle, which once belonged to the Bissets, but was presented by James VI, to Hugh Fraser, 5th Lord Lovat and later demolished. The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, which was to be a line between Inverness and Invergordon, was authorised in 1860, and opened in stages. The first section, that between Inverness and Dingwall, opened on 11 June 1862, and one of the original stations was that at Beauly. The River Beauly, Scottish Gaelic: Abhainn nam Manach, is a river in the Scottish Highlands, about 10 miles west of the city of Inverness. The river begins near the village of Struy, at the confluence of the River Farrar and the River Glass. The river meanders as it flows east, passing to the south of the village of Beauly and into the Beauly Firth. Beaufort Castle near the town of Beauly is a Baronial style mansion built in 1880, but incorporates older building work. There has been a castle on the site since the 12th century. Beaufort is the traditional seat of the Lords Lovat. The earliest mention of the site, as Downie or Dounie Castle, occurs in the reign of King Alexander I, 1106 to 1124, when a siege took place.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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