View of fort before demolition

Description View of fort before demolition

Date 1/9/1883

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 746274

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of IN 899

Scope and Content Fort William, Highland (now demolished) The fort, after which the town of Fort William was named, stands on a promontory at the confluence of a branch of the River Nevis and Loch Linnhe. It was begun as a Cromwellian fort in 1654, and reconstructed in 1690 when it was named in honour of King William III. Further reconstruction followed in 1746. Erskine Beveridge photographed the fort in 1883 before it was bought in 1894 by the West Highland Railway Company. The natural protection given by the river to the north and the loch to the west was further strengthened by a ditch (foreground) cut to give security from the only easy landward approach to the site. The fort was surrounded by a rampart, reconstructed in 1690 with walls built of boulders taken from the river and the loch, and reconstructed in 1746 using roughly squared stones in coursed layers (right). The new barracks (right) and the governor's house (centre) date from that time. The fort was originally known as Inverlochy, and built in 1654 by General Monck's engineers to house troops engaged in overawing the Royalist clans of the area. The site was surrounded by a rampart, probably originally of clay and wattle which was later rebuilt in stone in 1690 by King William III's general, Hugh Mackay of Scourie. The fort was besieged during the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745, and reconstructed in 1746. It was sold to Mrs Cameron Campbell of Monzie in 1864, and bought by the West Highland Railway Company in 1894, who used part of the site for a goods yard. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap