Stromeferry Hotel

NG83SE 15 8638 3467

NG 864 346 (centre) A desk-based assessment and rapid walkover survey were carried out over the area of the Stromeferry Development. A possible roundhouse was recorded at NG 8635 3445, lying under open birch woodland. No other significant archaeological sites were recorded. The ruinous Stromeferry Hotel (NG83SE 15) lies in the development site. It was recommended that the ruin be recorded prior to the start of site works.

Report deposited in Highland SMR and the NMRS.

Sponsor: Stoodley Partnership

M Wildgoose and S Birch 2002

NG83SE 15 Grid Ref.: NG 8638 3467

Source: O/S 1:10,000 Map, 1966.

Stromeferry Hotel.

Architect: Alexander Ross (I. A. March 17, 1874).

(I. C. January 26, 1882) Additions and alterations.

3 storey gabled villa with a dormered range adjoining at right angles. The hotel dates to c.1874, with stables, laundry and offices added in 1882. The front elevation features tripartite windows and a gabled porch. A single storey corrugated-iron range to the right was once the public bar. Stable block and garden adjoin.

The original small settlement expanded rapidly when the Dingwall and Skye Line of the Highland Railway was built in 1870 with its terminus at Stromeferry. The improved services were also used to transport mail, fish and cattle and the railway company decided to run Sunday trains. This offended members of the local population who were opposed to working on the Sabbath and the situation resulted in the Strome Ferry Riot of 1883. In 1897, the railway line was extended from Stromeferry to Kyle of Lochalsh. Much of the traffic transferred to Kyle and Stromeferry declined in importance. However, the ferry across the narrows continued until 1970 when a new road round the head of Loch Carron was completed. (Am Baile)

The hotel features in Iain Banks' novel Complicity as the rundown hotel where a murder takes place.