Fort George

Fort George stands on a spit of land reaching into the Moray Firth, a vast artillery fortress raised by the Crown in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. It replaced an earlier fort of the same name in Inverness that had been destroyed during that uprising, and was intended to hold the Highlands under military control should another rebellion break out. Work began in 1748 under Colonel William Skinner, the King’s Military Engineer for North Britain, with the Adam brothers as contractors; the principal defences were ready by 1757 and the whole was completed in 1769. Its design followed the principle of defence in depth, with projecting bastions, a free-standing ravelin at the entrance, a drawbridge crossing a wide ditch, and sloping grassy banks shaped to absorb the shock of artillery fire. The garrison it was built to repel never came, and the fort was never attacked. Remarkably little altered since it was finished, it remains an active army barracks to this day while also welcoming visitors. Historic Environment Scotland manages the visitor site, and the former Lieutenant Governor’s House now holds the Highlanders’ Museum, with its collection of uniforms, weapons and regimental regalia.