Exploring Fort William

This morning we headed into town to meet up with our tour guide, Nathaniel, a 12 year old young man. Nathaniel is a lovely young man who takes small tour groups, with assistance from his mum Elizabeth around the town of Fort William. We had a lovely time learning about the origins of Fort William. This site was first known as the Garrison of Inverlochy, then became known as Fort William post 1688 after William of Orange. It was also called Maryburgh, Gordonsburgh and Duncansburgh before being renamed Fort William after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

Fort William is located on Loch Linnhe and during World War II was used as a training base for 1,000’s of soldiers. It was also the first location in the UK to have electric street lighting. One of the largest and most important clans in the area was the Cameron clan.

We walked down the High street and Nathaniel pointed out a number of interesting buildings including St Andrews, a Scottish Episcopal church built on the foundations of the oldest church in Fort William. The church has a small yard containing a number of grave stones that were from the mid 1800’s. There is also a lychgate which is where the family would deposit the coffin and wait for the minister to arrive to bless the body.

There is also a Bronze Ford Model T in one of the squares that commemorates the ascent of Ben Nevis in a Model T Ford by Henry Alexander in 1911. The ascent took 9 days.

Further down the high street there is a bronze statue of “Archie” who represents the walkers who complete the Western Highlands Walk (154km).

After our tour we had a wonderful seafood lunch at Grannog at Garrison West.Read more