Information AboutInverness |
Inverness () is a , dating from 2001, the city has no Statutory boundaries. Tourism is important to the city's economy, as are service industries and Healthcare . The city lies where the River Ness enters the Moray Firth and is a natural hub for various transport links. A settlement was established by sixth century AD, the first royal charter being granted in the thirteenth century. It lies near the site of the eighteenth century Battle Of Culloden . Inverness has a population of 55,000 and is represented in both the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments and is also twinned with three other European cities. The city is home to numerous sporting and cultural groups and events, including the annual Highland Games and Football club Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. , who play in the Scottish Premier League as well as Clachnacuddin F.C. who play in the Highland League . Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute . City status was granted in 2001. HISTORY Inverness was one of the chief strongholds of the , after he had razed to the ground the castle in which Mac Bethad Mac Findláich had, according to much later tradition, murdered Máel Coluim's father Donnchad , and which stood on a hill around 1 km to the north-east. Inverness had four traditional fairs, one of them being Legavrik (''leth-gheamradh''). William The Lion (d. 1214) granted Inverness four charters, by one of which it was created a Royal Burgh . Of the Dominican friary founded by Alexander III in 1233, only one pillar and a worn knight's effigy survive in a secluded graveyard near the town centre. On his way to the Battle Of Harlaw in 1411, Donald, Lord Of The Isles , harried the city, and sixteen years later James I held a parliament in the castle to which the northern chieftains were summoned, of whom three were executed for asserting an independent sovereignty. In 1562, during the progress undertaken to suppress Huntly's insurrection, Queen Mary was denied admittance into Inverness Castle by the governor, who belonged to the earl's faction, and whom she afterwards therefore caused to be hanged. The Clan Fraser and Clan Munro took the castle for her. The house in which she lived meanwhile stood in Bridge Street until the 1970s, when it was demolished to make way for the second Bridge Street development. The city's Marymass Fair , on the Saturday nearest August 15 th, (a tradition revived in 1986) is said to commemorate Queen Mary as well as the Virgin Mary . Beyond the then northern limits of the town, Oliver Cromwell built a citadel capable of accommodating 1000 men, but with the exception of a portion of the ramparts it was demolished at the Restoration . The only surviving modern remnant is a clock tower. In 1715 the Jacobites occupied the royal fortress as a barracks. In 1727 the government built the first Fort George here, but in 1746 it surrendered to the Jacobites and they blew it up. Culloden Moor lies nearby, and was the site of the Battle Of Culloden in 1746, which ended the Jacobite Rising of 1745-1746. On September 7 , 1921 , the only UK Cabinet meeting to be held outside London took place in the Town House, when David Lloyd George , on holiday in Gairloch , called an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Ireland . The Inverness Formula composed at this meeting was the basis of the Anglo-Irish Treaty . GEOGRAPHY Inverness lies at the mouth of the for "mouth (or confluence) of the Ness". In nominal terms, the river mouth is at the southwestern and most inland extremity of the Moray Firth (). The Beauly Firth may be seen, however, as a westward and more inland extension of the Moray Firth. Also, ''Inverness Firth'' has some currency as a name for the section of the Moray Firth between the mouth of the River Ness and the more eastward promontory of Fort George (). The river flows from nearby Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal and connects Loch Ness, Loch Oich , and Loch Lochy . Islands in the River Ness , the Bught and the river banks form a pleasant series of walks, as do the forested hills of Craig Phadraig and Craig Dunain . The city is well served with shops, as it is the main shopping centre for an area of nearly 26,000 km&2. ECONOMY Most of the traditional industries such as Distilling have been replaced by high-tech businesses, including the design and manufacture of Diabetes diagnostic kits. Retailing is another big sector. It has recently gained the unwelcome soubriquet of " Tesco town" since the city boasts three branches of Tesco. Its importance as a retail centre outweighs the city's size since it acts as a retail centre for most of the Highlands. Inverness is the new home for Scottish Natural Heritage following that body's relocation from Edinburgh under the auspices of the Scottish Executive 's decentralisation strategy. The body provides a large number of jobs in the area. TRANSPORT Inverness is linked to the , Manchester , Edinburgh , Belfast , Dublin and the islands to the north and west of Scotland. Some local controversy arose when British Airways sold off the landing slots at Heathrow for the three daily flights to and from Inverness as part of the proposed link up with American Airlines which eventually failed. Three trunk roads (the A9 , A82 and A96 ) provide access to Aberdeen, Perth, Elgin, Thurso, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Plans are being drafted to convert the A96 between Inverness and Nairn to a dual carriageway. POLITICS Local Government See also Inverness was an autonomous Royal Burgh , and County Town for the County Of Inverness (also known as Inverness-shire ) until 1975, when Local Government Counties and Burgh s were abolished, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , in favour of two-tier Regions And Districts and Unitary Islands Council Areas . The royal burgh was then absorbed into a new district of Inverness, which was one of eight districts within the Highland region. The new district combined in one area the royal burgh, the Inverness district of the county and the Aird district of the county. The rest of the county was divided between other new districts within the Highland region and the Western Isles . Therefore, although much larger than the royal burgh, the new Inverness district was much smaller than the county. In 1996, under the . The new unitary Highland Council , however, adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created Area Committee s to represent each. The Inverness committee represents 23 out of the 80 Highland Council Ward s, with each ward electing one Councillor by the First Past The Post system of election. However, management area and committee area boundaries have been out of alignment since 1999, as a result of changes to ward boundaries. Also, ward boundaries are changing again this year, 2007, and the council management areas are being replaced with three new corporate management areas. Ward boundary changes this year, 2007, under the system of election, a system designed to produce a form of Proportional Representation . The total number of councillors remains the same. Also, the Inverness management area is being merged into the new Inverness, Nairn And Badenoch And Strathspey corporate management area, covering nine of the new wards and electing 34 of the 80 councillors. As well as the Inverness area, the new area includes the former Nairn management area and the former Badenoch And Strathspey management area. The corporate area name is also that of a Constituency , but boundaries are different. Within the corporate area there is a city management area covering seven of the nine wards, the Aird And Loch Ness Ward , the Culloden And Ardersier Ward , the Inverness Central Ward , the Inverness Millburn Ward , the Inverness Ness-side Ward , the Inverness South Ward and the Inverness West Ward . The Nairn Ward and the Badenoch And Strathspey Ward complete the corporate area. Wards in the city management area are to be represented on a city committee as well as corporate area committees. City Status In 2001 of Inverness. As a local government area the burgh was abolished 26 years earlier, in 1975, and so was the County Of Inverness for which the burgh was the County Town . Nor do they refer to the former district or to the royal burgh. The Highland area was created as a and numerous towns and villages apart from the former burgh of Inverness. Parliamentary representation There are three existing Parliament ary Constituencies with ''Inverness'' as an element in their names:
These existing constituencies are effectively subdivisions of the Highland Council Area , but boundaries for Westminster elections are now very different from those for Holyrood elections. The Holyrood constituencies are also subdivisions of the Highlands And Islands Electoral Region . Historically there have been six Westminster constituencies:
Inverness Burghs was a District Of Burghs Constituency , covering the Parliamentary Burgh s of Inverness, Fortrose , Forres and Nairn . Inverness-shire covered, at least nominally, the County Of Inverness minus the Inverness parliamentary burgh. As created in 1918, Inverness covered the county minus Outer Hebridean areas, which were merged into the Western Isles Constituency . The Inverness constituency included the former parliamentary burgh of Inverness. As created in 1983, Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber was one of three constituencies covering the Highland Region , which had been created in 1975. As first used in 1997, the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, and Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituencies were effectively two of three constituencies covering the Highland Unitary Council Area , which had been created in 1996. Town twinning Health Services The main hospital serving Inverness is Raigmore Hospital . This Hospital comes under NHS Highland which controls many hospitals in the Highlands And Islands . There are however several other hospitals in the general area, notably New Craigs hospital which deals which mental health care. The current building occupied by New Craigs were opened in 2000 . CULTURE & SPORTS Inverness is an important centre for Bagpipe players and lovers, since every September the city hosts the Northern Meeting , the most prestigious solo piping competition in the world. The Inverness Cape , a garment worn by pipers the world over in the rain, is not necessarily made in Inverness. Another major event in calendar is the annual City of Inverness Highland Games . In 2006 Inverness hosted Scotland's biggest ever Highland Games over two days in July, featuring the Masters' World Championships, the showcase event for heavies aged over 40 years. 2006 was the first year that the Masters' World Championships had been held outside the United States , and it attracted many top heavies from around the world to the Inverness area. Inverness has a blossoming music scene which offers lots of young, new bands exciting opportunities. The current music scene within Inverness generally leans towards an emo/punk style, but there are also bands who show features of different genres such as rock, metal, pop, classical, grunge, industrial and traditional Scottish music. There is also a small Hip Hop scene featuring unsigned artists. Inverness is currently celebrating its Highland Year of Culture, in which Inverness is displaying the wide range of talent around. The city is home to two Football clubs. Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. was formed in 1994 from the merger of two Highland League clubs, Caledonian F.C. and Inverness Thistle . 'Caley Thistle' play at The Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, and are currently in the Scottish Premier League and lay claim to have the longest name for any football club in the world. The other football club Clachnacuddin F.C. , play in the Highland League . Inverness Citadel F.C. was another popular side which are now unfortunately defunct. Bught Park, located in the centre of Inverness is the finishing point of the annual Loch Ness Marathon and home of Inverness Shinty Club . In 2007, the city is set to play host to Highland 2007 , a celebration of the culture of the Highlands , and will also host the World Highland Games Heavy Championships (21 & 22 July) and European Pipe Band Championships (28 July). ''Highland 2007'', Information on the European Pipe Band Championships Buildings Important buildings in Inverness include Inverness Castle , Inverness College and various churches. The castle was built in 1835 on the site of its medieval predecessor. It is now a Sheriff Court . Inverness Cathedral , dedicated to St Andrew , is a cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Church and seat of the Ordinary of the Diocese Of Moray, Ross And Caithness . The cathedral has a curiously square-topped look to its spires, as funds ran out before they could be completed. The oldest church is the , which is attended by local councillors. Inverness College is the hub campus for the UHI Millennium Institute . UHI Millennium Institute website Porterfield website Ordnance Survey grid reference: FAMOUS PEOPLE The former leader of the Liberal Democrats , Charles Kennedy , was born in Inverness. Yvette Cooper , the Minister of State for Housing in the Brown Cabinet was also born in Inverness. AREAS OF THE CITY TOWNS AND VILLAGES Apart from the former burgh of Inverness, the Highland Council's city management area includes Ardersier , Beauly , Culloden , Drumnadrochit , Fort Augustus , Invermoriston and Tomatin . FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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