The rise and fall of a Highland town.

INVERGORDON 

Inbhir Ghòrdain ( Gaelic )

Invergordon is on the right above Nairn and Inverness. Although we say Ross-shire for our county, in most documents it is called Ross and Cromarty as it engulfs both the counties of Ross on one side and Cromarty on the other. Cromarty was once a thriving town due to its geography but is now a small quiet sea side town, famous for its dolphins called 'Dauphin Francais' in French! Perhaps a call back to the times when French was the spoken language of Scotland before English!

I have just come back home from Scotland where I spent ten days looking after mum who was had just been in hospital. She is fine and back on track and I was able to do all the things she cannot, like gardening and pruning and fixing stuff. My mother lives in a small town called Invergordon which is on Ross-shire in the highlands on the east coast. I have never lived in this town but I did go to secondary school ( we call it the academy ) for 5 years, we lived in a small town called Alness 

3 miles away and I would often walk home long the beach after school.

I thought that I would do a post on this town which has a colourful past. It was originally called Inverbreakie until it was purchased about 1700 by William Gordon a London banker. William's son Sir John Gordon inherited it in 1740 and renamed it Invergordon and in the 1750's built a 'new' castle designed by the ultra famous Robert Adam, Scotlands most famous architect. This house replaced a much older Tower House which had burnt down. 

Here you can still see the old tower castle on the left before being demolished and the 'new Adam House to the right. 

These are two photos of the huge Victorian castle built on the site of the Adam house when it fell from grace. Victorians had a mania for gothic castles and 'improvements' and many ancient houses and churches were ruined by their taste and wealth. BUT they did build schools and railways so it wasn't all bad. This castle has totally gone today, no stone left.

Above is what is left of one of the schools they built. There are ugly modern aditions on each side and one day they will probably tear it all down and put up more ugliness.

The castle staircase as it was when built.

These houses were on the hill overlooking the bay or 'firth' and opposite it sat the 'Black Isle' which is not really an island. Any TinTin lovers will remember the book based on this 'Island'. 

The castle was surrounded by a neat grid of avenues and woods named after the owner's siblings. Sir Gordon even made a wilderness garden called ' an American Garden' which was later replaced by the local golf course, the reason my mother lives in Invergordon as my late father was a golfer and champion on a small scale. 

In 1879 there was great excitement when local people saw a strange creature in the gardens

 a HEDGEHOG ! 

Sir John had wanted to lay out a new village but it wasn't until Macleod of Cadboll came around in the 1780's that this came about and the main street was laid out with smaller streets leading of it, grid style. Roads were improved in the 18th century and harbours built along with a ferry. It soon became the centre of administration for this part of the coast and firth. I add that the firth is very deep and would often serve to moore ships in wartime and later the Queen's Britannia Yacht when she travelled to Balmoral, the highland residence of the Royal family. Two third of the régions imports came through this Harbour and it must have been a bustling town back then. In 1863 nine ships of the Royal Navy with 5000 men sailed into the firth enticed by the new railroad that linked the country. 

In 1912 Invergordon would become a Naval Base. 

In 1841 there were only 1000 inhabitants and by 1911 only another 50 were added ! 

In 1915 a terrible tragedy struck when during a party on the HMS Natal on December 30 the armory exploded and the ship quickly sank Killing over 400 people including many civilians and children. It is said that the screams of the dying could be heard over the water all night. There were rumours of espionage and bombs but in the end they concluded it was faulty cordite in the armory. 

The First World Ward brought prosperity to the area and especially to Invergordon but the decline in the 20's and 30's soon brought things back down. In 1931 the pay cuts to the seamen led to what was called the 'Invergordon Mutiny' and later in 1957 the Navy would leave Invergordon taking it's commerce with it. Followed many ups and downs in the 1960's including what would be the largest grain distillery in Europe until things again turned sour. In 1971 an aluminium smelter was built , turning centuries old farmland into industry with much needed employement. It would close ten years later plunging the area once more into economic darkness. The oil industry came and the sea ports were privatised and transformed into an oil rigg repair station and then came the huge cruise liners bringing many thousands of tourists into the region. 

A visit from the Queen Mary in 2005, the people on the beach giving you and idea of scale!

I took this picture as I walked down from the railway station, you can see a cruise liner dominating the Skyline. Many tourists are quickly whisked away to 'other' prettier towns that boast real infrastructure. 

 Invergordon in the early 19th century. The fountain in the middle of the road was erected to commemorate the visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. It now sits waterless on a traffic island forgotten by all.

This is the high street today, as you can see it's a busy day!

 This was our 'Bank of Scotland' one of two banks now closed in the town. There are only 3 cash machines left. My cousin now uses this to showcase his paintings.

 This is the old Town Hall today, used only for rummage sales, it used to show movies when I was a child. Below the same building at the beginning of the 20th century. The houses on the right were demolished and replaced by ugly 70's architecture. 

The house below, another remnant of Victorian times is empty today but had been what they call a half way house, housing ex convicts and homeless people, mainly men. My mothers house is just behind this to the noise was a problem. Today who knows what it will become.

 Below is our local Library in part of the old school now demolished. The style is odd. They say they will close it as no one uses it. 

 This was our police station and jail. Today it is for sale as the police have moved to a 'real' town. It's another exemple of Victorian Architecture. In the background you can see the warehouses that now obscure the sea views. Ugly things.

Scotland has a rather violent religious past as do many countries. I was brought up in the Protestant religion although we never went to Church except for funerals. My sister and brother didn't marry in a Church nor did my parents. Our churches ( those that have not been abandonned ) are simple with plain seats and no religious iconography visible. Crucifixes were forbidden in our homes as symboles of the catholic faith. One day I sent off for a booklet on Catholicism and when it arrived my mother burnt it ! Below is the local Catholic Church, you can imagine how few there are in the region. As I grew up I would hear the phrase ' We know who you are and where you live', ominously referring to 'them' ! Scary.

 Above the derelect 'High Street News' today and below as it was in Victorian times. I used to buy sweets there from school and it was a busy place. In the early 20th century it was a very busy little shop. It has been empty and open to the elements behind for years despite a 'flying freehold' above belonging the neighbouring house. It makes me sad to see it forgotten like so much else in the village. 

 Above you can see the 'firth' and the opening between the two 'Souters' that lead to the North sea. This natural defence was what made it an ideal place to moore ships during the war. Huge guns were built on the tops of each and nets to block submarines were placed below water level.

Below you can see how catastrophic this new oil industry was to the coastline. Waste and polution and radio wave interference were just some of the downside.

Below you can see how this industry has taken over the beaches. Every day they landfill more sea to spread their business. The salmon used to have a 'road' through these waters to our river and each year they fray up the river to spawn and reproduce. This industry totally disrupts this migration. 

 When you finally manage to get to some beach this is the view across the bay to the Black Isle on the left.

 Below is the path I took home from school, three miles of collecting stones and shells and dead crabs! My mother used to go through my pockets when I was alseep and throw it all out! The road was very quiet and safe back then but I stopped walking home when I was picked up by someone who said he knew my family and it didn't end well. I was 12. I hid that shame for many years and it did rather take the fun out of freedom.

I grew up surrounded by nature and this is what we call 'Gorse', it is Deadly prickly, NOT to be msitaken for 'Whin broom' which smells divine and is harmless.

 The odd way that lichen grows and spreads on granit.

 These stone show how granit can suddenly become white or pink in the same stone, the countryside is full of this stone although many houses and made from red sand stone which has to be faced to protect it from the elements.

 Below the red stone most buildings are made from. More fragile than granite but easier to work with making it I presume a cheaper option in the day.

Appleblossom on a Sunny day.

Below a mass burial in 1944 for the crew of a Sunderland flying boat that crashed on take off on the town. The majority of the crew were Canadians and their families still come over to honor their graves. The whole crew died and the fire lasted three days as their fuel tanks were full. The Church in the photo has been abandonned for many years and will surely fall down like all the others.  

Below a visit from the Queen. We Scots are mainly NOT pro royalist and have little interest in the 'Royal Family'. The Queen is spoken off as the 'Queen of England' and we are so NOT English. When they moored her yacht on the pier the town would lay down red carpet, paint the piles of coal white and try to mask the towns misery in case her royal eyes should , OH MY GOD , fall upon reality. We used to wonder if she realy thought that coal was white! The country made her sell the yacht as it was a money pit but not before Prince Philippe stripped it of all its furnishings ( he had designed them it is said)

In conclusion it is a sad neglected town full of empty spaces and falling down buildings. There is a huge potential for tourism, repairing the centuries old piers and buildings hotels and tea rooms in local venacular but alas corruption is abound and really no one cares. They recently demolished the centuries old red stone warehouses on the high street and left an enormous wasteland in their place. They could have easily transformed them into a tourist center and tea shop. The level of obesity, child mothers and unemployement, not to mention the places to get drunk make it for me a terrible destination. 

Alness the town I grew up in is not on the sea despite being only 3 miles away but it has a lot more life and charm and is often labelled the prettiest village because of it's floral displays.