When visiting the Fort William area do stop off to look around Old Inverlochy Castle. Although now a ruin this was one of the most important castles in Scottish history and has been the backdrop for two major historical events, the first and second battles of Inverlochy.
The moat that surrounded the castle has long gone but the location at the western end of theGreat Glen and natural defensive postion against the River Lochy gave Inverlochy castle a superior advantage. The old Military Road built by General Wade passed right by the castle and can still be followed back in to Fort William.
Originally dating back to the 13th century, Inverlochy Castle last played a part in Scottish and English history during the Civil Wars of the 1640’s. In 1645 the royalist Earl of Montrose routed the roundhead forces of the Campbell Chief Duke of Argyll at the second Battle of Inverlochy.
In 1654 the Castle was abandoned in favour of a large timber fort built nearby by Oliver Cromwell which in 1690 was then replaced by a stone fort named “Fort William” after King William III. The town which grew around it was named Maryburgh after the Queen, Mary II, though eventually it took the same name as the fort.
Not to be confused with Old Inverlochy Castle, nearby in an easterly direction is Inverlochy Castle Hotel. This is a baronial mansion built in 1863 by William Scarlett, 3rd Baron Abinger, soon after succeeding his father as Baron Abinger in 1861. Queen Victoria spent a week here during an 1873 visit to Balmoral, remarking “I never saw a lovelier or more romantic spot”.
The house and estate were sold in 1944 to a Canadian entrepreneur, Joseph Hobbs, then the owner of the nearby Ben Nevis distillery. His daughter-in-law, Greta Hobbs, formerly from Copenhagen, is credited with transforming the mansion into the magnificent Hotel we see today. The Hobbs family sold the Hotel to new owners several years ago.
Two miles westward is the well know town of Fort William, self styled as “The Outdoor Capital of the UK“. The fort fell into disuse by the mid 1860’s when the railway was built to Fort William, cutting though the land on which the Fort was built along the side of Loch Linnhe. However, some parts of the ruins still remain by the side of the Loch, at the end of the by-pass.
Today it has a bustling High Street with a plethora of outdoor shops and places to eat, and is the starting point for the only scheduled steam train service in the UK, the “Jacobite”, better known as the “Harry Potter Express” which runs up the West Highland Line to Mallaig and is held to be one of the most beautiful railway journeys in the World.