Fort Augustus

Fort Augustus takes its name from a fort built by General Wade in the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising in 1715. Wade had planned to build a town around the new barracks and call it Wadesburgh but the settlement eventually took the name of the fort. The fort was captured by the Jacobites in April 1745, just prior to the Battle of Culloden.

In 1867, the fort was sold to the Lovat family, and in 1876 they passed the site and land to a Benedictine order which established Fort Augustus Abbey and a school. The school operated until 1993 when it closed due to a decline in enrollment numbers. The site was converted into a heritage centre in 1994, however it failed to generate sufficient profit to maintain the buildings and in 1998 it reverted to the Lovat family. Today almost nothing remains of the original structure although some of it was incorporated into the Benedictine Abbey.

The Caledonian Canal cuts the village in two. To the north it joins Loch Ness and the impressive flight of locks cleverly move boats from one vertical level to another.

Originally designed by the famous civil engineer Thomas Telford and opened in 1822, the lock system is part of the 60-mile Caledonian Canal that links Inverness to Fort William. Originally built to provide a short cut for merchant skippers between the east and west coasts of Scotland the canal is still in use today.

This is the view down over the locks toward Loch Ness.

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