Fortrose

Fortrose

ID: QZP40_CARD_0443_AT DESCRIPTION: The town of Fortrose is situated on the south coast of the Black Isle overlooking the Moray Firth On the right is the harbour. On the cliff above is St Andrews Episcopal Church, built in 1828 in Gothic style with pinnacled buttresses. Next to it is the small round tower, with its conical roof, of Fortrose Academy designed by John Robertson and built in 1890. A Cathedral was founded at Fortrose in the thirteenth century and the Bishop of Ross had his residence here. Around the Cathedral the canons, the priests who served the Cathedral, built their manses. The old name for the town was Chanonry - the Place of the Canons. In 1444 a charter granted by King James II united Chanonry with its more ancient neighbour Rosemarkie under the common name of Fortross now Fortrose. By 1584 Fortrose had a grammar school and the town flourished as a centre of the arts and sciences especially law and divinity. However by the time of the Reformation the Cathedral was already in a state of disrepair and much of its red sandstone was removed by Oliver Cromwell's army and taken to build his fort at Inverness. Only a small part of the Cathedral remains. The town remained a seat of learning. Fortrose Academy was established in 1791 and was renowned for its education. The sandstone tidal harbour was built by Thomas Telford in 1817 at a cost of £4,000. Some of this money came from the residual funds of the Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates. The wooden pier was added in 1879 but had disappeared by the middle of the twentieth century. In the later 19th century, an annual regatta was held in Fortrose Bay during August, with sailing, rowing and swimming competitions. The Chanonry Boating Club developed from these regattas until suspending its operations at the start of World War I. The club was revived in 1956 under the name "Chanonry Sailing Club". Today it is as an active club with a mixture of dinghies and cruisers and a busy calendar of events. PLACENAME: Fortrose OLD COUNTY/PARISH: ROSS: Rosemarkie CREATOR (AV): Andrew Taylor DATE OF IMAGE: 2009 PERIOD: 2000s SOURCE: Andrew Taylor Asset ID: 32364 KEYWORDS: