Beauly
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Beauly Scottish Gaelic A 'Mhanachainn |
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| Coordinates | 57 ° 29 ′ N , 4 ° 28 ′ W | ||
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| Residents | 1365 2011 census | ||
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| Post town | BEAULY | ||
| ZIP code section | IV4 | ||
| prefix | 01463 | ||
| Part of the country | Scotland | ||
| Council area | Highland | ||
| British Parliament | Ross, Skye and Inverness West | ||
| Scottish Parliament | Ross, Skye and Inverness West | ||
Beauly ( Gaelic : A 'Mhanachainn ) is a town with 1,365 inhabitants in Scotland . It is located in the Council Area Highland , about 15 kilometers west of Inverness at the confluence of the River Beauly in the Beauly Firth .
history
Beauly developed around the Beauly Priory, founded in 1230 . The founder was Sir John Bisset , a follower of King Alexander II. The monastery was one of three that the order of the Valliscaulians, which had emerged from the French monastery Val-des-Choues , settled in Scotland. The Valliscaulians went into the Cistercian order in the 18th century . They named the monastery Prioratus de Bello Loco , meaning monastery in a beautiful place , from which the current place name developed. The land south around Beauly belonged to the Fraser clan , whose head, Lord Lovat , resided in Beaufort Castle , about five kilometers south of Beauly, until a few years ago . Also influential was the Mackenzie of Kintail clan , who owned the land north of Beauly. Both clans made several priors of Beauly.
The monastery passed from the Valliscaulians to the Cistercians in 1510. Under Prior Robert Reid , who was also Bishop of Orkney , the abbey experienced its last heyday during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. The Reformation promoted by John Knox in Scotland caused the abbey to decline in 1560, and the last monks left the monastery in 1585. Oliver Cromwell's troops used the building as a quarry to build fortifications in Inverness in 1652. The remaining ruins of the abbey church are looked after by Historic Scotland .
Beauly was on the last ferry across the River Beauly before its confluence with the Beauly Firth and was therefore an important transport hub. Thomas Telford built the first bridge over the river in 1814. Until the completion of the Kessock Bridge over the Beauly Firth as part of the construction of the A9 , all through traffic to the northern Highlands ran through the town. Beauly has had a railway connection since the Far North Line was built in 1862. The station was closed to passenger traffic in 1960, and since 2002 the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Line have returned to Beauly.
Infrastructure
Due to its convenient location, Beauly is a popular starting point for excursions to the Highlands, especially to Glen Affric to the west . The place has several hotels and restaurants, various shops, a primary school and churches of the Church of Scotland , the Free Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church .
In addition to the train station with train connections to Inverness, Dingwall , Kyle of Lochalsh as well as Thurso and Wick , Beauly has bus connections to Cannich , Muir of Ord and Inverness. Beauly can be reached by road via the A862 (the former A9 ) from Inverness via Beauly and Muir of Ord to Dingwall, the A831 from Cannich and the A833 from Drumnadrochit .
Personalities
- Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat (1911–1995)
- Duncan Michael (* 1937), Scottish civil engineer
Individual evidence
- ^ Information from the Scottish Parliament
- ↑ 2011 census
- ↑ Beauly Priory at Historic Scotland
- ↑ Valliscaulian order on Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ The Scalan Association: Beauly Priory
