Fort Augustus
Coordinates: 57°08′35″N 4°40′50″W / 57.14319°N 4.68066°W
| Fort Augustus | |
| Scottish Gaelic: Cill Chuimein | |
 Fort Augustus
Fort Augustus shown within the Inverness area |
|
| Population | 646 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | NH37909 |
| Council area | Highland |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Fort Augustus |
| Postcode district | PH32 4 |
| Police | Northern |
| Fire | Highlands and Islands |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey |
| Scottish Parliament | Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch |
| Highlands and Islands | |
| List of places: UK • Scotland • | |
Fort Augustus is a settlement in the Scottish Highlands, at the south west end of Loch Ness. The village has a population of around 646 (2001);[1] its economy is heavily reliant on tourism.
Until the early 18th century the settlement was called Kiliwhimin, and the Gaelic name for the modern village is still Cill Chuimein. It was renamed 'Fort Augustus' after the unsuccessful Jacobite Rising of 1715. The accepted etymology is that the settlement was originally named after Saint Cummein of Iona who built a church there.[2] Other suggestions are that it was originally called Ku Chuimein after one of two abbots of Iona of the Comyn clan, whose badge Lus mhic Chuimein refers to the cumin plant,[3] or that it was called Cill a' Chuimein ("Comyn's Burialplace") after the last Comyn in Lochaber.[4]
In the aftermath of the Jacobite uprising in 1715, General Wade built a fort (taking from 1729 until 1742) which was named after the Duke of Cumberland. The settlement grew, and eventually took the name of this fort. The fort was captured by the Jacobites in April 1745, just prior to the Battle of Culloden.
The actual fort was sold to the Lovat family in 1867 and in 1876 they passed the site and land onto the Benedictine order. The monks set up Fort Augustus Abbey from the fort and later constructed a school there which ran until 1993 when it closed owing to changing educational patterns in Scotland causing a falling roll. The monks employed Tony Harmsworth[5] to come up with a rescue package which saw it converted into the largest private heritage centre in Scotland which operated between 1994 and 1998[6]. The heritage centre failed to generate sufficient profit to maintain the buildings and in 1998 the monks abandoned the site and it reverted to the Lovat family who sold it to Terry Nutkins. He also owned the Lovat[7] that stands on the site of the old Kilwhimen Barracks, one of four built in 1718. This houses the west curtain wall of the old Fort, intact with gun embrasures. The Lovat was originally built as the local Station Hotel.
The village was served by a rail line to Spean Bridge from 1903 until 1933, built by the North British Railway, but initially operated by the Highland Railway. The Caledonian Canal connecting Fort William to Inverness passes through Fort Augustus in a dramatic series of locks stepping down to Loch Ness.
The village is served by the Cill Chuimein Medical Centre[8]. The village has both a primary school and a secondary school - Kilchuimen Primary School and Kilchuimen Academy - which share a campus.
[edit] Climate
As with the rest of the British Isles and Scotland, Fort Augustus experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. As with much of the surrounding area, sunshine levels are low, around 1000 hours per annum, and temperatures unpredictable - Fort Augustus holds the UK's lowest May temperature record of −9.4 °C (15.1 °F),[9] also the latest point in run up to summer such a temperature has been recorded suggesting it can become a frost trap on calm clear nights due to its valley location. That same low lying topography can also give rise to some high temperatures on occasion - Fort Augustus held the UK daily high temperature record for December 16th for almost 80 years.[10]
| Climate data for Fort Augustus 1971-2000, 21m asl, (Sunshine and Rainfall, 1951-1980) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) |
6.5 (43.7) |
8.3 (46.9) |
10.9 (51.6) |
14.3 (57.7) |
16.4 (61.5) |
18.4 (65.1) |
18.2 (64.8) |
15.2 (59.4) |
11.8 (53.2) |
8.2 (46.8) |
6.4 (43.5) |
11.71 (53.07) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 0.5 (32.9) |
0.4 (32.7) |
1.6 (34.9) |
3.0 (37.4) |
5.5 (41.9) |
8.4 (47.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
10.3 (50.5) |
8.2 (46.8) |
5.6 (42.1) |
2.4 (36.3) |
1.1 (34.0) |
4.80 (40.64) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 112 (4.41) |
72 (2.83) |
83 (3.27) |
58 (2.28) |
72 (2.83) |
61 (2.4) |
65 (2.56) |
82 (3.23) |
103 (4.06) |
124 (4.88) |
126 (4.96) |
140 (5.51) |
1,098 (43.23) |
| Sunshine hours | 24.8 | 59.3 | 89.9 | 126.0 | 155.0 | 150.0 | 117.8 | 117.8 | 87.0 | 62.0 | 30.0 | 18.6 | 1,044 |
| Source no. 1: YR.NO[11] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: ScotClim[12] | |||||||||||||
[edit] Notes
- ^ www.highland.gov.uk
- ^ am baile - Fort Augustus
- ^ Clan Comyn, Cumming
- ^ MacMillan 3
- ^ [1]
- ^ Loch Ness, Nessie Adn Me (2011)[2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ ICSH - Home
- ^ "May Temperature". TORRO. http://www.torro.org.uk/site/mintemps.php.
- ^ "1893 Temperature". TORRO. http://www.torro.org.uk/site/hightempsyear.php.
- ^ "Fort Augustus 1971-2000". YR.NO. http://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/Scotland/Balavil/statistics.html. Retrieved 02 Nov 2011.
- ^ "Fort Augustus 1951-1980". ScotClim. http://www.weather.org.uk/climate/scotclim.html. Retrieved 02 Nov 2011.
[edit] External links
- Fort Augustus
- Fort Augustus Abbey
- Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway
- Kilchuimen Academy
- Unofficial Fort Augustus Website
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