'Cromarty Rose' Car Ferry The only ferry service from the Black Isle, travelling between Cromarty and Nigg. XPL 3591-348
For over 700 years Cromarty's livelihood has depended on its proximity to the sea, and to its fertile farm lands. Its fortunes have fluctuated constantly, peaking in the 17th century with trade with Norway, Sweden, Holland and even the Mediterranean, and then again in the herring boom of the 19th century when dozens of fishing boats sailed from its harbour. It is due to the depression following these booms that Cromarty is preserved today as the most attractive town on the east coast of the Highlands, and due to the oil boom in the 1970's that its current prosperity has allowed for the repair and renovation of so many of its fine old buildings. The principal relics of antiquity - mainly stone circles, cairns and forts - appear in the eastern district. A vitrified fort crowns the hill of Knockfarrel in the parish of Fodderty, and there is a circular dun near the village of Lochcarron. Some fine examples of sculptured stones occur, especially those which, according to tradition, mark the burial-place of the three sons of a Danish king who were shipwrecked off the coast of Nigg. The largest and handsomest of these three crosses - the Clach a' Charraidh, or Stone of Lamentation - stands at Shandwick. It is about 10 feet (3 m) high and contains representations of the martyrdom of St Andrew and figures of an elephant and dog. It fell during a storm in 1847 and was broken in three pieces. On the top of the cross in Nigg churchyard are two figures with outstretched arms in the act of supplication; the dove descends between them, and below are two dogs. The cross was knocked down by the fall of the belfry in 1725, but has been riveted together. The third stone formerly stood at Hilton of Cadboll, but was removed for security to the grounds of Invergordon Castle. Among old castles are those of Lochslin, in the parish of Fearn, said to date from the 13th century, which, though ruinous, possesses two square towers in good preservation; Balone, in the parish of Tarbat, once a st
Size: 5288px × 3512px
Location: Cromarty Harbour, Black Isle. Easter Ross. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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