The History of Fort Augustus

The History of Fort Augustus and the development of the the Highland Club which is now a unique luxury escape in Scotland.

In the early 18th century the first settlement arrived and called the village Kiliwhimin. It was later renamed Fort Augustus after the Jacobite Rising of 1715. 

In the aftermath of the Jacobite rising, General Wade built a fort in 1729 which was named after Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. Wade had planned to build a town around the new barracks and call it Wadesburgh. The settlement grew, and eventually took the name of this fort. The fort was captured by the Jacobites in March 1746, just before the Battle of Culloden.

In 1867, the fort was sold to the Lovat family, Lord Lovat passed away 10 years later and the site and land passed to the Benedictine order. The monks established Fort Augustus Abbey and later a school. The school operated until 1993 when it closed owing to changing educational patterns in Scotland causing a decline in enrollment. The monks employed Tony Harmsworth to convert the Abbey into the largest private heritage centre in Scotland which operated between 1994 and 1998.  Sadly 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 which in turn sold it to Terry Nutkins. 

The Highland Club

A variety of enterprises from heritage centres to outward bound schools attempted to make use of Fort Augustus Abbey, however the site was eventually abandoned.

In 2003 The Santon Group, a respected developer of listed buildings, purchased the dilapidated Grade A listed building and grounds.

A £30million conversion of the site into The Highland Club was embarked upon, finally being completed in 2012.

​Today the austerity of monastic life has given way to the warmth of modern leisure living.

The Loch Ness Monster

The Loch Ness Monster also known as Nessie is a mythical large freshwater monster, or is it a real animal that allegedly lives in Loch Ness? 

The story of the Loch Ness Monster is born when a sighting makes local news on May 2, 1933. The story of a monster becomes a media phenomenon, with London newspapers sending correspondents to Scotland and a circus offering a £20,000 reward for capture of the beast. 

The Scottish people have told stories of an aquatic beast living in the lake date back 1,500 years, all efforts to find any credible evidence of the animal have failed. That hasn’t dampened the public’s enthusiasm, and love of news about “Nessie.”