The Alness Area

History and Culture

Alness has, over the centuries, been witness to change and development like no other community in Ross-shire, especially since her first recorded mention as ‘Alenes’ in 1227.

The town is actually a composite of two parishes; Alness and Rosskeen, divided by the River Averon.  The original Alness was but a small crofting community opposite the old Kirk and saw it’s main expansion in the nineteenth century thanks to Captain Hugh Munro of Teaninich, who also founded Teaninich Distillery in 1817.

It would be impractical to include a complete history of Alness on this website, but this section of alness.com will act as a rough guide and give you some pointers to further information.

A New Beginning: Trading links with the south improved dramatically after the 1707 union and the evidence lies around the Cromarty Firth in the form of Girnels (store houses).  One such stood at Alness Point until 2007 when it was knocked down as unsafe.  A short distance from the Girnel is the mansion of Teaninich House, built by Captain Hugh Munro in 1784.  Munro was responsible for alterations to the course of the River Averon in 1844 and Teaninich remained a Munro seat until the First World War when Charles Harrison, the American on whom the book Little Lord Fauntleroy was said to be based, bought it.

Another famous name with Alness connections is Charles Macintosh.  Who?  In the mid 1700s George Macintosh lived at Newmore.  His son, the aforementioned Charles Macintosh, was born in 1768.  He made his name in science and is credited with inventing a revolutionary bleaching powder.  His partner Charles Tennant took out the patent in 1899, but it is believed that Macintosh was the real creator.

Another invention was waterproof material.  Macintosh was aiming this at the manufacture of tents, but it was also used in clothing - The MacKintosh or Mac.  The material was first introduced in 1824.  Who knows – without Charles Macintosh there would be no Columbo!

Exactly 30 years later, in 1854, David Forsyth was born in Alness.  Not a household name but avid chess players may have heard of his invention; the Forsyth Notation.  This is one of a number of systems used for recording on paper the positions of chess pieces, such as can be seen in newspapers today.

Alexander Matheson and Dyson Perrins were successive owners of Ardross estate, which at that time included the parish of Bridgend, and were both great benefactors to the village.  Over his time of tenure Matheson outlayed some £230,000 on land improvements.  He was also responsible for bringing the railway north of Inverness.  Dyson Perrins (of Lea & Perrins fame) bought Ardross in 1899.  He gave the Perrins Centre to the town as well as the bowling club and golf club.  The original course was on Dalmore flats, which meant that at high tide some of the greens were underwater.  The present 18-hole course (on much higher ground!) was leased from Ardross estates in 1922.

In addition to all this, Mrs Perrins turned on the electricity supply to Alness in 1924.  Both Matheson and Perrins were avid tree planters and Ardross estate has one of the best collection of trees in Britain.

Towering over Alness is Cnoc Fyrish (1478ft) and at its summit is Fyrish Monument.  This was the brainchild of Sir Hector Munro of Novar who had it built in 1792 to provide work for unemployed workers.  The monument is an imitation of the gates of Negapataum in India.  There are three other structures on and around Fyrish, but these are more follies than monuments.  They were painted white and the original plan, apparently, was to have them all linked by a  wall.

On the Defensive: Alness has many links with armed services.  These began as early as 1715.  Sentry Hill, above the present footbridge was a watchpoint.  The Earl of Sutherland had gathered around 1200 men on the Government side during the first Jacobite rising.  On 5th October he made his HQ the Crawl Park, occupying a line along the lower reaches of the Averon.  Further reinforcements arrived by sea, which helped to reinforce with the military that the Cromarty Firth could be a great asset in time of conflict.  Among those highlighting its potential were Daniel Defoe and, much later, Winston Churchill.

During WW1 the American Navy took over Dalmore Distillery and used it as a mine base.  The so-called ‘Yankee Pier’ still juts out into the firth.  In the 1930s the RAF’s presence grew.  Alness became a training base for flying boats.  In 1938 228 Squadron with Saro Londons and Stranraers came to the firth from Pembroke Dock and this was followed in October, 1939 by 210 Squadron of Sunderlands and Catalina  Flying boats by 1941 4C OUT was fully established and Alness, with the officers based at Dalmore House and the 'tech site' and repair and maintenance area at Alness Point, became a very busy strategic point for training and North Sea surveillance.   Short Sunderlands had a crew of 13 and by 1942 the OUT was producing 22 trained crews a month. 

 It was from Alness that the Duke of Kent, the King’s youngest brother, took off on his ill-fated flight in August, 1942.  He was due to visit troops in Iceland.  The expected route was to follow the coastline of Sutherland and Caithness, but for some, still unknown, reason the aircraft turned inland and, in heavy mist and rain, crashed on Eagle Rock above the village of Berriedale.  All crew were killed except rear gunner Flt/Sgt Andrew Jack.

The war memorial at the head of High Street was unveiled in September, 1921 by Alness born Robert Munro.  Munro was born in Alness, a son of the Free Church in 1868.  He rose from a Lawyer to Kings Counsel then elected a Liberal  MP in Lloyd George and Asquith’s government.  His political star rose on becoming Secretary for Scotland and finally enobled as Lord Alness in 1934.

Growing Up: The Alness we see today was thanks, in part, to Harold Wilson’s government of 1964.  His famous phrase ‘the white heat of technological revolution’ could have been written with Easter Ross in mind.  At the Labour Party conference in 1967 Wilson announced the building of two aluminium smelters.  In November of that year planning permission for 500 council houses at Alness was passed.  The census of 1961 put the population at 1,040, but all was about to change, when, in 1968, Trade Secretary, Anthony Crossland, announced in the Commons that British Aluminium were chosen to build the Invergordon Smelter.  The other was built by Alcan in Northumberland.

Some 2,000 construction workers arrived and Easter Ross was once again providing full employment.  Indeed, between 1970 – 73 the locally born had dropped by 7% to 67%.  Alness residents born in the central belt rose 157% and other incomers by 138%.

Alness Culture Defined: Down the years, Alness has been a forward looking community.  A friendly and welcoming town.   One way to assess a community’s culture and spirit is how it faces adversity and any threat to its very survival.  On Hogmanay 1981, the Invergordon Smelter closed.  The night shift workers slept through the day their jobs disappeared.  Some 900 workers and Alness were brought to their knees.  Overnight the unemployment rose 20%.  It was at moments like these that organisations like the Citizens Advice Bureau, Community Education and the people of Alness came into their own.  Somehow we got those families through a lot of dark times.

In 1985 Alness Business Association was formed and a lot of work was carried out to help get Alness back on the map.  Enterprising Alness was the slogan and many ways were found to bring Alness back to public notice.  In 1989 Alness Community Association ran the Scottish Pipe Band Championship.  More than 100 bands paraded and over 10,000 people attended.  In 1992 there was another Pipe Band Championship with similar spectacular results.  Alness Community Association also began Alness & District Times in 1989 and this popular publication now sells 1,000 copies each month. In 2000 Alness Community Association bought 102-106 High Street Alness and have turned it into Alness Heritage Centre where people from throughout the world have come to visit exhibitions, find relatives in the genealogy unit and leave stories of their part in Alness’ History.

In 1995 a group of volunteers got together under Carolyn Wilson, a local businesswoman to try to beautify the High Street – ‘Alness in Bloom’ was born.  Now Alness is known throughout Britain and even overseas for its beautiful town.  Since 1997 Alness has won outright ‘Scotland in Bloom’ 4 times, Premier Reserve Champion in 1999 & 2002, ‘Britain in Bloom Winner’ 1998 & 2000, 2002 and  2004 (Gold Medal), ‘Nations in Bloom’ finalist 1998, ‘World in Bloom’ Winners 1999, ‘Entente Florale’ Silver Winner & ‘Dynamic Place Awards’ Team Winner 2003.In 2006 Alness Became the 'RHS Champion of Champions' for United Kingdom and hold four RHS Gold Medals.

Today Alness is a busy attractive town where  people are delighted to stay.  New houses are being built constantly and new shops open regularly on our beautiful High Street.  Alness has grown through a huge commitment of community work and volunteers.  We are always delighted to welcome visitors to our town so please pay us a visit and enjoy it.