123-705: Inverness-shire ( Scottish Gaelic : Siorrachd Inbhir Nis ) or the County of Inverness , is a historic county in Scotland . It is named after Inverness , its largest settlement, which was also the county town . Covering much of the Highlands and some of the Hebrides , it is Scotland's largest county by land area. It is generally rural and sparsely populated, containing only three towns which held burgh status, being Inverness, Fort William and Kingussie . The county
246-446: A large burgh , allowing the town council to continue to provide most local government services. From the 1930s onwards the county council used the former Inverness College building at the corner of Ardross Street and Glenurquhart Road (built 1876) as its offices, renaming it County Buildings . The building was substantially extended in 1963 to provide additional offices, but council meetings continued to be held at Inverness Castle until
369-462: A sheriff . The old province of Moray was broadly split into the three shires of Elginshire , Nairnshire , and Inverness-shire, with Inverness-shire including the areas of the provincial lordships of Badenoch and Lochaber which were subordinate to Moray. Around the same time, the Scottish crown was also trying to secure its control on Ross and Caithness (which then included Sutherland ),
492-442: A 19% fall in bilingual speakers between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses. Michelle MacLeod of Aberdeen University has said that there was no other period with such a high fall in the number of monolingual Gaelic speakers: "Gaelic speakers became increasingly the exception from that point forward with bilingualism replacing monolingualism as the norm for Gaelic speakers." The Linguistic Survey of Scotland (1949–1997) surveyed both
615-564: A Pictish substrate. In 1018, after the conquest of Lothian (theretofore part of England and inhabited predominantly by speakers of Northumbrian Old English ) by the Kingdom of Scotland , Gaelic reached its social, cultural, political, and geographic zenith. Colloquial speech in Scotland had been developing independently of that in Ireland since the eighth century. For the first time,
738-626: A beach as the runway. There was an Inverness-shire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain ( Westminster ) from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (also at Westminster) from 1801 to 1918. The constituency represented, nominally, the county of Inverness minus the parliamentary burgh of Inverness , which was represented as a component of the Inverness District of Burghs constituency. In 1918
861-524: A central feature of court life there. The semi-independent Lordship of the Isles in the Hebrides and western coastal mainland remained thoroughly Gaelic since the language's recovery there in the 12th century, providing a political foundation for cultural prestige down to the end of the 15th century. By the mid-14th century what eventually came to be called Scots (at that time termed Inglis ) emerged as
984-823: A challenge to revitalization efforts which occur outside the home. Positive engagements between language learners and native speakers of Gaelic through mentorship has proven to be productive in socializing new learners into fluency. In the 2022 census, 3,551 people claimed Gaelic as their 'main language.' Of these, 1,761 (49.6%) were in Na h-Eileanan Siar, 682 (19.2%) were in Highland, 369 were in Glasgow City and 120 were in City of Edinburgh; no other council area had as many as 80 such respondents. Gaelic has long suffered from its lack of use in educational and administrative contexts and
1107-482: A circlet richly chased from which are issuant four thistle leaves (one and two halves visible) and four pine cones (two visible) Or, and in an Escrol below the Shield this Motto "Meane Well, Speak Weil, and Doe Weil". Cromarty is architecturally important for its Georgian merchant houses, such as Forsyth House, built by William Forsyth , that stand within a townscape of Georgian and Victorian fisherman's cottages in
1230-551: A dialect known as Canadian Gaelic has been spoken in Canada since the 18th century. In the 2021 census , 2,170 Canadian residents claimed knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, a decline from 3,980 speakers in the 2016 census . There exists a particular concentration of speakers in Nova Scotia , with historic communities in other parts of Canada having largely disappeared. Scottish Gaelic is classed as an indigenous language under
1353-489: A full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people. The 2011 UK Census showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write
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#17327657619001476-586: A language ideology at odds with revitalization efforts on behalf of new speakers, state policies (such as the Gaelic Language Act), and family members reclaiming their lost mother tongue. New learners of Gaelic often have a positive affective stance to their language learning, and connect this learning journey towards Gaelic language revitalization. The mismatch of these language ideologies, and differences in affective stance, has led to fewer speaking opportunities for adult language learners and therefore
1599-805: A national centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, based in Sleat , on the Isle of Skye . This institution is the only source for higher education which is conducted entirely in Scottish Gaelic. They offer courses for Gaelic learners from beginners into fluency. They also offer regular bachelors and graduate programs delivered entirely in Gaelic. Concerns have been raised around the fluency achieved by learners within these language programs because they are disconnected from vernacular speech communities. In regard to language revitalization planning efforts, many feel that
1722-597: A new chapel just outside the town to hold services in Gaelic for the many Gaelic-speaking workers who moved to Cromarty in the period, later used by Polish soldiers during the Second World War . While the Gaelic chapel is now ruined, its graveyard is still active as Cromarty's cemetery, and the town's war memorial and a monument to Hugh Miller are situated next to it. Other buildings of note in Cromarty include
1845-549: A process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly under way during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten. Bilingualism in Pictish and Gaelic, prior to the former's extinction, led to the presence of Pictish loanwords in Gaelic and syntactic influence which could be considered to constitute
1968-610: A proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in Barvas , Lewis , with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in Ardnamurchan , Highland , with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes. Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in
2091-536: A situation where new learners struggle to find opportunities to speak Gaelic with fluent speakers. Affect is the way people feel about something, or the emotional response to a particular situation or experience. For Gaelic speakers, there is a conditioned and socialized negative affect through a long history of negative Scottish media portrayal and public disrespect, state mandated restrictions on Gaelic usage, and highland clearances . This negative affect towards speaking openly with non-native Gaelic speakers has led to
2214-597: A small cinema. The Cromarty Arts Trust, which restored several buildings in the town, including the Brewery and the Stables, organises a programme of arts and music events, including concerts and gigs, an annual Crime and Thrillers weekend, a Harp Weekend and stone letter carving and silver working courses, while the Cromarty Group of artists hold an annual exhibition of their work. Other local community groups include
2337-625: A translation of the New Testament. In 1798, four tracts in Gaelic were published by the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, with 5,000 copies of each printed. Other publications followed, with a full Gaelic Bible in 1801. The influential and effective Gaelic Schools Society was founded in 1811. Their purpose was to teach Gaels to read the Bible in their own language. In the first quarter of
2460-719: Is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family ) native to the Gaels of Scotland . As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx , developed out of Old Irish . It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by the Gaels of both Ireland and Scotland until well into
2583-490: Is a significant step forward for the recognition of Gaelic both at home and abroad and I look forward to addressing the council in Gaelic very soon. Seeing Gaelic spoken in such a forum raises the profile of the language as we drive forward our commitment to creating a new generation of Gaelic speakers in Scotland." Bilingual road signs, street names, business and advertisement signage (in both Gaelic and English) are gradually being introduced throughout Gaelic-speaking regions in
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#17327657619002706-631: Is a town, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland . Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth , it is 5 miles (8 km) seaward from Invergordon on the opposite coast. In the 2001 census, it had a population of 719. The name Cromarty variously derives from the Gaelic crom (crooked), and from bati (bay), or from àrd (height), meaning either
2829-739: Is crossed by the Great Glen , which contains Loch Ness and separates the Grampian Mountains to the south-east from the Northwest Highlands . The county also includes Ben Nevis , the highest mountain in both Scotland and the United Kingdom . The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since then, the parts of the county on the mainland and in the Inner Hebrides have been part of
2952-594: Is generally mountainous, with numerous lochs scattered throughout the county. Some of the lochs have been enlarged to use as reservoirs. The larger inland lochs are: Inverness-shire contains numerous small islands off its west coast which form part of the Inner Hebrides . The largest of these is Skye , separated from the Inverness-shire mainland by the Sound of Sleat . It is the second largest island in Scotland and has numerous peninsulas and offshore islands. To
3075-460: Is investigated the remains of roads and buildings at the site on the eastern edge of the present town. Cromarty was the birthplace of Sir Thomas Urquhart , the polymath Royalist most famous as the first translator of Rabelais into English. In the nineteenth century, Cromarty was the birthplace and home of Hugh Miller, a geologist, writer, journalist and participant in the Disruptions in
3198-411: Is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken. Many historians mark the reign of King Malcolm Canmore ( Malcolm III ) between 1058 and 1093 as the beginning of Gaelic's eclipse in Scotland. His wife Margaret of Wessex spoke no Gaelic, gave her children Anglo-Saxon rather than Gaelic names, and brought many English bishops, priests, and monastics to Scotland. When Malcolm and Margaret died in 1093,
3321-523: The Act of Union in 1707, the British parliamentary constituency of Cromartyshire was created, replacing the former Parliament of Scotland shire constituency. also called Cromartyshire . Paired as an alternating constituency with neighbouring Nairnshire , the freeholders of Cromartyshire elected one Member of Parliament to one Parliament, while those of Nairnshire elected a Member to the next. In 1832
3444-837: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , which the UK Government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language-development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig . The Scottish Parliament is considering a Scottish Languages Bill which proposes to give the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland. Aside from "Scottish Gaelic", the language may also be referred to simply as "Gaelic", pronounced / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / GAL -ik in English . However, "Gaelic" / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik also refers to
3567-521: The Glenelg peninsula (shared with Ross-shire), Loch Hourn , Knoydart peninsula, Loch Nevis , North and South Morar / Arisaig peninsula, Loch Ailort , Moidart peninsula and Loch Moidart . The west coast of Inverness-shire was traditionally referred to as the Rough Bounds due to its remoteness and inaccessibility. It remains wild and sparsely populated today. The terrain in Inverness-shire
3690-531: The Highland region and the Western Isles council area, three new constituencies were created to cover the Highland region. The region, until 1996, and the unitary Highland council area, 1996 to present, have been covered by three constituencies since then but there were changes to boundaries and names in 1997 and 2005. In 1999 the areas of the Westminster constituencies became also constituencies of
3813-506: The Highland region, which was redesignated a council area in 1996. The Outer Hebrides parts of the county became part of the Western Isles , which since 1998 has used only the Scots Gaelic version of its name, Na h-Eileanan an Iar . The neighbouring counties prior to the 1975 reforms were (clockwise from north) Ross and Cromarty , Nairnshire , Moray , Banffshire , Aberdeenshire , Perthshire and Argyll . The mainland part of
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3936-642: The Highland Council 's area. The Isle of Skye is connected to the mainland by a bridge from Kyle of Lochalsh in Ross-shire. Various bus companies serve the larger towns of the county, such as Stagecoach Group and Scottish Citylink . Shiel Buses operate local buses in the Fort William area. Stagecoach operates several bus routes on the Isle of Skye. Numerous ferries connect the islands of
4059-684: The Highland Region , whilst the Outer Hebrides parts (the districts of Barra , Harris , North Uist and South Uist ) became part of the Western Isles. The parts of Inverness-shire which went to the Highland Region were split between four lower-tier districts : Prior to 1975, each county had appointed a lord-lieutenant . As part of the 1975 reforms, new lieutenancy areas were established instead. Inverness-shire
4182-601: The Highland region which superseded the local government county of Ross and Cromarty in 1975. Since the local elections in 2017 , its councillors, for the Black Isle ward, have been Craig Fraser (SNP), Gordon Adam (Liberal Democrats) and Jennifer Barclay (Independent). Community Council The Cromarty and District Community Council consists of seven members, elected for four-year terms. Three of these members are elected annually to serve as chairman, Secretary and Treasurer. Its coat of arms, granted in 1988, are based on
4305-414: The Highlands and Islands Region . Since the 2017 Westminster election (when Douglas Ross resigned to take up a seat at Westminster), these have been John Finnie ( Green ), Maree Todd (SNP), David Stewart and Rhoda Grant ( Labour ), Jamie Halcro Johnston , Edward Mountain and Donald Cameron ( Conservative ). Local Authority Cromarty is within the Highland council area, the successor to
4428-661: The Monadhliath Mountains ) to the east. The glen contains the notable lochs of Loch Ness (Scotland's second largest), Loch Oich , and Loch Lochy , which are connected by the Caledonian Canal . The Great Glen opens to the south-west into the sea loch of Loch Linnhe . Ben Nevis , the tallest peak in Britain, is located to the east of Fort William. The west coast consists of a number of peninsulas divided by long sea loch inlets; north to south these are
4551-555: The Outer Hebrides , accommodation ethics exist amongst native or local Gaelic speakers when engaging with new learners or non-locals. Accommodation ethics, or ethics of accommodation, is a social practice where local or native speakers of Gaelic shift to speaking English when in the presence of non-Gaelic speakers out of a sense of courtesy or politeness. This accommodation ethic persists even in situations where new learners attempt to speak Gaelic with native speakers. This creates
4674-526: The Renfrew Rose running from June to September, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily, once again offering a direct route North from the Black Isle. Cromarty has a small primary school named Cromarty Primary School with around 50 students. The University of Aberdeen Department of Zoology Lighthouse Field Station is based in Cromarty. The small community is also known for being a hub of creative activity, with several arts venues, local artists and
4797-688: The Scottish Lowlands . Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in Aberdeenshire (+526), North Lanarkshire (+305), the Aberdeen City council area (+216), and East Ayrshire (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), Moray (+0.16%), and Orkney (+0.13%). In 2018,
4920-595: The Scottish Parliament ( Holyrood ). The boundaries of Scottish Parliament constituencies have not altered since then. The Holyrood constituencies are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region . Since 1983, Inverness has appeared in the names of Westminster and Holyrood constituencies as tabled below. Scottish Gaelic language Scottish Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / , GAL -ik ; endonym : Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic ,
5043-592: The Scottish Parliament , Cromarty has been represented since 2016 by Kate Forbes , an SNP politician and former Cabinet Secretary for Finance in the Scottish Government , as part of the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency. Prior to 2011, it was part of the Ross, Skye and Inverness West Constituency. As well as the constituency MSP, Cromarty is represented by seven additional-member MSPs , elected across
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5166-645: The Stevenson Lighthouse, built in 1846, and the East Kirk, an important example of a medieval kirk in the Scottish vernacular, restored in the 2000s by the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust. Historically most travel to Cromarty would have been by ship: ferries connected the town with Invergordon , and Cromarty's post continued to arrive by boat into the 20th century. The historic ferry route between Cromarty and Nigg
5289-722: The significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education since that time is unknown. Gaelic Medium Education is one of the primary ways that the Scottish Government is addressing Gaelic language shift. Along with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig policies, preschool and daycare environments are also being used to create more opportunities for intergenerational language transmission in the Outer Hebrides. However, revitalization efforts are not unified within Scotland or Nova Scotia, Canada. One can attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig ,
5412-528: The town of Cromarty was separated from the county, and became a parliamentary burgh , combined with Dingwall , Dornoch , Kirkwall , Tain and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Known also as Wick Burghs , the constituency was a district of burghs . It was represented by one Member of Parliament. In 1918, the constituency
5535-560: The "crooked bay", or the "bend between the heights" (referring to the high rocks, or Sutors, which guard the entrance to the Firth ), and gave the title to the Earldom of Cromartie . In 1264, its name was Crumbathyn . Cromarty is a sea port , and its economy was closely linked to the sea for most of its history. Fishing was the major industry, with salmon stations around the surrounding coast, and boats going out to catch herring. Other trade
5658-421: The 17th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names. In the 2011 census of Scotland , 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) reported being able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides . Nevertheless, there is a language revival , and
5781-587: The 1891 boundary changes, which sought to eliminate cases where parishes straddled county boundaries, there were 33 parishes in the county. Many changes have taken place since the Reformation period: The Highland Main Line connects Inverness by rail to Perth to the south, Kyle of Lochalsh to the west, and Thurso / Wick to the north. The West Highland Line connects Fort William to Mallaig . The Inverness to Aberdeen main line also serves Nairn within
5904-546: The 19th century, the SSPCK (despite their anti-Gaelic attitude in prior years) and the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed 60,000 Gaelic Bibles and 80,000 New Testaments. It is estimated that this overall schooling and publishing effort gave about 300,000 people in the Highlands some basic literacy. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of
6027-404: The 2011 Census. The 2011 total population figure comes from table KS101SC. The numbers of Gaelic speakers relate to the numbers aged 3 and over, and the percentages are calculated using those and the number of the total population aged 3 and over. Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had
6150-405: The 26th of January 1940, HMS (Previously RMS) Durham Castle , while being towed to Scapa Flow hit a mine layed by U-Boat U-57 11 nautical miles to the east of the town. Cromarty gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast . Cromarty Castle was the seat of the Urquharts, who were the hereditary sheriffs of Cromarty. The town was a royal burgh, and the ferry to Nigg
6273-407: The 4th–5th centuries CE, by settlers from Ireland who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast in present-day Argyll . An alternative view has been voiced by archaeologist Ewan Campbell , who has argued that the putative migration or takeover is not reflected in archaeological or placename data (as pointed out earlier by Leslie Alcock ). Campbell has also questioned
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#17327657619006396-494: The Bible; the lack of a well known translation may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic. Counterintuitively, access to schooling in Gaelic increased knowledge of English. In 1829, the Gaelic Schools Society reported that parents were unconcerned about their children learning Gaelic, but were anxious to have them taught English. The SSPCK also found Highlanders to have significant prejudice against Gaelic. T. M. Devine attributes this to an association between English and
6519-468: The Church of Scotland. Among his works was a collection of local folklore, such as the legend, dating from around 1740, that a Cromarty man named John Reid was granted three wishes from a mermaid , and that he used one of the wishes to marry a woman named Helen Stuart. The burgh is noted as a base for viewing the local offshore sea life . These include one of the most northerly groups of bottlenose dolphins . Cromarty, along with Chanonry Point just round
6642-410: The Cromarty History Society, which holds regular lectures, and the Cromarty and Resolis Film Society, which organises a Film Festival every December. Guests of the 2008 festival included Kirsty Wark , Donald Shaw and Karen Matheson , Janice Forsyth , David Mackenzie and Michael Caton-Jones . Each guest selected five of their favourite films, one of which was shown during the weekend. In addition to
6765-498: The EU's institutions. The Scottish government had to pay for the translation from Gaelic to other European languages . The deal was received positively in Scotland; Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said the move was a strong sign of the UK government's support for Gaelic. He said; "Allowing Gaelic speakers to communicate with European institutions in their mother tongue is a progressive step forward and one which should be welcomed". Culture Minister Mike Russell said; "this
6888-402: The English language version of the area's name from Western Isles to Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scots Gaelic for 'Western Isles'), to be used in both English and Gaelic contexts. Inverness-shire is Scotland's largest historic county by land area. At the 1921 census it was reported to have an area of 4,211 square miles (10,910 km). Of the historic counties in the UK as a whole, only Yorkshire
7011-436: The Favourite Films, there is an outdoor screening on a Gable End, Scottish Gaelic Short films, Animation workshop, photographic exhibition and late night Pizza and Film screenings. In recent years, as elsewhere in Scotland, coastal rowing has become a major activity, and there are three skiffs based in Cromarty, which take part in competitions across Scotland. The Cromarty Community Rowing Club also hosts its own regatta in
7134-484: The Forth–Clyde line and along the northeastern coastal plain as far north as Moray. Norman French completely displaced Gaelic at court. The establishment of royal burghs throughout the same area, particularly under David I , attracted large numbers of foreigners speaking Old English. This was the beginning of Gaelic's status as a predominantly rural language in Scotland. Clan chiefs in the northern and western parts of Scotland continued to support Gaelic bards who remained
7257-415: The Gaelic Act falls so far short of the status accorded to Welsh that one would be foolish or naïve to believe that any substantial change will occur in the fortunes of the language as a result of Bòrd na Gàidhlig 's efforts. On 10 December 2008, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the Scottish Human Rights Commission had the UDHR translated into Gaelic for
7380-582: The Gaelic aristocracy rejected their anglicised sons and instead backed Malcolm's brother Domnall Bán ( Donald III ). Donald had spent 17 years in Gaelic Ireland and his power base was in the thoroughly Gaelic west of Scotland. He was the last Scottish monarch to be buried on Iona , the traditional burial place of the Gaelic Kings of Dàl Riada and the Kingdom of Alba. However, during the reigns of Malcolm Canmore's sons, Edgar, Alexander I and David I (their successive reigns lasting 1097–1153), Anglo-Norman names and practices spread throughout Scotland south of
7503-442: The Highland and Island region. In 1616, the Privy Council proclaimed that schools teaching in English should be established. Gaelic was seen, at this time, as one of the causes of the instability of the region. It was also associated with Catholicism. The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709. They met in 1716, immediately after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715 , to consider
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#17327657619007626-416: The Highlands and Islands, including Argyll. In many cases, this has simply meant re-adopting the traditional spelling of a name (such as Ràtagan or Loch Ailleart rather than the anglicised forms Ratagan or Lochailort respectively). Some monolingual Gaelic road signs, particularly direction signs, are used on the Outer Hebrides , where a majority of the population can have a working knowledge of
7749-426: The Inner Hebridean dialects of Tiree and Islay, and even a few native speakers from Western Highland areas including Wester Ross , northwest Sutherland , Lochaber and Argyll . Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle (the North Channel ) linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct, though native speakers were still to be found on the Mull of Kintyre , on Rathlin and in North East Ireland as late as
7872-410: The Irish language ( Gaeilge ) and the Manx language ( Gaelg ). Scottish Gaelic is distinct from Scots , the Middle English -derived language which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the early modern era . Prior to the 15th century, this language was known as Inglis ("English") by its own speakers, with Gaelic being called Scottis ("Scottish"). Beginning in
7995-704: The Isles . The stag's head comes from the crest of the Frasers of Lovat, while the bull's head comes from the crest of the MacLeods of that Ilk. The motto is in Gaelic and means "For the Good of the County". Civil parishes are still used for some statistical purposes, and separate census figures are published for them. As their areas have been largely unchanged since the 19th century this allows for comparison of population figures over an extended period. Parishes had parish boards from 1845 to 1894 and then parish councils from 1894 to 1930. They have had no administrative functions since 1930. In 1854 there had been 36 civil parishes, 7 of which had straddled county boundaries. Following
8118-409: The Outer Hebrides, the Inner Hebrides, and the Scottish Mainland. There are three airports in the county: Inverness , Benbecula , and Barra . All three operate flights within Scotland, with Inverness also providing flights to other cities in the UK as well as some destinations in Europe. Barra Airport is famous within aviation circles as it is the only airport in the world where scheduled flights use
8241-428: The Sheriff of Inverness was then also made responsible for the Outer Hebrides and some of the Inner Hebrides , notably Skye . An act of parliament in 1504 acknowledged that the shire of Inverness was too big for the effective administration of justice, and so declared Ross and Caithness to be separate shires. That act was set aside for most purposes in 1509; the northern areas eventually regained their independence from
8364-428: The UK Government as Welsh . With the advent of devolution , however, Scottish matters have begun to receive greater attention, and it achieved a degree of official recognition when the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act was enacted by the Scottish Parliament on 21 April 2005. The key provisions of the Act are: After its creation, Bòrd na Gàidhlig required a Gaelic Language Plan from the Scottish Government. This plan
8487-581: The Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in Stornoway , the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011. The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is Kilmuir in Northern Skye at 46%. The islands in the Inner Hebrides with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are Tiree (38.3%), Raasay (30.4%), Skye (29.4%), Lismore (26.9%), Colonsay (20.2%), and Islay (19.0%). Today, no civil parish in Scotland has
8610-589: The Western Isles. The Scottish Qualifications Authority offer two streams of Gaelic examination across all levels of the syllabus: Gaelic for learners (equivalent to the modern foreign languages syllabus) and Gaelic for native speakers (equivalent to the English syllabus). An Comunn Gàidhealach performs assessment of spoken Gaelic, resulting in the issue of a Bronze Card, Silver Card or Gold Card. Syllabus details are available on An Comunn's website. These are not widely recognised as qualifications, but are required for those taking part in certain competitions at
8733-466: The age and reliability of the medieval historical sources speaking of a conquest. Instead, he has inferred that Argyll formed part of a common Q-Celtic -speaking area with Ireland, connected rather than divided by the sea, since the Iron Age. These arguments have been opposed by some scholars defending the early dating of the traditional accounts and arguing for other interpretations of the archaeological evidence. Regardless of how it came to be spoken in
8856-511: The annual mods . In October 2009, a new agreement allowed Scottish Gaelic to be formally used between Scottish Government ministers and European Union officials. The deal was signed by Britain's representative to the EU, Sir Kim Darroch , and the Scottish government . This did not give Scottish Gaelic official status in the EU but gave it the right to be a means of formal communications in
8979-477: The area around Aviemore . Elected county councils were established in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 , taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930). The burgh of Inverness was deemed capable of providing its own county-level local government functions, and so it was excluded from the administrative area of the county council, although
9102-510: The arms of Urquhart of Cromarty, with a mural coronet placed in the middle of the boars’ heads, signifying a town, and the motto is that of the Urquharts. The official blazon is: Or, three boars' heads erased Gules, armed and langued Azure, in the centre of the shield a mural coronet of the Second. Above the Shield is placed a mural coronet suitable to a statutory Community Council, videlicet:-
9225-603: The bill be strengthened, a revised bill was published; the main alteration was that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutory (rather than advisory). In the committee stages in the Scottish Parliament, there was much debate over whether Gaelic should be given 'equal validity' with English. Due to executive concerns about resourcing implications if this wording was used, the Education Committee settled on
9348-465: The boundaries of Inverness-shire. Notable changes included gaining the Small Isles of Canna , Muck and Rùm from Argyll. Exceptionally, the parish of Croy and Dalcross was allowed to continue to straddle Inverness-shire and Nairnshire. The boundary changes all took effect in 1891. Inverness was subsequently brought within the administrative area of the county council in 1930, but classed as
9471-625: The census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, Gaelic medium education in Scotland has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014. Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home. The effect on this of
9594-568: The cities and professors of Celtic from universities who sought to preserve the language. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 provided universal education in Scotland, but completely ignored Gaelic in its plans. The mechanism for supporting Gaelic through the Education Codes issued by the Scottish Education Department were steadily used to overcome this omission, with many concessions in place by 1918. However,
9717-646: The coast, is one of the best places in Europe to see these animals close to the shore. The predominant local stone is the Old Red Sandstone about which Hugh Miller wrote. Many fossils can also be found in the rocks along the coast. Cromarty is in the UK Parliament constituency of Ross, Skye and Lochaber , represented since 2015 by Ian Blackford , ex-Leader of the SNP group in Westminster. Following
9840-499: The concept of 'equal respect'. It is not clear what the legal force of this wording is. The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament unanimously, with support from all sectors of the Scottish political spectrum, on 21 April 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, it will ultimately fall to BnG to secure the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland. Some commentators, such as Éamonn Ó Gribín (2006) argue that
9963-540: The county constituency was divided between two new constituencies, the Inverness constituency and the Western Isles constituency . The Inverness constituency included the burgh of Inverness, other components of the district of burghs being divided between the Moray and Nairn constituency and the Ross and Cromarty constituency . In 1983, eight years after the local government county of Inverness had been divided between
10086-482: The county council still chose to base itself there. Inverness-shire County Council held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 in the county's main courthouse at Inverness Castle , which had been rebuilt in 1836. The 1889 Act also led to a review of boundaries, with exclaves being transferred to a county they actually bordered, and parish and county boundaries being adjusted to eliminate cases where parishes straddled county boundaries. There were several such changes affecting
10209-611: The county council's abolition in 1975. In 1955 the UK Government claimed sovereignty over Rockall , an uninhabited islet in the North Atlantic Ocean , which lies 301 kilometres (187 statute miles; 163 nautical miles) west of St Kilda . Under the Island of Rockall Act 1972 , Rockall was assigned to the Harris district of Inverness-shire. The UK claim on Rockall is disputed, particularly by Ireland . Local government
10332-617: The county had a coast to the east onto the Moray Firth , and a much longer coast to the west onto the Sea of the Hebrides . The historic county boundaries of Inverness-shire are still used for certain functions, being a registration county . There is also an Inverness lieutenancy area which covers the mainland part of the pre-1975 county and the Small Isles , as well as the parts of the historic counties of Argyll and Moray that were transferred to Highland. The mainland part of Inverness-shire
10455-499: The dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, and also mixed use of English and Gaelic across the Highlands and Islands. Dialects of Lowland Gaelic have been defunct since the 18th century. Gaelic in the Eastern and Southern Scottish Highlands, although alive until the mid-20th century, is now largely defunct. Although modern Scottish Gaelic is dominated by the dialects of the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Skye, there remain some speakers of
10578-582: The entire region of modern-day Scotland was called Scotia in Latin, and Gaelic was the lingua Scotica . In southern Scotland , Gaelic was strong in Galloway , adjoining areas to the north and west, West Lothian , and parts of western Midlothian . It was spoken to a lesser degree in north Ayrshire , Renfrewshire , the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire . In south-eastern Scotland, there
10701-560: The first time. However, given there are no longer any monolingual Gaelic speakers, following an appeal in the court case of Taylor v Haughney (1982), involving the status of Gaelic in judicial proceedings, the High Court ruled against a general right to use Gaelic in court proceedings. While the goal of the Gaelic Language Act was to aid in revitalization efforts through government mandated official language status,
10824-479: The initiatives must come from within Gaelic speaking communities, be led by Gaelic speakers, and be designed to serve and increase fluency within the vernacular communities as the first and most viable resistance to total language shift from Gaelic to English. Currently, language policies are focused on creating new language speakers through education, instead of focused on how to strengthen intergenerational transmission within existing Gaelic speaking communities. In
10947-502: The language. Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people. This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and Bòrd na Gàidhlig took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed. The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ( Na h-Eileanan Siar ), where
11070-631: The language. These omit the English translation entirely. Bilingual railway station signs are now more frequent than they used to be. Practically all the stations in the Highland area use both English and Gaelic, and the use of bilingual station signs has become more frequent in the Lowlands of Scotland, including areas where Gaelic has not been spoken for a long time. Cromarty Cromarty ( / ˈ k r ɒ m ər t i / ; Scottish Gaelic : Cromba , IPA: [ˈkʰɾɔumpə] )
11193-532: The late 15th century, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse ("Irish") and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis . Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a separate language from Irish, so the word Erse in reference to Scottish Gaelic is no longer used. Based on medieval traditional accounts and the apparent evidence from linguistic geography, Gaelic has been commonly believed to have been brought to Scotland, in
11316-512: The local vernacular style. It is an outstanding example of an 18th/19th century burgh, "the jewel in the crown of Scottish Vernacular Architecture". The cottage with crow-stepped gables in Church Street, in which the geologist Hugh Miller was born (in 1801), is now the only remaining thatched building in Cromarty, with most houses having switched to slate roofs. To the east of the burgh is Cromarty House, built by George Ross in 1772 on
11439-409: The mainland or other islands. There are thirteen islands in the Outer Hebrides that were in Inverness-shire prior to 1975 and were inhabited at the 2011 census. Inverness-shire County Council was granted a coat of arms in 1927, based on the design of the council's official seal . The blazon read: The galley represents Clan Chattan , who aligned themselves under the banner of Somerled, Lord of
11562-479: The mainland provinces north of Moray. The Scottish crown had claimed them since 1098, when Norwegian overlordship of that area had been ceded to Scotland but, like Moray, they had remained largely independent. Whereas Moray was divided into shires at some point during the 12th century, Ross and Caithness were not made shires at that time. Instead, the Sheriff of Inverness was given authority (at least nominally) over
11685-459: The members of Highland school boards tended to have anti-Gaelic attitudes and served as an obstacle to Gaelic education in the late 19th and early 20th century. Loss of life due to World War I and the 1919 sinking of the HMY Iolaire , combined with emigration, resulted in the 1910s seeing unprecedented damage to the use of Scottish Gaelic, with a 46% fall in monolingual speakers and
11808-734: The mid-20th century. Records of their speech show that Irish and Scottish Gaelic existed in a dialect chain with no clear language boundary. Some features of moribund dialects have been preserved in Nova Scotia, including the pronunciation of the broad or velarised l ( l̪ˠ ) as [w] , as in the Lochaber dialect. The Endangered Languages Project lists Gaelic's status as "threatened", with "20,000 to 30,000 active users". UNESCO classifies Gaelic as " definitely endangered ". The 1755–2001 figures are census data quoted by MacAulay. The 2011 Gaelic speakers figures come from table KS206SC of
11931-532: The modern era. Some of this was driven by policy decisions by government or other organisations, while some originated from social changes. In the last quarter of the 20th century, efforts began to encourage use of the language. The Statutes of Iona , enacted by James VI in 1609, was one piece of legislation that addressed, among other things, the Gaelic language. It required the heirs of clan chiefs to be educated in lowland, Protestant, English-speaking schools. James VI took several such measures to impose his rule on
12054-503: The new council areas. The lieutenancy areas continue to be defined as they had been in 1975 despite the abolition of the districts on which they were based. The boundaries of the historic county of Inverness-shire (as it was following the 1891 boundary changes) are still used for some limited official purposes connected with land registration, being a registration county . In 1998 the Western Isles Council formally changed
12177-477: The northern provinces too. By the mid-13th century, there were sheriffs at Cromarty and Dingwall in Ross, but the extent of their control was fairly limited, with the Sheriff of Inverness still responsible for most of Ross and Caithness. The position of Sheriff of Dingwall did not endure. In the 15th century, the quasi-independent Lordship of the Isles was fully incorporated into the kingdom of Scotland, and
12300-434: The number of speakers of the language under age 20 did not decrease between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. In the 2022 census of Scotland , it was found that 2.5% of the Scottish population had some skills in Gaelic, or 130,161 persons. Of these, 69,701 people reported speaking the language, with a further 46,404 people reporting that they understood the language, but did not speak, read, or write in it. Outside of Scotland,
12423-695: The official language of government and law. Scotland's emergent nationalism in the era following the conclusion of the Wars of Scottish Independence was organized using Scots as well. For example, the nation's great patriotic literature including John Barbour's The Brus (1375) and Blind Harry's The Wallace (before 1488) was written in Scots, not Gaelic. By the end of the 15th century, English/Scots speakers referred to Gaelic instead as 'Yrisch' or 'Erse', i.e. Irish and their own language as 'Scottis'. A steady shift away from Scottish Gaelic continued into and through
12546-548: The old provinces, with more administrative functions being given to the sheriffs. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were established for each shire, which would serve as the main administrative body for the area until the creation of county councils in 1890. Following the Acts of Union in 1707, the English term 'county' came to be used interchangeably with the older term 'shire'. In 1870, Cromdale and Grantown-on-Spey were transferred from Inverness-shire to Elginshire in exchange for
12669-658: The others ( Canna , Muck and Rùm ) in Argyll. As the Small Isles formed a single parish, the 1891 boundary review charged with placing parishes in a single county opted to place the whole parish in Inverness-shire. There are eleven islands in the Inner Hebrides that were in Inverness-shire prior to 1975 and were inhabited at the 2011 census . These are islands as defined by National Records of Scotland; some are tidal islands or have fixed links (bridges / causeways) to
12792-459: The outcome of the act is distanced from the actual minority language communities. It helps to create visibility of the minority language in civil structures, but does not impact or address the lived experiences of the Gaelic speaker communities wherein the revitalization efforts may have a higher return of new Gaelic speakers. Efforts are being made to concentrate resources, language planning, and revitalization efforts towards vernacular communities in
12915-504: The overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the Highlands (5.4%) and in Argyll and Bute (4.0%) and Inverness (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is Glasgow with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers. Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in
13038-466: The prosperity of employment: the Highland economy relied greatly on seasonal migrant workers travelling outside the Gàidhealtachd . In 1863, an observer sympathetic to Gaelic stated that "knowledge of English is indispensable to any poor islander who wishes to learn a trade or to earn his bread beyond the limits of his native Isle". Generally, rather than Gaelic speakers, it was Celtic societies in
13161-460: The reform and civilisation of the Highlands, which they sought to achieve by teaching English and the Protestant religion. Initially, their teaching was entirely in English, but soon the impracticality of educating Gaelic-speaking children in this way gave rise to a modest concession: in 1723, teachers were allowed to translate English words in the Bible into Gaelic to aid comprehension, but there
13284-587: The region, Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the eighth century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. During the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than as the kingdom of the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly,
13407-437: The sheriff of Inverness with the creation of the shires of Sutherland in 1633, Caithness in 1641, and Ross-shire in 1661. Ross-shire also included the northern Outer Hebrides, notably the Isle of Lewis . After 1661, Inverness-shire therefore comprised the western part of the province of Moray on the mainland, the southern Outer Hebrides, and some of the Inner Hebrides. Over time, Scotland's shires became more significant than
13530-455: The site of the former Cromarty Castle, which he demolished. Ross also built several other notable buildings in Cromarty: a seven-bay brewery, at the time the biggest in the Highlands, of which two bays remain (now used as a residential arts and training centre); Cromarty Courthouse , now a museum; a hemp factory, converted into housing in the 1970s; the harbour, designed by John Smeaton ; and
13653-571: The summer. The town made the news in October 2012 when Bobby Hogg, the last speaker of the traditional local North Northern Scots dialect, died. This was referred to on HeraldScotland as a dialect of the Scots language , although a report on BBC Radio 4 said that the dialect had been strongly influenced by the English spoken at the local naval base and that it was one of the few areas in Scotland to exhibit H-dropping . Hogg had previously compiled
13776-597: The west, across the Little Minch , most of the Outer Hebrides fall within the county, with the notable exception of Lewis which is in Ross-shire. Further west still lie the remote islands of St Kilda , which have been uninhabited since 1930. Much further west, 230 miles from the Outer Hebrides, lies the extremely remote, uninhabitable island of Rockall , which is subject to a territorial dispute with Ireland . The Small Isles were historically split between Inverness-shire and Argyll, with Eigg in Inverness-shire and
13899-633: Was abolished and the Cromarty component was merged into the county constituency of Ross and Cromarty . Following a boundary change in 1983, the sitting MP, Hamish Gray (Conservative and Unionist Party) was defeated by Charlie Kennedy ( SDP , later Liberal then Liberal Democrats ), who would go on to lead the Liberal Democrats, and who represented Cromarty until 2015, as the MP for Ross, Cromarty and Skye (1983–1997), Ross, Skye and Inverness West (1997–2005) and then Ross, Skye and Lochaber. In
14022-399: Was accepted in 2008, and some of its main commitments were: identity (signs, corporate identity); communications (reception, telephone, mailings, public meetings, complaint procedures); publications (PR and media, websites); staffing (language learning, training, recruitment). Following a consultation period, in which the government received many submissions, the majority of which asked that
14145-481: Was also by boat: Cromarty's connections to surrounding towns were largely by ferry, while Cromarty boats exported locally-grown hemp fibre , and brought goods such as coal. The Cromarty Firth is an outstanding natural harbour, and was an important British naval base during the First World War and the Second World War . HMS Natal blew up close by on 30 December 1915 with a substantial loss of life. On
14268-516: Was anciently part of the Province of Moray , ruled by the Earls or Mormaers of Moray , sometimes as a vassal of the Scottish crown, and at other times effectively as a separate kingdom. The province was finally brought fully into the Kingdom of Scotland during the 12th century. In order to secure the Scottish crown's authority over the area, it was divided into shires , being areas administered by
14391-474: Was larger. Its mainland section covers a large area of the Highlands , bordering the Sea of the Hebrides to the west and Beauly Firth and Moray Firth to the east which provide access to the North Sea . It is split into two by the Great Glen , a roughly 60-mile geological fault which runs south-west to north-east and divides the Northwest Highlands to the west from the Grampian Mountains (including
14514-554: Was long suppressed. The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic. Gaelic, along with Irish and Welsh, is designated under Part III of the Charter, which requires the UK Government to take a range of concrete measures in the fields of education, justice, public administration, broadcasting and culture. It has not received the same degree of official recognition from
14637-510: Was no further permitted use. Other less prominent schools worked in the Highlands at the same time, also teaching in English. This process of anglicisation paused when evangelical preachers arrived in the Highlands, convinced that people should be able to read religious texts in their own language. The first well known translation of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic was made in 1767, when James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced
14760-507: Was on the royal pilgrimage route north to Tain . In 1513 James IV of Scotland went on a pilgrimage and stayed in Cromarty Castle for 1 night. Until 1890, it served as the county town of Cromartyshire . The site of the town's mediaeval burgh dating to at least the 12th century was identified by local archaeologists after winter storms in 2012 eroded sections of the shoreline. A community archaeology project, which began in 2013,
14883-406: Was reformed in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , which replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts for most of Scotland. A single-tier structure of island areas was used for Orkney , Shetland and the Western Isles . The mainland and Inner Hebrides parts of Inverness-shire became part of
15006-546: Was served until 2009 by Britain's smallest vehicle ferry , the Cromarty Rose . The Cromarty Rose was sold in 2009 and replaced for the 2011 season by a new four-car ferry called the Cromarty Queen , which continued the service from 2011 to 2014. After a year with no ferry in 2015, new operators, Highland Ferries, were awarded the ferry contract and re-commenced the regular service between Cromarty and Nigg with
15129-423: Was split between three lieutenancy areas: The last Lord Lieutenant of the county, Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel , became Lord Lieutenant of the new Inverness lieutenancy area. Further local government reforms in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 saw the regions and districts created in 1975 abolished and replaced with single-tier council areas . The former Highland region became one of
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