The British fort built after Culloden that ‘never fired a single shot in anger’

As Fort George marks its 250th anniversary, Julia Haase of Historic Environment Scotland looks at the back story of the military base that was built to keep order in the Highlands after the 1745 Jacobite rising.

Fort George, which was designed by the Adam brothers, took 22 years to complete. PIC: HES.

This year marks 250 years since the completion of Fort George, Britain’s mightiest artillery fortress.

Named after King George II, Fort George was built following the defeat of the 1745 Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden. The Crown wanted to ensure that such a rising would never happen again.

The Fort was intended to impose greater government control over the Highlands, which were often viewed as the rebellious and remote.

The fort is the spiritual home of the Seaforth Highlanders. PIC: HES.

Yet Fort George never fired a single shot in anger. By the time it was completed in 1769, Jacobite support for the exiled Stuart dynasty had declined. It instead served as a recruiting and training base for the next 250 years.

Fort George was the biggest construction job ever completed in the Highlands. It required 1,000 men to build and many materials to be brought in by sea. It replaced an earlier fort which was located 11 miles west in Inverness.

The fort was built after Culloden in a bid to restore order to the Highlands. PIC: HES.

The newly-appointed military engineer for Scotland, Lieutenant-General William Skinner, was chiefly responsible for the design and layout. For a location, he selected a barren spit of land jutting into the Moray Firth.

Scotland’s best-known architectural dynasty, the Adam family, won the challenging building contract. The Adams were responsible for masterpieces such as Duff House in Banff and Mavisbank House near Loanhead.

They took on the daunting task in 1747, which included building a rampart more than one kilometre long and garrison buildings that akin to a small town.

Records suggest that Skinner and the Adams did not always see eye to eye. Describing their working relationship, Robert Adam wrote: “One day we were kissing hands, another day we were cutting each other’s throats”.

Nevertheless, in 1769, after 22 years, Fort George was completed. Skinner was installed as the first governor. It remains the finest example of 18th Century military engineering in the British Isles, and one of the outstanding artillery fortifications in Europe.

For much of its history far more soldiers than tourists passed through Fort George – but some notable early visitors did call in. Dr Samuel Johnson and his would-be biographer James Boswell visited in August 1773. Johnson was impressed and wrote: “I could not help being struck with some admiration, in finding upon this barren sandy point, such buildings – such a dinner – such company: it was like enchantment.”

The soldiers stationed there at the time, however, seemed less enchanted with their quarters. They came to know it as “Fort Misery” due to its remote location. It was so remote in fact, that it was even considered as a prison for Napoleon after his capture at Waterloo.

For about 80 years between 1881 and 1961, Fort George was the home to the Seaforth Highlanders. To this day, it remains their spiritual home. Thousands of men from the Highlands, Islands and elsewhere were recruited to the Seaforth Highlanders in the first months of the First World War.

The diary of one recruit, Private Gordon Crask, offers insight into life at the Fort at this time. Gordon recalls his first night at Fort George on 24 May 1915: “Arrived about 7.30 pm…Got 2 blankets and slept on one and had the other over me on the iron bedstead. Awful nights sleep. Army condemned blankets!’

By the next day, things seemed better for Private Crask, who then wrote: “The food is rather rough but there is a ripping Army canteen and grocers shop where we can buy extras at a price much less than in civilian shops. We are jolly comfy. The fort has been built since 1763 so you can tell how interesting it is….’

After 1961, the Seaforth Highlanders and Cameron Highlanders merged to form Queen’s Own Highlanders. Their soldiers continue to use Fort George to this day.

A version of this article first appeared on the Historic Environment Scotland blog