Lost Inverness: The Lost Architectural Heritage of Inverness

Using many images which have never before been published, Lost Inverness explores the vanished buildings and streets of the capital of the Highlands. The medieval town was gutted by mid-Victorians in a frenzy of redevelopment without a trace of sentimentality, and in the process many fine public buildings were created. But the postwar “improvements” in the town center, especially in the 1960s, have left an embarrassing legacy of architectural blight. Fortunately, many fascinating old photographs and drawings survive, and this book draws on the resources of Highland archives, libraries, and museums to create a memorable record of a missing urban landscape. From the speculative sites of Pictish forts and Macbeth’s castle to Queen Mary’s house and the old suspension bridge below Inverness Castle—itself blown up by the Jacobites in 1746 and replaced by the 1830s prison and courthouse—this collection revives memories of shops, offices, and public buildings now replaced by a homogenized streetscape.