The Black Isle

This ancient site is dedicated to St Boniface. The tradition of tying a cloth or "clootie" to a tree after dipping it in the well signifies that the patient, from whom the cloth has been taken, lying ill at home, will, as the cloot dries out, be relieved of the suffering from which he, or she, is afflicted.

The cathedral dates to around 1300. Not popular after the Reformation in 1560 services ceased at Fortrose. In the 1650s the stone from the now roofless and decaying nave and choir were removed. This, the Priory at Beauly, and other sacred sites were savaged, barges of stone transported to Inverness to build Oliver Cromwell's Citadel, reportedly costing £1,000 per barge, a huge amount of money in those times.

Chanonry Point is a spit of land extending into the Moray Firth between the villages Fortrose and Rosemarkie. It is regarded as probably the best viewpoint to see Bottle-Nosed Dolphins. They, who make these waters home is reputedly the biggest of their kind in the world. A Stevenson lighthouse stands guard over the narrows here and across the Firth, starkly visible, is the garrison Fortress of Fort George built after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion to pacify the Highlands. It is still an active garrison today home to the Black Watch Regiment of the British Army.

A museum of Celtic and Pictish Art, located in the village of Rosemarkie. Groam House is custodian, not only the Rosemarkie Stone, one of the major surviving examples of Pictish art in stone, but also, the Rosemarkie sculpture fragments, that are 14 stone fragments, the most well known being Daniels Stone. The museum also hosts the George Bain Collection. Bain, is considered the father of modern Celtic design, he spent many years working out the intricate mathematical designs found in Celtic art. In 2015 the museum organised a Celtic felt banner-making project to create banners for the Celtic Connections Festival 2016

Wild scenes and wild legends and some of the traditions connected with this romantic and solitary dell illustrate this remark. Till a comparatively late period, it was known at many a winter fireside as a favourite haunt of the fairies…I have conversed with an old woman…who, when a very little girl, had seen myriads of them dancing as the sun was setting on the further edge of the dell…' (Hugh Miller 1835)

Cromarty and the sea are indivisible. Fishing was traditionally the major industry. Other trade was also by boat from an outstanding natural harbour, and was an important British naval base during the two World Wars. HMS Natal blew up close by on 30 December 1915 with a substantial loss of life. [ Cromarty gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast. In the nineteenth century, Cromarty was the birthplace and home of Hugh Miller, a geologist, writer, journalist. His cottage and the Old Courthouse are both open to the public. The Sutors of Cromarty are two opposing headlands which mark the entrance to the Cromarty Firth. They stand guard over the firth, and many stories have been told about them. Sutor is the Scots word for shoemaker, and one story tells of two giant shoemakers, the Sutors, who used the two cliffs as their workbenches.

Said to be the finest deep-water, natural harbour in Europe the Firth was home to the High Seas Fleet during World Wars 1 and 2. Even today the N.A.T.O fleet call in here and is an impressive sight. The port of Invergordon across the Firth is a significant base for visiting cruise liners and a service port for the oil industry.