Pictures of Invergordon

About Invergordon

A castle was built here in the 13th century, but the development of the town really started in the 18th century when the castle and estate where purchased by Sir William Gordon of Embo. He drew up plans for the town building it around the fine deep water anchorage of the harbour. The town has a long history as the landing point for the ferry to the Black Isle, and the harbour was used by the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy in the two World Wars of the last century. The ferry has long ceased but reminders remain from the days when the town was used as a naval and seaplane base. In recent history the town has also played its part in the boom and decline of the oil rigs, it still remains a centre for maintenance of those rigs still in use, but many have now been mothballed.

Inland quiet lanes lead towards magnificent countryside with magnificent views of hills and forestry. Just along from Invergordon is sandy Udale Bay, this together with the Sands of Nigg have large populations of dunlin, redshank and curlew. They are also popular stopping places for wildfowl, species to be seen include geese, divers, grebes and ducks. Thus in winter the whole coastline becomes a paradise for birdwatchers.

The town has a wide main street with plenty of shops, inns, cafe's and restaurants. Interesting buildings remain from its "hey-day" and in the countryside there are delightful crofters cottages to be seen.

Since its early days the fortunes of the town have fluctuated somewhat, it prospered as the home of Invergordon Distilleries in the middle of the 1950's, the resulting large distillery still dominates the eastern end of the town. But, it is the town's natural harbour that has opened up Invergordon as a major tourist destination, for this allows large liners to berth here for passengers to taste a little bit of Scottish hospitality.

In its delightful situation overlooking the Cromarty Firth, the town of Invergordon makes an ideal place for exploring this part of Scotland. As well as its oil rig and grain distillery legacy, the whole region is marked by the Viking heritage of the Cromarty Firth.