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Museums and history
in Inverness-shire.

It’s 20:06 in Inverness-shire.
Inverness-shire

Jacobites, saints and Highland relics.

If you want to understand the Highlands, these museums are a good place to begin. Inverness Museum and Art Gallery sits by the castle in the city, with Jacobite relics, archaeology, natural history and paintings, plus a shop and café. A short drive east, the centre on Culloden Moor puts you in the middle of the battle that ended the Jacobite cause, then sends you out onto the field itself. Further north in Tain, you can follow the medieval pilgrims who came to St Duthus and visit the Clan Ross Centre. They make good rainy-day plans, so keep one in reserve.

The Victorian Market→
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery→
Corrimony Chambered Cairn→
Tain Museum→
Culloden Visitor Centre→
Tarbat Discovery Centre→
Caledonian Canal→
Clava Cairns→
Hilton of Cadboll Stone→
Place of the day18 hours ago

Tarbat Discovery Centre.

A museum in the old church of St Colman at Portmahomack, on the site of a Pictish monastery, with carved stones and the tools of its 8th-century craftsmen.

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Free17 hours agoInvernessClava CairnsAttractionInvernessCorrimony Chambered CairnAttractionInvernessRoderick Mackenzie's CairnAttraction

Free to visit.

Beaches, waterfalls, viewpoints and stones: nothing to pay and nobody to ask.

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From our guide15 hours ago

Caledonian Canal.

Thomas Telford's canal cuts Scotland in two, running sixty miles through the Great Glen from Fort William to Inverness. Most of the way it follows the lochs, Lochy, Oich and Ness, and only twenty-two miles had to be dug, with twenty-nine locks to lift boats over the glen. Work began in 1803 and the canal opened in 1822, at more than twice the planned cost. The best place to see it at work is Fort Augustus, where a flight of locks steps down through the middle of the village to Loch Ness. Find a bench and watch the boats work through.

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Newly discovered14 hours agoInvernessThe StrathdearnCafeInvernessLoch Ness StatueAttractionInverness-shireDores BeachAttractionInvernessBoleskine Burial GroundAttractionInvernessFalls of FoyersAttractionInvernessLoch Ness ViewpointAttraction

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages in Inverness-shire.

Browse everywhere to go
Lunch12 hours agoInvernessHillhead Cafe3.7 milesInvernessFig & Thistle Bistro5.5 milesInvernessCafe Artysans5.6 miles

Lunch near Clava Cairns.

The three good places closest to it: Hillhead Cafe, Fig & Thistle Bistro and Cafe Artysans.

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From our guide11 hours ago

Culloden Visitor Centre.

On 16 April 1746, on this open moor east of Inverness, the last Jacobite Rising came to its end in less than an hour. Around 1,600 men died, most of them Jacobites. The National Trust for Scotland's visitor centre tells the story from both sides, with weapons and belongings from the battle, and a 360-degree theatre puts you in the middle of the fighting. Out on the moor, flags fly over the rough grass, and paths lead past memorial stones to the thatched Leanach Cottage. It is a quiet, moving place, so walk it slowly.

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Stay9 hours agoInverness-shireButeo at Eagle Brae4.7 milesInverness-shireEagle Brae4.7 milesInverness-shireTringa at Eagle Brae4.7 miles

Stay near Corrimony Chambered Cairn.

The three good places closest to it: Buteo at Eagle Brae, Eagle Brae and Tringa at Eagle Brae.

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From our guide3 hours ago

The Victorian Market.

Step through the grand sandstone arches on Academy Street, opposite the station, and you are in the covered market Inverness has shopped in since 1870. Glance up at the keystones on the way in: a bull's head in the middle and a ram's head on either side. Fire destroyed the market in 1889, leaving only that front standing, and it was rebuilt within two years. Today its arcades under red iron arches hold small independent shops, from a butcher and a fishmonger to jewellers and florists, and the old fish market is now a food hall.

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From our guide2 hours ago

Roderick Mackenzie's Cairn.

A small roadside cairn in Glenmoriston marks one of the great stories of the Forty-Five. In July 1746, with Bonnie Prince Charlie on the run in these hills and a price of thirty thousand pounds on his head, redcoats came upon Roderick Mackenzie, a Jacobite officer who looked uncannily like the Prince. He drew his sword rather than be taken, and as he was shot he cried out that they had murdered their Prince. It is said his head was sent to London to be identified, and the hunt eased while it was. A board by the cairn tells the tale.

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Museums and history1 hour ago

Inverness Museum and Art Gallery.

The museum of the Highlands, just below Inverness Castle, with archaeology, Jacobite relics, natural history and art, and a café and shop.

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