Cromarty
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  Map sources for Cromarty at grid reference NH785675
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The Royal Burgh of Cromarty (Cromba in Gaelic) is a burgh in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It was previously the county town of the former county of Cromartyshire[1]. The burgh is a seaport on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, 5 miles from Invergordon on the opposite coast.
The name Cromarty variously derives from the Gaelic crow (crooked), and from bati (bay), or from ard (height), meaning either the "crooked bay", or the "bend between the heights" (referring to the high rocks, or Sutors, which guard the entrance to the Firth), and gave the title to the earldom of Cromarty.
The town grew around its port, formerly used by ferries, to export locally-grown hemp fibre (from cannabis), and by trawlers trawling for herrings. Today, the port is home to the UK's smallest vehicle ferry, running across the Firth to Nigg (home to a large facility formerly used for the manufacture and maintenance of oil rigs and an oil terminal connected to the Beatrice oilfield). It runs from June to October, from roughly 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The vessel is called the Cromarty Rose.
Cromarty is architecturally important for its Victorian cottages in the local vernacular style. The thatched house with crow-stepped gables in Church Street, in which Hugh Miller the geologist was born still stands, and a statue has been erected to his memory. To the east of the burgh is Cromarty House, occupying the site of the old castle of the earls of Ross. It was the birthplace of Sir Thomas Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais.
The burgh is also noted as a base for viewing the local offshore sea life.
Cromarty gives its name to one of the British Sea Areas used to provide weather forecasts to shipping.
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[edit] Parliamentary burgh
From 1832 to 1918 Cromarty was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Wick Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Known also as Northern Burghs, the constituency was a district of burghs. It was represented by one Member of Parliament. In 1918 the constituency was abolished and the Cromarty component was merged into the county constituency of Ross and Cromarty.
[edit] Sporting Achievements
Cromarty F.C. play in the local Ross-shire Amateur League, playing against sides from the Black Isle area, and also Mid Lairg of Daviot, near Inverness. Cromarty play in black and yellow, and have a decent previous record in the competition. The 2006 season, their first after a six year hiatus from the league, has not been a particularly successful one for them, however; they finished bottom of the league without a point to their name. In cup competitions they fared little better - the only win coming against Mid Lairg away from home. Despite this distinct lack of success, "The Partans" remain among the best supported sides in the local area.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ From 1889 to 1975 Cromartyshire was merged with Ross-shire under the Ross and Cromarty county council. Ross and Cromarty has later usage as the name of a district of the Highland region (1975 to 1996), and is today an area committee of the modern Highland unitary authority.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Census 2001. Population figures. Retrieved on August 17, 2005.
