FORT-AUGUSTUS, a village and post-town and quoad sacra district
(for a time), in the parish of Boleskine-and-Abertrff,
county of Inverness, 131 miles (N. W.)
from Edinburgh; containing about 700 inhabitants.
This place is situated at the south-western extremity of
Loch Ness, in the middle of the county. It derives its
origin from the establishment of a garrison here in 17-9,
for the purpose of checking the proceedings of some
clans that were favourable to the house of Stuart; Fort-
Augustus being the central of a chain of three forts, all
built with the same design, across the Highlands. The
name was given in honour of the then Prince of Wales,
father of George III. The fort stands on a peninsula
formed by the rivers Tarff and Oich: it is of a square
form, with bastions at the corners, on which twelve sixpounders
can be mounted; and is defended by a ditch,
with a battery, a covert-way, and glacis. The barracks
are constructed for one field-officer, four captains, twelve
subalterns, and 280 rank and file. In 1745 the fort was
taken by the Highlanders, and dismantled, but was soon
repaired, and became the focus of some of those severe
military operations by which the Highlanders were completely
subdued. It is now under the charge of a barrack-
master and a few soldiers from Fort-George, whither
the guns were removed some years since. The village is
seated behind the fort, on the slope of an alluvial terrace;
and the scenery in the vicinity is altogether of a wild and
mountainous character. Over the Tarff is a bridge, kept
in repair by government. Fairs are held on the Monday
before the second Wednesday in June, and on the 20th
of September, or, if not on that day, on the Monday
before the 29th. A mission church, containing 368 sittings,
was biiilt about seventy or eighty years ago, partly
by subscription, and partly by aid from government:
the minister's salary is £7-4 per annum, chiefly paid by
the Committee for managing the Royal Bounty. An ecclesiastical
district comprising the whole of the ancient
parish of Abertarff was for a time attached to the church.
A commodious school-house and dwelling have been built
by subscription. On a hill to the north of Oich is a
Free church, a substantial and comfortable building,
overlooking the village, and forming its chief ornament;
it is seated for 444 persons, and under the same roof is an
excellent schoolroom, forty-eight feet long, and eighteen
feet broad. To the west of the village, and on the road
from Inverness to Fort-William, is a Roman Catholic
chapel, also a substantial building, seated for 250 persons.
Several Roman coins were discovered in 1767,
FORT-GEORGE, in the county of Inverness. See Campbelton.