"A city without old buildings is like a person without a memory" -- Konrad Smigielski
The walk follows the town's origins from Medieval times (c1135) through to the traumatic and brutal period of the
1745 Jacobite uprising and to more prosperous Victorian and Modern times.
It is a magical experience that we can still walk down the same streets as designed in the mid 1100s and follow in the footsteps of Robert the Bruce,
Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie. Inverness, like many medieval towns, has all its important buildings
in a straight line i.e. the Castle, the Tolbooth, the Town House and the Church. The town was a small enclave in a hostile environment with threats from the English in the the South
and the Clans from the West. This concentrates history into a small area that creates an intimacy with the past. There were some good times when peace and prosperity prevailed but
often there was hardship and conflict. The first half of the walk covers this period.
1746 to VICTORIAN and MODERN INVERNESS
Although the Battle of Culloden marked a difficult time to be an Invernessian its aftermath brought peace. There was still disease,
occasionally food shortages and other hardships to contend with but in peaceful times the town could grow and prosper. Growth was most notable in the Victorian period (1837-1901)
and many Victorian buildings still exist. Despite the prosperity of the Victorian period there was still poverty and the punishments, especially towards children, were harsh. The second half of the walk takes in this period and we finish back in the High Street where we started.