- Location: Alness IV16 9XL
- Opening times: 24 Hours
- Entry: Free
- Access: Purpose built car park at start of walk (no charge).
Driving north on the A9 towards Alness, the landscape is dominated by a striking structure crowning a hill off to the left. This is the Fyrish Monument, a folly consisting of three central arches with two columns flanking each side. It was built in 1783 on the orders of Hector Munro, 8th Laird of Novar, as a means of providing employment to the local workforce in the wake of the Highland Clearances. Tradition states that Munro would regularly roll stones from the top of the hill to the bottom to extend the time it took to build the monument, thus ensuring extra hours and wages for his workers, but tradition is usually just another way of saying ‘fictitious’.
The Fyrish Monument is a representation of the gates of Negapatam port in Madras, India, where Munro defeated Dutch forces in 1781 to gain control of the port for Britain, so the structure is as much a monument to ego as it is to altruism.
The walk up to the monument begins at the purpose-built car park on the minor road to Boath. The walk consists of about 2 miles / 3 kilometres of clearly marked forest pathway, and although it steadily climbs from step one there are no dauntingly steep sections. That said, it still gets the legs and the heart a-pumping!
The monument is even more impressive up close (and taller than I expected), and there are terrific views across the Cromarty Firth. With such a great reward for comparatively little effort, the route is unsurprisingly popular.
Destination or Diversion?
Fyrish Monument should be on everyone’s Scottish bucket list, and is therefore a destination worth seeking out.
