Fort George, Moray Firth, Scotland

Even before it was constructed, Fort George at Ardersier, on a narrow spit of land jutting out into the Moray Firth, was described by Lieutenant Colonel James Wolfe as the most considerable fortress and best situated in Great Britain. It was intended to be so, for the purpose of Fort George was to provide an impregnable base for the Hanoverian armies and thereby efface the humiliating memory of the weakness of General Wade's small Highland forts, which had proved so ineffective against the clansmen during the 45. There is no more powerful symbol in Scotland of the Hanoverian resolve to crush any further resistance in the Highlands than this outstanding fortification, which was a model of the defensive military architecture of its age.

The project was conceived in the immediate aftermath of Culloden, and precautions against attack were taken from the very beginning while work was in progress. The 42 acre site, with enough accommodation for a garrison of 1600 men as well as an artillery unit, amounted in fact to the creation of an entire township on a barren strip of land. It was the largest construction project yet undertaken in the Highlands. During the peak of activity more than a thousand men were employed but numbers fell to less than one hundred as the work approached completion in 1769.

This self-contained military settlement possessed, in addition to its barracks, magazine, ordnance and provision stores, a bakery, a brewhouse and a chapel.  The design by William Skinner, director of engineers, was carried out to the highest specification. The brickwork and masonry contract was entrusted to the family firm of William Adam, and much of it was overseen by his sons John and Robert.

Curiously, Fort George turned out to be almost obsolete even before its completion. By 1769 the Highland clans no longer posed a military threat, having been so brutally and efficiently suppressed in the years after Culloden.
Within a single generation the menacing power of the clans had thus diminished to a mere shadow of its former strength. By 1795 the permanent garrison of Fort George consisted of a company of 'invalids', men who were deemed no longer fit for active service. Fort George was never once to be challenged, either by land or by sea.
With continuing improvements in artillery technology, even Fort George's theoretical impregnability was soon called in question. In the 19th century the army almost abandoned it was for a while even turned into a prison. Against all the odds it has survived miraculously intact, and it still serves as the headquarters of the Royal Highland Fusiliers. It is also, understandably, much in demand as a film location of truly outstanding atmosphere and period flavour.