Our Family's Journey Through Time
Notes:
Cromarty ( /'kr?m?rti/ (listen); Scottish Gaelic: Cromba, IPA: ['k???ump?]) is a town, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mouth of Cromarty Firth, it is 5 miles (8 km) seaward from Invergordon on the opposite coast. In the 2001 census, it had a population of 719.[2]
History
The name Cromarty variously derives from the Gaelic crom (crooked), and from bati (bay), or from ?rd (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 Cromartie.[3] In 1264, its name was Crumbathyn.[4]
Cromarty is a sea port, and its economy was closely linked to the sea for most of its history. Fishing was the major industry, with salmon stations around the surrounding coast, and boats going out to catch herring. Other trade was also by boat: Cromarty's connections to surrounding towns were largely by ferry, while Cromarty boats exported locally-grown hemp fibre, and brought goods such as coal. The Cromarty Firth is an outstanding natural harbour, and was an important British naval base during the First World War and the Second World War. HMS Natal blew up close by on 30 December 1915 with a substantial loss of life. [a] Cromarty gives its name to one of the sea areas of the British Shipping Forecast.
Cromarty Castle was the seat of the Urquharts, who were the hereditary sheriffs of Cromarty. The town was a royal burgh, and the ferry to Nigg was on the royal pilgrimage route north to Tain. In 1513 James IV Of Scotland went on a pilgrimage[5] and stayed in Cromarty Castle for 1 night. Until 1890, it served as the county town of Cromartyshire.
Etching of Cromarty from Scotia Depicta by James Fittler
The site of the town's mediaeval burgh dating to at least the 12th century was identified by local archaeologists after winter storms in 2012 eroded sections of the shoreline. A community archaeology project, which began in 2013, is investigated the remains of roads and buildings at the site on the eastern edge of the present town.[6]
Cromarty was the birthplace of Sir Thomas Urquhart, the polymath Royalist most famous as the first translator of Rabelais into English.[3]
In the nineteenth century, Cromarty was the birthplace and home of Hugh Miller, a geologist, writer, journalist and participant in the Disruptions in the Church of Scotland. Among his works was a collection of local folklore, such as the legend, dating from around 1740, that a Cromarty man named John Reid was granted three wishes from a mermaid, and that he used one of the wishes to marry a woman named Helen Stuart.
Latitude: 57.681, Longitude: -4.035Matches 1 to 2 of 2
Last Name, Given Name(s)  |
Birth  |
Person ID | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Munro, General William | 17 Mar 1731/32 | Cromarty, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland | I16367 |
| 2 | Munro, William | 20 Apr 1796 | Cromarty, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland | I7967 |
Matches 1 to 1 of 1
| Last Name, Given Name(s) |
Death |
Person ID | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McDonald, Christan | Cromarty, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland | I12405 | |
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