Cromarty, poised on the tip of the Black Isle at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth, is the Highlands’ best-preserved historic town. But Cromarty is more than an 18th-century town in stasis. It offers sandy beaches, unusual architecture, bottlenose dolphins, places to eat, an award-winning museum, beautiful countryside, wildlife and bird reserves of international importance, to name but a few.
Cromarty is a convenient and beautiful centre from which to tour the Highlands, only about 40 minutes’ drive from Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. Yet it sits apart from the main tourist routes, giving you the best of both worlds.
History
For over 700 years Cromarty’s livelihood has depended on the sea and its fertile farmland. Its fortunes have fluctuated constantly, peaking in the 17th century with trade with Norway, Sweden, Holland and even the Mediterranean, and again in the herring boom of the 19th century, when dozens of fishing boats sailed from its harbour.
It is because of the depressions that followed these booms that Cromarty is preserved today as the most attractive town on the east coast of the Highlands, and because of the oil boom of the 1970s that so many of its fine old buildings have been repaired and renovated.
Things to see
Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage and Museum, owned by the National Trust for Scotland, tells the story of the Cromarty stonemason who became a bestselling writer, geologist and collector of tales. Cromarty East Church shows, perhaps better than any other, how centuries of religious, social and political change reshaped Scotland’s churches.
Bottlenose dolphins are often seen from the shore by the lighthouse. On the north side of the town a small ferry has carried foot passengers, cyclists and a few cars across to Nigg in summer; check that it is running before you plan around it.
Above all, Cromarty can be what you want it to be: a beautiful place to visit or stay, a centre from which to travel the Highlands, or a quiet retreat from the hurly-burly of the main tourist routes.