Overview of Beauly

Situated amidst rich and fertile farm land in Easter Ross, Highland Council Area, Beauly lies 10 miles (18 km) west of Inverness. With wooded hills as a backdrop and the mouth of the Beauly River opening out into an estuary, Beauly is well named. In 1230 John Bisset established here a priory for the French order of Valliscaulian monks. It was these monks who allegedly named the place 'Beau Lieu' or 'beautiful place'. Remains of the priory survive and 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Beauly stands Beaufort Castle, the former seat of the Frasers of Lovat. About 1760 the Forfeited Estates Commission laid out a new village to house demobilised soldiers. The settlement attracted those cleared from the Highland estates and became a market centre for cattle and sheep as well as an outlet for timber. In 1811 Telford's Lovat Bridge across the Beauly River provided access to the far north of Scotland and in 1862 the railway arrived. Today Beauly is a centre for tourism and craft-based industries.