Cluny Hill is a hill on the East side of

Forres Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. At the top of Cluny Hill is

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

's Tower, built in 1806 to commemorate Admiral Lord Nelson and his victory at

Trafalgar Trafalgar most often refers to: * Battle of Trafalgar (1805), fought near Cape Trafalgar, Spain * Trafalgar Square, a public space and tourist attraction in London, England It may also refer to: Music * ''Trafalgar'' (album), by the Bee Gees Pl ...

. The Tower is open to the public. Writing in 1807 the antiquarian George Chalmers recorded the existence of a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

on the top of the hill, with "a strong earth rampart and a ditch 12ft wide, enclosing an area of more than 6 acres." He further noted "a small 'post' with bank and ditch enclosing an area 10ft square" lying to the south. The

Ordnance Survey , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

recorded the hill as the site of a "British Camp" in 1938, but by 1963 no obvious trace of a fort remained. The existence of the hillfort, which extended to , was confirmed in 2017. Isaksen, Leif (2017
The Hilltop Enclosure on Cluny Hill, Forres description, destruction, disappearance".
Lancaster University. Retrieved 28 May 2018. p. 37 Cluny Hill College

The nearby Cluny Hill

Hydropathic Establishment Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The te ...

opened in 1864. The opening of Cluny Hill signalled a transition in the hydropathic movement that prevailed in the 19th century.

What marked it out were three features. It was an enterprise capable of accommodating a much larger clientele; some 65 visitors were in residence in the first July. Secondly, as the visitor's lists show, the clientele was drawn from the immediate locality and further afield: Edinburgh and Glasgow in the main, but also locations like Cheshire and the Isle of Wight. Third, the size of the venture required a high level of capitalization and consequently the promotion was handled through a limited company rather than private partnerships.

After being commandeered for troop use during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it reopened in 1947 under North British Hotels Ltd. as the Cluny Hill Hotel. By 1975 it was deemed unprofitable and was sold to the

Findhorn Foundation The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain.''The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Org ...

for £60,000. The new owners renamed it Cluny Hill College.

References

Mountains and hills of Moray Hill forts in Scotland Forres {{Moray-geo-stub

See also

References