South Kessock ferry point 1971 - geograph

The Kessock Ferry used to ply between

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and the

Black Isle The Black Isle ( gd, an t-Eilean Dubh, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and Nor ...

, across the

Beauly Firth The Beauly Firth ( gd, Linne Fharair) is a firth in northern Scotland. It is the outlet for both the River Beauly and River Ness. The Beauly Firth is bounded at its western end by the town of Beauly and its eastern by Inverness, where it empties ...

. It was withdrawn on the opening of the

Kessock Bridge The Kessock Bridge ( gd, Drochaid Cheasaig) carries the A9 road (Great Britain), A9 trunk road across the Beauly Firth at Inverness, Scotland. Description The Kessock Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Beauly Firth, an inlet of the Mor ...

in 1982.

Service

The ferry crossed between

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South Kessock South Kessock (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ceasag a Deas'', meaning "Ceasag's Place") is an area of the city of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is situated to the city's north at the mouth of the River Ness. It is a traditionally ...

at the narrows between the

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

and Beauly Firths. This was the first of three

firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''fj ...

s north of Inverness, and the ferry provided a vital service for the local farming community wishing to sell their produce in Inverness. Along with the

Cromarty Cromarty (; gd, Cromba, ) 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 seaward from In ...

and

Dornoch Dornoch (; gd, Dòrnach ; sco, Dornach) is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray ...

firths, the narrows at Kessock have been bridged by the A9.

Ferries

There is an early record of a ferry at Kessock in the 15th century. Over the years sail, steam and diesel-powered ferries have crossed the narrows to provide a direct link between the Black Isle and Inverness, until the opening of the

in 1982.

Kessock Ferry Disaster memorial (geograph 5644317)

The ferry was caught in a storm early in the evening of 23 February 1894, leading to the death of three ferrymen and three coastguards who were attempting to rescue them. The tragedy was immortalised by the poet

William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote about 2 ...

. The two steam boats ''Nellie'' and ''Maud'' formed the Kessock Ferry before, during and until just after the First World War. They were named after relatives of Lord Burton of Dochfour, whose family owned the Kessock Estate and the ferry. In the winter, passengers were usually outnumbered by cattle, sheep and pigs on their way to market. The ''Eilean Dubh'' was the first purpose-built vehicle ferry on the route. Built by James Lamont & Co of

Port Glasgow Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recen ...

, she was launched on 7 February 1951 and was capable of carrying eight cars, with a small indoor passenger cabin. She was retained as relief vessel in 1967 and went on to do salvage and rig support work, eventually being scrapped at Invergordon. The ''Inbhir Nis'', a four-vehicle vessel, was added in the 1950s. The ''Rosehaugh'' was purchased in 1967, a much larger ferry boat, with ramps on all four corners. She was moved to the

Corran Ferry The Corran Ferry crosses Loch Linnhe at the Corran Narrows, south of Fort William, Scotland. Description Operated by Highland Council, the Corran Ferry is one of few remaining scheduled mainland vehicle ferries in Scotland. The route crosses Lo ...

after Kessock closed and is now a multipurpose cargo boat operated by MacDonald Ferries of

Invergordon Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland (council area), Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was establish ...

. Today she acts as tender for oil rigs in the Cromarty Firth. It has clear deck space and crane and winch facilities for handling oil rig anchor chain, and it is extremely manoeuvrable with twin

Voith-Schneider A cyclorotor, cycloidal rotor, cycloidal propeller or cyclogiro, is a fluid propulsion device that converts shaft power into the acceleration of a fluid using a rotating axis perpendicular to the direction of fluid motion. It uses several blades wi ...

propulsion units.

Footnotes

{{coord, 57, 29, 55, N, 4, 14, 29, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Ferry transport in Scotland Transport in Inverness Black Isle