Muirtown (

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

: ''Baile an Fhraoich'') is an area in the west end of the city of

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 ...

in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...

. It contains the Muirtown basin and Muirtown Primary School. An expansion of the

Caledonian Canal The Caledonian Canal connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William in Scotland. The canal was constructed in the early nineteenth century by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. Route The canal r ...

close to its northeastern termination, the Muirtown Basin lies between

Clachnaharry Clachnaharry (; gd, Clach na h-Aithrigh) is a former fishing village, now part of the city of Inverness in the Highland council area of Scotland. Clachnaharry is situated on the south shore of the Beauly Firth, about west of the city centre. ...

and Muirtown a mile (1.5 km) northwest of Inverness city centre. Planned in the early 19th century as a second harbour for the city by the canal's engineer

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...

(1757–1834), it could not cope with the size of ships which were soon in use and thus never fulfilled its potential. It now serves as a marina. Immediately to the south of the basin are the Muirtown Locks, a flight of four locks on the Caledonian Canal at Muirtown, a mile (1.5 km) west northwest of Inverness city centre. The Muirtown Swing Bridge crosses the canal immediately to the north. In popular culture In the

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

novel

Mr Standfast ''Mr Standfast'' is the third of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1919 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being ''Greenmantle'' (1916); Hannay's f ...

, Muirtown is the scene of an episode in the adventures of

Richard Hannay Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist John Buchan and further made popular by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film '' The 39 Steps'' (and other later film adaptations), very loosely b ...

as he seeks to avoid the Scottish police while simultaneously hunting a spy.

References

Areas of Inverness {{highland-geo-stub