Foyers (, meaning "shelving slope") is a village in the

Highland council area Highland (, ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the United Kingdo ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, lying on the east shore of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoology, cryptozoological Loch Ness Mons ...

. The village is situated on the B852, part of the Military Road built by General George Wade, northeast of

Fort Augustus Fort Augustus is a settlement in the parish of Boleskine and Abertarff, at the south-west end of Loch Ness, Scottish Highlands. The village has a population of around 646 (2001). Its economy is heavily reliant on tourism. History Early histo ...

. Foyers is also the name of the river which runs nearby into the Loch, which has two

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

s, the upper one of and the lower one of , known as the Falls of Foyers.

Foyers village

The village is divided into Upper Foyers and Lower Foyers. Upper Foyers was originally a traditional

crofting Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were est ...

township. Lower Foyers came later after the British Aluminium Company built houses for those employed in the aluminium works. The two are separated by the two waterfalls known as the Falls of Foyers. Since the late 19th century, water courses near Foyers have been harnessed to provide

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

. The British Aluminium Company built its first hydro-powered aluminium smelter at Foyers in 1896—the first in the UK—and it operated until 1967, powered by water captured in Loch Mhòr. The power station element of the plant was then purchased by Scotland's Hydro Board and redeveloped using a 5MW turbine. Subsequently, a new

pumped storage Pumping may refer to: * The operation of a pump, for moving a liquid from one location to another **The use of a breast pump A breast pump is a mechanical device that Lactation, lactating women use to milking, extract milk from their breasts. They ...

power station, with additional capacity of 300MW, was added, becoming fully operational in 1975. Foyers is the location of Boleskine House, two miles east of the main town, which was the home of author and

occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. The house was once owned by guitarist and Crowley collector

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

. Foyers was historically a strong Gaelic-speaking area, with 84.1% reporting as Gaelic-speaking in the 1881 census. However, only 4.9% of residents reported as Gaelic-speaking in the 2011 census.

Luftwaffe Raid

At 12pm on 13 February 1941, the Aluminium Works at Foyers was bombed by the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

, causing Furnaceman, Murdo MacLeod, a fatal heart attack, and killing Fitter, Archibald MacDonald, as he walked along the adjacent tramway which took a near direct hit. MacDonald was initially reported missing at 3pm, before his body was discovered 3 hours later inside the Turbine Pit. While initially speculated that he had drowned as a result, it was later determined that he had died instantaneously. The factory was later visited by HRH Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was killed the following year in the

Dunbeath air crash The Dunbeath air crash was the crash of a Short Sunderland, Short S.25 Sunderland Mk. III in the Scottish Highlands, on a headland known as Eagle's Rock () near Dunbeath, Caithness, on 25 August 1942. The crash killed 14 of 15 passengers and cr ...

. MacLeod and MacDonald were the only people to be killed in a bombing raid on the Highlands during WWII.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Inverness committee area 2Foyers