South Kessock ferry point 1971 - geograph

The Kessock Ferry used to ply between

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

and the

Black Isle The Black Isle (, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Resolis, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and North Kesso ...

, across the Beauly Firth. It was withdrawn on the opening of the

Kessock Bridge The Kessock Bridge () carries the 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 Moray Firth, between the village of North Kesso ...

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), Highland council area of Scotland. It is situated to the city's north at the mouth of the River Ness ...

at the narrows between the

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 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. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

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 often refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to Scan ...

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 (; , ) is a town, civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore of the mout ...

and

Dornoch Dornoch (; ; ) 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 Firth to the east. ...

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. 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 McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet and public performer. He gained notoriety as an poetaster, extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote ...

. 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 (, ) 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 recent census in 2011 s ...

, 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 ...

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

Invergordon Invergordon (; 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 established in 1828. The area ...

. 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 w ...

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