Muirtown, Scotland

Muirtown is an area in the west end of the city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. It contains the Muirtown basin and Muirtown Primary School.

An expansion of the Caledonian Canal close to its north-eastern termination, the Muirtown Basin lies between Clachnaharry and Muirtown a mile (1.5 km) north-west of Inverness city centre.

Planned in the early 19th century as a second harbour for the city by the canal's engineer Thomas Telford (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 north-west of Inverness city centre. The Muirtown Swing Bridge crosses the canal immediately to the north.

The Muirtown Basin presents a fantastic opportunity for both land and water based development which in turn will lead to a new waterfront city quarter with a cultural and civic extension of Inverness City Centre.

The basin itself comprises a 12 acre waterspace in a fantastic setting with scope for residential and leisure development.

The existing Seaport Marina has 60 berths and there are plans to extend this further with additional potential for a floating restaurant, hotel and homes interspersed with land based development largely on the north-west shore.

The scenery from the Sea Locks at Clachnaharry to the West are truly beautiful.

Cruises generally commence in Spring (March) and the main season ends in September/October, however a limited number of cruises are available up to Christmas and New Year. The weather is changeable with the seasons of course but this destination is quite far north so often the weather is coming straight off the Arctic.

General Information:

Language: English, Gaelic
Currency: British Pound, Euro