Clock Tower, Cromwell's Fort, Inverness

Joseph Cook was a popular Inverness speaker who collected photographs on many subjects to illustrate his talks. In this audio extract, taken from a recorded slide show, the Reverend Derek Henderson of Inverness discusses one of Mr. Cook's images.<br /> <br /> 'This is all that remains of Cromwell's Fort, the clock tower. In 1652, Cromwell decided that he would have a fort in Inverness. So he commissioned a Colonel Lilburn to purchase the stones of the Grey Friars' kirkyard, which had now been demolished, and build a fort, a garrison, and its size indicates that there must have been an awful lot of stones because it was to garrison at least a thousand men. And in 1658, it was completed, which is rather a pity because that is the year that Oliver Cromwell died. And it was demolished in 1662. Now, at the time that, again, I was a lad, the ramparts of this fort were still there, and before the war, before the oil tankers and tanks came in and whatnot, you could go right round the ramparts of Cromwell's Fort'<br /> <br /> <br /> <i>Note: Recent (2002) archaeological research has revealed that the clock tower was actually constructed in the 1760s, around a century after Cromwell’s fort was demolished. It was part of a large hemp factory that was built on the site.</i>