08/02/2025
A bit of studio time today at IMOUT Studios, more than likely just within or slightly south of the walls of the old Cromwellian Citadel fort of Inverness, built between 1652 and 1658 to house 1,000 soldiers. Who knows though, because in 1660 clan chiefs petitioned Charles II to have all citadels built by English soldiers in Scotland destroyed. In 1662 the fort was destroyed and the soldiers sent home.
It was the first example of a pentagon fort with ravelin corners in the Highlands, built to make the fort defensible with musket ranges that had no blind spots. The introduction of this architecture revolutionised fort building across Europe where many examples from the same time period are much better preserved. Fort William, Fort Augustus and Fort George (original and new) were all inspired by the design to some extent. In fact, the ravelin corners of the new Fort George near Ardersier were the exact corners of Fort Augustus which were numbered, deconstructed, sailed up Loch Ness and out into the Moray Firth, and rebuilt on Fort George.
All that remains of the Cromwellian Citadel of Inverness now is a clock tower, possibly built from some of the stone on the aptly named Cromwell Road next to a self storage business. Some of the remains of the fort are cemented over and on top is an oil terminal. The Citadel also saw the first community of English-only speakers (the Soldiers) recorded as resident in Inverness.
It’s good to know the history of what surrounds you while you’re being creative. The history of the vocal isolation shield I’m singing into is that the person who used it a few hours before me was someone a lot more famous than I’ll ever be for singing. She also played in a coffee shop in St Andrews the day before I played a gig there once too. Nice of her to warm up for me twice in her career…
