Our History

The Gordon family, who were originally from Berwickshire (1319), prospered under Robert the Bruce and a junior line of the family annexed by marriage the Earldom of Sutherland. This branch was descended from Alexander Gordon 1st Earl of Huntly (d 1470). His son Adam Gordon was Dean of Caithness and Governor of Petty. In 1567 John Gordon, son of Adam, married Margaret MacKrith. Their fourth son, John Gordon, was the founder of the Gordons of Invergordon.

John Gordon of Kilcalmkill (Strathbrora) & Backies fought at the battle of Craigh-ne-Kamkish in 1589. He was still alive in 1616 as he sent his fourth son, Alexander Gordon of Carroll, with 18 horses to Edinburgh. In 1634 Adam Gordon of Kilcalmkill went to the German states with Sir Hector Munro of Foulis. He also served in the Swedish Army and became a captain. In 1629 he married Anne Mackay and they had three sons. His oldest son, William Gordon of Kilcalmkill, is mentioned in history for helping to capture the “Great Montrose” in May 1650. In 1652 William married Jane Elphinston and they had a son Adam Gordon or Adam of Dalpholly, who was later a shareholder in the ill-fated Darien venture. In 1695 he was knighted by King William III and was also made MP for Sutherland. In 1674 he married Anne Urquhart of Newhall and the following year their son William, who would later buy the Inverbreakie estate, was born.

During Sir William’s lifetime the castle, originally a very modest dwelling, was considerably enlarged, and at the same time the policies were improved and plans laid for the building of a town near the Ness. William’s son, Sir John, was MP for Cromarty-shire from 1742-1747, and again from 1754-1761. He was the real founder of the town and his ambitious plans included industrial development, but he was hampered by inherited debt. Sir John died childless in 1773. The baronetcy passed to Sir John’s great-nephew William, who lived in London and who also died childless in 1817. The title then passed to William’s younger brother Alexander, who had two sons, George and Adam. George died in 1840, also without children. The title of Baronet of Invergordon ended with Adam who died in 1850 leaving two girls, as the title could not be inherited by the female line.

As towns go Invergordon is comparatively modern. In 1760 it is mentioned in Pocock's Tour and, according to the Old Statistical Account compiled towards the end of the same century, there was at that time a village of some size upon the Ness of Invergordon on a dry heath beach, where vessels of 100 tons burden could lie with safety most seasons of the year and load or unload their cargoes close to the shore. Coal and lime were regularly brought to the village by sea. Peat and timber for building were to be had locally on moderate terms and, in the words of the Account, "very few situations indeed in the north of Scotland seem better adapted for a manufacturing village than the Ness of Invergordon".

In 1819 Robert Southey, in his Journal of a Tour in Scotland, referred to it as "in an important situation, at the ferry by which this part of the country communicates with the Black Isle, and so, by another ferry with Fort George, thus saving a day's journey". In the Second Statistical Account it was recorded that there were two hemp factories in the parish, giving employment to seventy persons. Spinning also gave work to a great many women. Considerable quantities of grain and a good number of cattle were being shipped annually to Leith and London.

Originally known as An Rudha, "the point" or "the Ness", Invergordon received its name from Sir William Gordon, a local landowner of the early eighteenth century. For centuries the estate on which Invergordon now stands was known as Inverbreakie (the mouth of the Breakie); the Breakie presumably being the stream which enters the Firth at Rosskeen Bridge near the old parish church. The earliest mention of Inverbreakie occurs in the thirteenth century when the Castle, about a mile inland from the Ness, was occupied by a Fleming; placed there it is said by William the Lion. From a very early period there were a few thatched houses near the spot where the harbour now is; these were known as "The Ferry Houses".

The Castle and the estate were purchased by Sir William Gordon around the beginning of the eighteenth century. Of Caithness descent, Sir William represented Sutherland-shire in no fewer than five parliaments (1708-1727) and Cromarty-shire, as it was then called, in 1741 - 1742. During his lifetime the Castle, originally a modest dwelling, was considerably enlarged and at the same time the policies were improved and plans laid for the building of a town near the Ness. William was succeeded by his son, Sir John, who was M.P. for Cromarty-shire from 1742-1747 and again from 1754-I761. He may be regarded as the real founder of the town and his ambitious plans included industrial development, but he was hampered by inherited debt. Sir John died, childless, in 1773. This said Sir John had a bust carved by Esme Bouchardon, one of the 18th Century's most fashionable sculptors; the bust was carved while Bouchardon studied in Rome and undertook private commissions for many of the great of Europe visiting the city.

In 1780 the Invergordon estate was purchased for Robert III Macleod of Cadboll. With the coming of the Macleod's of Cadboll to the district the development of Invergordon went on apace. A harbour was built and very soon the village, for it was still only a village, became the principal distributing port in the north. When the old Castle was destroyed by fire, a new and very handsome mansion was built by the late Robert Bruce Aeneas Macleod in 1872. Some years earlier the Castle policies had been transformed into a thing of beauty, the" American Gardens" as they were called, with their profuse display of rhododendrons, stately trees and flower-bordered walks being famed throughout the country. The developing community led to the formation of a Police Burgh in 1864; Robert Bruce Aeneas Macleod of Cadboll became its first Provost. When the estate was sold about the time of the First World War, the glory of the Castle and the Gardens disappeared, and in 1928 the Castle itself was demolished.

In the early 1900's Invergordon became an official naval base; the Firth was thought suitable because of the channel depth and frequently had visits from the Home Fleet. During the First World War (1914-1918) Invergordon was a full-scale base for the Royal Navy, providing fuel oil, water and dockyard repairs. The town's population mushroomed when 6,000 people came to work in the dockyards. The people of Invergordon were exposed to the horrors of war when, at Hogmanay in 1915, HMS Natal blew up in mysterious circumstances with a loss of over 300 lives. Some 'Natal' gravestones can be seen at Rosskeen churchyard.

In 1931, at the time of the World depression, the British Government announced huge pay cuts. When the Atlantic Fleet returned to the Firth whilst on manoeuvres, meetings of the below-deck crew were held in Invergordon and a policy of passive resistance was agreed - no ships would sail from the Firth. Although this is known as the Invergordon Mutiny, no ships were taken over and no officers captured. Within days however the fleet was slowly leaving and sailing to its home bases in the south. The effect of the 'mutiny' had caused a run on the Government's gold reserves and in the short term the pay cuts were reviewed and reduced.

During both World Wars the harbour and oil storage tanks were of great value to the Royal Navy. Before, during and after the last War these facilities were improved but the contraction of the Admiralty after the Second World War reduced the base to a fuelling port.

Invergordon Distillery, the largest grain distillery in Europe, was constructed in 1961 as part of an initiative to bring new industry into the area following the closure of the naval dockyard. An aluminium smelter was also built in the early 1970's, only to close in 1981. The North Sea oil boom of the same period created a large influx of people; Invergordon grew in size with many new housing estates being built to accommodate the workers and their families.

By 1931 Britain, in common with the other major industrial nations, was in the grip of an economic crisis. The National government, a coalition led by Ramsay Macdonald, had to find ways of cutting expenditure and, among a number of unpopular measures, decided to reduce the pay of all military personnel.

The Royal Navy pay scales had already been reduced in 1925, for new recruits only. Now all would be forced on to the 1925 scales, even those who had joined up earlier. The way the cuts were applied meant that ratings – the ordinary sailors – received a proportionately much greater cut than higher ranks, in some cases reducing their pay to a level where they felt they could not support their families. The pay of Admirals was to be reduced by 7%, Lieutenant Commanders by 3.7%, Chief Petty Officers by 11.8% and Able Seamen by 23%.

News of the cuts broke on September 11th 1931, just as the Atlantic Fleet was gathering at Invergordon for manoeuvres. The cuts were to come into force from October 1st, long before the men could get home to speak to their families and sort out their affairs. To add insult to injury, the news emerged haphazardly, some of it leaked through the press. This led to inaccurate and confusing rumours which only served to increase the men’s sense of grievance. Three days of mutiny

On Sunday 13th September unusually large numbers of men went ashore. Discussion among small groups in the town throughout the day culminated in a mass meeting in the shore canteen in the evening. Several men made speeches and rousing songs were sung. Able Seaman Len Wincott of HMS Norfolk called for a strike: “It’ll be passive resistance and no bloodshed”. When the canteen closed the men made their way peacefully back to their ships, which were Hood, Rodney, Warspite, Valiant, Malaya, Repulse, Dorsetshire, Norfolk, York and Adventure. Centurion, Shikari, Snapdragon and Tetrarch arrived on Monday 14th and Exeter on Tuesday 15th.

In the aftermath of the mutiny a considerable number of men were discharged from the Navy, from within the Atlantic Fleet and elsewhere, and the careers of several of the senior officers involved were affected. Rear Admiral Tomkinson in particular was the Admiralty’s scapegoat: they claimed that he could have prevented the situation by taking firm action at the outset. The records show that in fact he handled a volatile situation carefully and did his best to mediate between the men and the Admiralty. There was no serious damage or violence and in the end the fleet dispersed without trouble. What might have been the outcome if the Admiralty’s more hard-line suggestions – including shelling the fleet from the hills around the firth – had been acted upon? 

Able Seaman Leonard Wincott was serving on HMS Norfolk at the time of the mutiny. He became one of the men’s leaders and was the author of their manifesto, which stated that they would refuse to serve under the new rate of pay unless they received a written guarantee that their pay would be revised. Of his involvement, he said: “Had I not made the first move someone else would have done so. The men wanted a speaker who would express their resentment at the cuts. What I emphasised was the need to strike”. Despite the Prime Minister’s statement that there would be no victimisation following the mutiny, Wincott and other leading participants were discharged from the Navy on November 3rd 1931, immediately after the General Election.

Wincott was born in Leicester in 1907 and joined the Royal Navy in 1920. He was said to be a clever man who could speak nine languages. After his discharge from the Navy he became a workers’ hero in Britain and it is thought that this is when his involvement with the Communist Party started. He was unable to find work and by the mid 1930s had left the country to fight against General Franco in Spain. By 1938 he was living in Leningrad and later became a Soviet citizen.

During World War 2 he lived through the siege of Leningrad and received a medal for his part in the city’s defence. In 1946 he fell out of favour with the authorities and was sent to a Siberian labour camp for agitation against the Soviet state. Ten years later the new Soviet leader Kruschev came to Britain and during his visit was petitioned by family and friends seeking Wincott’s release. Wincott was set free in 1957 and apart from a few brief visits to Britain spent the rest of his life in Moscow, where he died in 1983.

At his own request Wincott’s ashes were committed to the sea in Plymouth Sound. The arrangements for this were made by friends from the Navy with whom he had remained in contact. The Navy provided a fleet auxiliary vessel flying the white ensign at half mast, and Wincott’s Russian widow was present. This was a fitting end for a man who almost accidentally had played an important part in 20th century naval history and been severely punished for it. His widow said at the ceremony: “In the depths of his soul my husband was an Englishman who remained proud to have served in the Royal Navy”.

The first mention of a castle is in a document dating from about 1200, during the reign of William the Lion. This early castle stood about one mile inland from the point, and probably consisted of a wooden tower, possibly on a mound, surrounded by a palisade and ditch. The castle would later have been rebuilt in stone and probably changed in layout and expanded several times. We know little about the castle, but it is clearly shown on Timothy Pont’s map of about 1600, at “Innerbraky”.

From about 1500 or earlier, Inverbreakie was in the hands of the Innes family. It was sold to the Rosses of Morangie in the 1630s. In 1702, Sir William Gordon acquired the “lands of Inverbreckie, fishe boats, weekly mercats and faires” from George Ross. Sir William changed the name of the estate to Invergordon and made improvements to the castle and policies. After his death in 1742, his son, Sir John Gordon, set about building a new mansion in the classical style. This was designed by architect John Adam and was completed in about 1755, after which the medieval castle was left to fall into decay.

Sir John died in 1773. As he had no children, the estate passed to his nephew, Lord Macleod, who sold it to the Macleods of Cadboll. In 1805 the new mansion was badly damaged by fire, and for some time after this the Macleod family was only able to occupy one wing of the house. It was not until 1872 that any further major building work took place, when Robert Bruce Aeneas Macleod commissioned a grand new mansion house in Elizabethan style, reputedly with 48 bedrooms. Both the old castle and 18th century house were pulled down to make way for the new building.

Maps and records show that the castle policies were laid out from the 17th century with tree-lined avenues, formal gardens and planned woodland. From about 1860 the Hilton of Cadboll stone, a spectacular and important example of 9th century Pictish carving, stood in the American Gardens, now part of the golf course. East, South and West Lodges controlled the approaches to the castle. These were probably built in the mid 18th century at the same time as Sir John’s classical mansion. Only the West Lodge still survives.

In the 1920s the estate was sold to Sir William Martineau, who also owned nearby Kincraig House. The Hilton of Cadboll stone was sent to the British Museum, from where it was hurriedly restored to the Royal Museum of Scotland after a huge public outcry. The mansion of 1872 was demolished, bringing to an end the 800 year story of Invergordon Castle.

This is a Bronze Age standing stone just off the Invergordon to Alness road. It has three Pictish symbols carved on it, probably added in the 6th or 7th centuries AD. The symbols are now badly worn and difficult to decipher, but all are recognisable as examples of designs found on other Pictish stones. They are a step, carved on the east side, and pincers and an arc on the south side. The arc is probably the remains of the relatively common crescent symbol. The significance of these symbols is unknown. 

Two more Bronze Age standing stones carved with Pictish symbols can be seen locally at Tain and Edderton. The Tain stone is a large slab found at Ardjachie on the Dornoch Firth in the 1960s and now standing outside Tain Museum. This stone is unusual because it has both cupmarks and what appear to be early Pictish symbols. At Edderton the Clach Biorach or pointed stone, which is carved with a leaping salmon and double disc and Z rod, stands in its original location on the outskirts of the village.