Wednesday 3 July 2019

The Invergordon murals

Invergordon is a town north of Inverness, on the Cromarty Firth. It was formerly a naval base, and - whisky distilling apart - still looks to the sea for some of its raison d'ĂȘtre. Otherwise it's another stone-built Scottish town with a wide, straight main street and not a lot in the way of obvious tourist appeal. Except for one thing: its murals. The place is full of big wall-paintings that commemorate moments in its history. And they are worth seeing.

I didn't know about these murals before I went to Invergordon, but once I began to notice them I found myself taking an extensive walking tour of the town to see as many as I could.

My first stop was the station, which is extensively adorned with murals. This is the approach to the southbound platform.


(Click on any of these to get a larger view)

As you can see, the theme is the Scottish soldier going off to battle from this very station. Once onto the platform, there are further wall-paintings showing the station staff doing their bit, and the goodbyes of the families left behind.


I drove on a bit, parked, and then spent the next hour or so just walking about. I soon saw more murals on the sides of buildings, mostly those lining the main drag. They seemed to be the work of local artists. 


The one above glorified local sport, with the emphasis on service personnel of the past. A bit coy on what might be under that man's kilt, I'm thinking.


A pipe band, painted in faithful detail. 


Civilian sport this time.


This last one in my gallery of shots, which records the burning-down of a hotel, is my favourite.


I didn't find all of Invergordon's murals, but I may have found most of the best. Naturally, as I did at Saltash last year (see Torpoint, Rame Head, and Brunel's best bridge on 1 December 2018), I managed to find ways of making myself part of one or two of the murals. Great fun.


You'll gather that although it was a very sunny day, there was a stiff breeze. My hair doesn't normally look like that.

If you're into wall-paintings and anywhere near Invergordon, I'd strongly recommend having a look. There must be several murals somewhere around the town that I didn't see, and they might be spectacular. However, if you don't care for these things, I'd give the place a miss. There's not a lot here. Perhaps there's a vibrant community life, but if so I didn't spot it, and there's nary a hint of it in the following shots. 


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