The Old Town The original town of Inveraray was situated on the estuary of the
River Aray, at the intersection of the trading route through Glen Aray and the estuary where ships were able to anchor. The town grew up in the shadow of the first
Inveraray Castle, home of the
Earl of Argyll from the early 15th century. To encourage trade there were various proposals for burgh status, with the 1st Earl of Argyll being successful in 1474 when
King James III established it as a
burgh of barony. This allowed a weekly market on Saturdays and two annual fairs: the feast of
St Brandan on 16 May and the feast of
Michael the Archangel on 29 September. During the
Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the
Marquis of Montrose, and his army of
Royalist supporters advanced into Argyll. Montrose's army burned and sacked Inveraray and the surrounding territory between December 1644 and January 1645. On 14 January 1645, Montrose left Inveraray and headed north where they would fight in the
Battle of Inverlochy on 2 February 1645. Inveraray became a
Royal Burgh on 28 January 1648 following incorporation by
Charles I. Records from 1690 and 1706 recorded about fifty properties in the town. and the Royal connection was further cemented when her daughter,
Princess Louise, married the heir to the Campbell chieftainship,
the Marquess of Lorne, in 1871, illustrating the elevated position of the Argyll family in the social order of the times. Inveraray Castle has served as the ancestral seat of the
Duke of Argyll and the chief of
Clan Campbell since the 18th century. The current Duke and Clan Chief is
Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll.
The New Town In 1747,
William Adam had drawn up plans for the creation of a new Inveraray. By 1770, little had been done, and the fifth Duke set about rebuilding the town in its present form. Some of the work on the rebuilt Inveraray was done by
John Adam. The Inveraray Inn (formerly known as the New Inn, Great Inn, Argyll Arms Hotel and Argyll Hotel) on Front Street being his, as well as the Town House. Much of the rest of the town, including the church, was designed and built by the celebrated Edinburgh-born architect
Robert Mylne (1733–1811) between 1772 and 1800. The end product was an attractive town which included houses for estate workers, a
woollen mill, and a pier to exploit
herring fishing, which was to grow in later years to play a major role in the town's economy. The finished product is one of the best examples of an 18th-century new town in Scotland, and the vast majority of the properties in the centre of Inveraray are considered worthy of protection because of the town's architectural significance.
World War II During the
Second World War the
Combined Operations Training Centre, located close to the town, was an important military facility. Between 1940 and 1944, roughly 250,000 allied soldiers received training at the centre. It was used primarily as a training site for the simulation of landing on enemy occupied beaches. The training provided here was pivotal in numerous missions, not to mention
D-Day. The quality of the training benefited greatly from the multi-agency presence, combining the expertise of the
army,
navy and
RAF.
Coat of Arms Inveraray's
coat of arms depicts a net cast out over the ocean, entangled in which are five
herrings. Underneath the shield, the
Latin words "SEMPER TIBI PENDEAT HALEC" (possible English translation: "may a herring always hang to thee") appear on an escrol.
Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, in his 1909 book
A Complete Guide to Heraldry, notes the following:
There is no doubt of its ancient usage. ...and the
blazon of the coat, according to the form it is depicted upon the Corporate seal, would be for the field: "The sea proper, therein a net suspended from the dexter chief and the sinister fess points to the base; and entangled in its meshes five herrings," which is about the most remarkable coat of arms I have ever come across. ==Tourist attractions==