Beauly Priory

At the far end of Riverside Drive, on the corner with Aberforn Terrace, you will see the magnificent ruins of Beauly Priory. It was founded by a group of monks from France in 1230. Over the years it enjoyed the patronage of several of the powerful local landowning families including the Bissets, Lovat Frasers and latterly the Mackenzies. The tombs of many of these families can still be found within the priory grounds.

Records show that in 1430 the priory had fallen into decline and the Pope was petitioned to support a programme of restoration. 

But in the 1500s the reformation in Scotland saw the Catholic Church replaced as the nation's established church by the new Protestant religion and the priory fell into disuse. Much of the priory's stone was carted off for use in new buildings in the village and, it is rumoured, a citadel in Inverness which was commissioned by Oliver Cromwell in 1652, the remains of which can still be found in the harbour of Inverness.

In 1818 the famed English romantic poet, John Keats, visited Beauly with his friend Charles Brown. After viewing the skulls of the monks, which were still on public display in the crypt, they reflected on what the monks' lives might have been like - resulting in the poem "On some skulls in Beauly Abbey".

Please take time out to visit the Priory and then our tour will proceed up Aberforn Terrace towards The Square.