The Lovat Arms Hotel History
Lovat Arms Hotel Fort Augustus a purpose built station hotel stands on the site of Kilwhimen Barracks, one of four built in 1718. The west curtain wall of the old fort, 34 metres long by 4 metres high in some places, still stands in the hotel grounds. The wall is pierced by a central gateway and ten gun embrasures. The monument is of national importance as the remains of one of the four Hanoverian forts built to pacify the highlanders after the 1715 & 1719 Jacobite uprisings.
Standing in the shadows of this monumental wall will conjure up images of the time Bonny Prince Charlie was in the barracks before he ordered the bombardment of the later Abbey Fort where the present day Fort Augustus Abbey now stands.
The first recorded date of the Lovat Arms being a hotel was thought to have been in 1869, known simply as "The Inn" & run by one Murdoch Bayne.
It was changed, however, in 1880 when the railway was built through Fort Augustus running to Spean Bridge, to "The Lovat Arms & Station Hotel." When the railway closed down in 1911, the hotel became "The Lovat Arms Hotel". It is the Gregorys that are now building on the hotel’s history, rebranding & marketing the hotel, simply as ‘Lovat Arms’.
David & Geraldine, of the famous Loch Torridon Hotel, acquired the property in June 2005 to give David a hobby during his retirement! Their valuable hotel knowledge & experience coupled with their vibrant, energetic & entreprenurial daughter, Caroline, as manager & partner, allows them all to start propelling the hotel forward to become a leading hotel in the Highlands.