Inverness Castle: Opening up 'private site' to the public

Inverness Castle overlooks the city and the River Ness

Inverness Castle has largely been closed off to the general public for almost 200 years, but work has begun on opening it up to locals and visitors to the city.

The two 19th Century-constructed red sandstone buildings that make up the castle site were built as a court and a prison.

It was only last year that the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service moved out of Inverness Castle to a new purpose-built building in another part of the city.

Highland Council is now leading a project to have the hilltop property turned into a tourist attraction.

The castle was used as a sheriff court until recently

The castle could open as a tourist attraction in about three years' time

The redevelopment forms part of the £315m Inverness and Highland City Region Deal, with the Scottish government committing £15m and the UK government £3m towards the castle project.

• Inverness Castle to be 'must-see attraction'

LDN Architects is leading the design work.

"The common misconception is that it is going to be a grand castle with a big formal hall," says Stewart MacKellor, of LDN.

"A lot of the original features had been hidden over throughout the years by plasterboard and carpets.

"We have peeled all of that back."

Tourists sunning themselves outside the castle in the 1950s

Mr MacKellor added: "We weren't expecting to find much, but we did find quite a lot of stone flagged floors, timber dado panelling and working window shutters."

The contract for the building work needed to revamp the castle is out to tender, and a contractor could be in place early next year.

The plan is to the turn the site into a "gateway to the Highlands" and a place celebrating the "spirit of the Highlands."

High Life Highland (HLH), which now manages the site, is working with communities and arts and culture organisations to find the best ways of using the castle to showcase the city and the wider region.

It could open as an attraction in about three years' time.

HLH chief executive Steve Walsh said the castle would "signpost all the fantastic opportunities that are spread right across the region".

The castle was built in the 19th Century on a site where castles had stood previously in the past

Visitors will also be able to explore the history of the Highlands, and of the castle site itself.

Fortifications had stood on the hill overlooking the River Ness since medieval times.

Over centuries, previous castles were attacked and burned down only to be rebuilt and then come under siege again.

The last of these strongholds was destroyed by Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite forces before the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

Mr MacKellor said: "This site had always been a seat of power in the north of Scotland and has been fought over, and it has been a private site.

"For the first time in its occupied history it is going to be given over to the public."