Dingwall

Its name, derived from the Scandinavian {{lang|non|Þingvöllr}} (field or meeting-place of the thing, or local assembly; compare Tynwald, Tingwall, Thingwall in the British Isles alone,{{cite web|url=http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/wwwopac.exe?&qDB=catalo&DATABASE=dcatalo&LANGUAGE=0&rf=000015393&SUCCESS=false|last=Fellows Jensen|first=Gillian|title='Tingwall, Dingwall and Thingwall'. North-Western European Language Evolution, 21:22|year=1993|pages=53–67|publisher=Odense University Press}}{{dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} plus many others across northern Europe), preserves the Viking connections of the town; Gaels call it {{lang|gd|Inbhir Pheofharain}} ({{IPA|gd|iɲiɾʲˈfjɔhəɾaiɲ|pron}}), meaning "the mouth of the Peffery" or {{lang|gd|Baile Chàil}} meaning "cabbage town".{{cite web|url=http://www.ainmean-aite.org/databasedetails.php?id=35|title=Dingwall|publisher=Gaelic Place names of Scotland|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-date=5 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505212917/http://www.ainmean-aite.org/databasedetails.php?id=35|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/illustratedgaeli03dweluoft#page/1012/mode/2up |title=The illustrated Gaelic dictionary |access-date=2012-10-10}}

The site of the {{lang|non|Þingvöllr}}, and of the medieval Moothill, thought to have been established by the Vikings after they invaded in the 8th century, lies beneath the Cromartie memorial.{{cite web|url=https://her.highland.gov.uk/api/LibraryLinkWebServiceProxy/FetchResource/273654/full_273654.pdf|title=Investigating Dingwall as Þingvöllr|first=D. D. |last=MacDonald|publisher=The Highland Council|access-date=9 October 2022}}

In the early Middle Ages Dingwall Castle, which was established in the 11th century, was reputed to have the largest castle north of Stirling.Norman Macrae, Romance of a Royal Burgh: Dingwall's Story of a Thousand Years Publisher: EP Publishing Ltd. {{ISBN|0715810715}} King Alexander II created Dingwall a royal burgh in 1226, the burgh becoming the seat of the Earls of Ross. James IV renewed its royal burgh charter in 1497.{{Cite book |last=Byrom |first=Bernard |title=Old Dingwall |publisher=Stenlake Publishing Ltd |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-84033-930-7 |location=Catrine |pages=3}} On the top of Knockfarrel ({{langx|gd|Cnoc Fhearghalaigh|links=no}}), a hill about {{convert|3|mi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} to the west, stands a large and very complete vitrified fort with ramparts.{{cite book|author=G.E. Mitton|title=Black's Guide to Scotland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-4EQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA427|year=1925|publisher=Рипол Классик|isbn=978-5-88070-219-0|page=427}}

An obelisk, {{convert|51|ft|m}} high, was erected over the grave of George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie, near the parish church of St Clement after he died in 1717. It was affected by subsidence, becoming known as the "Leaning Tower", and was later replaced by a much smaller replica.{{cite web|url=https://www.ssns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/07_Clough_Ross_1986_pp_88-97.pdf|title=The Cromartie Estate, I66o-1784: Aspects of Trade and Organisation|page=89|first=Monica|last=Clough}} Dingwall Town Hall, which dates back to 1745, still survives.{{Canmore|desc= Dingwall, High Street, Town Hall |num=12814| access-date=16 November 2021}}

The Ferry Road drill hall was completed in 1910.{{cite web|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/331789/dingwall-ferry-road-drill-hall-war-memorial|title=Dingwall, Ferry Road, Drill Hall, War Memorial|publisher=Canmore|access-date=24 June 2017}} (The 1:2500, 2nd edition, Ordnance Survey Plan no. 88.03 (Ross and Cromarty), published in 1906, does not show the drill hall) Dingwall formerly served as the county town of Ross and Cromarty: the headquarters of Ross and Cromarty County Council, established in 1889, was County Buildings in Dingwall.{{cite news|url=https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/public-urged-to-attend-dingwall-meeting-165145/ |title=Public urged to attend Dingwall meeting|date=28 October 2014|newspaper=Ross-shire Journal|access-date=19 July 2021}}

James Gillanders of Highfield Cottage near Dingwall, was the Factor for the estate of Major Charles Robertson of Kincardine and, as his employer was then serving with the British Army in Australia, Gillanders was the person most responsible for the mass evictions staged at Glencalvie, Ross-shire in 1845. A Gaelic-language poem denouncing Gillanders for the brutality of the evictions was later submitted anonymously to Pàdraig MacNeacail, the editor of the Canadian Gaelic column in which the poem was later published in the Nova Scotia newspaper The Casket. The poem, which is believed either to be or to draw upon eyewitness accounts, is believed to be the only Gaelic language source of information relating to the evictions in Glencalvie.Edited by Michael Newton (2015), Seanchaidh na Coille: Memory-Keeper of the Forest, Cape Breton University Press. Pages 59–62.

The town has a pedestrian [https://dingwall.scot/dingwall-heritage-trail Heritage Trail], which launched in March 2023, with information boards at key historical sites around the town.

As a result of storms in late October 2006, Dingwall was subject to widespread flooding the aftermath of which left the town and much of the Highlands north of Inverness, including the A9 and Far North Line, cut off for a time [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/6088112.stm "Rain turns north into water world"], BBC News. In August 2019 the town was once again flooded.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/1812705/dingwall-hit-with-floods/|title=Dingwall hit with floods|last=Aiken|first=Gregor|website=Press and Journal|date=5 August 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-23}}

Dingwall's Post Office was named the UK's most improved delivery office of the year in Royal Mail's 2021 Awards.{{cite web |title=Dingwall delivery office is crowned Royal Mail's most improved delivery office of the year |url=https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/staff-in-dingwall-delivery-office-praised-246984/ |website=Rossshire Journal |date=6 August 2021 |access-date=9 August 2021}}

File:View_over_Dingwall_to_Ben_Wyvis%2C_from_Alcaig.jpg]]

Dingwall lies near the head of the Cromarty Firth where the valley of the Peffery unites with the alluvial lands at the mouth of the Conon, {{convert|14|mi|km}} northwest of Inverness. The town contains a particularly short canal, the Dingwall Canal, also known locally as the River Peffery.{{canmore|num=12769|desc=Dingwall Canal|access-date=9 October 2022}} Dingwall railway station has been on what is now called the Far North Line since about 1865. It also serves the Kyle of Lochalsh Line.{{Historic Environment Scotland|desc=Dingwall railway station. Down and up platform ranges, Down platform staff shelter|num=LB24514|access-date=23 February 2019}}

Dingwall is on the former main road route to the north Highlands (A9). Since the completion of the Cromarty Bridge in 1979, the main road has bypassed Dingwall. Heading west, the A834 joins the A835 road which is the main route to the north west Highlands, including Ullapool.{{cite news|url=https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/trunk-route-roadworks-in-ross-shire-set-to-take-place-over-1-285435/|title=Preparations for ten-day A835 road improvement south of Aultguish in Ross-shire as BEAR Scotland pledges 'smoother and safer' route for motorists|date=24 August 2022|newspaper=Ross-shire Journal|access-date=9 October 2022}}

Dingwall is the home of football team Ross County, who won promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2012 and finished the 2012/13 season in fifth place. Despite the town's small population, Ross County attract sizeable crowds to Victoria Park from across the whole surrounding area. The team reached the 2010 Scottish Cup Final, having knocked out Celtic in the previous round.{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Forrest H. C.|title=How the Cup Was Won. The Scottish Cup Final Story|date=2014|publisher=PM Publications|location=Kirkcaldy|isbn=978-0-9534682-7-0|page=103}} Ross County won their first piece of major silverware in 2016, winning the Scottish League Cup by beating Hibernian 2–1 in the final.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35738631|title=Hibernian 1-2 Ross County|work=BBC Sport }}

Television signals are received from the Rosemarkie TV transmitter {{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Rosemarkie|title=Full Freeview on the Rosemarkie (Highland, Scotland) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate= 5 March 2024}} and the local relay transmitter situated in Fodderty. {{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Fodderty|title=Freeview Light on the Fodderty (Highland, Scotland) transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate= 5 March 2024}}

Radio stations are provided by BBC Radio Scotland on 94.0 FM and BBC Radio nan Gàidheal (for Gaelic listeners) on 104.9 FM, MFR Radio on 96.7 FM and Highland FM on 107.1 FM which is an all-volunteer based community radio station. {{Cite web |url=https://www.highlandfm.org.au/ |title=Highland FM |access-date=5 March 2024}}

The town is served by the local newspaper, Ross-shire Journal. {{Cite web |url=https://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/|title=Ross-shire Journal |access-date=5 March 2024}}

Dingwall has a primary school, Dingwall Primary, serving the town.{{Cite web |last=Thornton |first=Matt |title=Dingwall Primary |url=https://www.highland.gov.uk/directory_record/1463930/dingwall_primary |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=www.highland.gov.uk |language=en}}

Dingwall Academy is the secondary school serving the town and the wider area, including communities such as Strathpeffer, Contin, Conon Bridge, Maryburgh and Muir of Ord.{{cite web|url=https://www.highland.gov.uk/directory_record/1463929/dingwall_academy/category/542/secondary|title=Dingwall Academy|publisher=The Highland Council|access-date=9 October 2022}}

The Highland Theological College is located within the town, housed in a former Scottish Hydro Electric office. It is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands. Its focus is upon Theological Education, and is an accredited university for training Church of Scotland and United Free Church ministers and workers.{{cite web |url=http://www.htc.uhi.ac.uk/about-us/history |title=About us: Our history |publisher=Highland Theological College |accessdate=8 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908224353/http://www.htc.uhi.ac.uk/about-us/history |archive-date=8 September 2014 |url-status=dead }}

File:Dingwall original Town House (geograph 2996739).jpg]]

Dingwall was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dornoch, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. Cromarty was added to the list in 1832. The constituency was a district of burghs known also as Tain Burghs until 1832, and then as Wick Burghs.

It was represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). In 1918 the constituency was abolished and the Dingwall component was merged into the county constituency of Ross and Cromarty which was itself abolished in 1983.{{cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/2453/overview|title=Ross and Cromarty|publisher=UK Parliament|access-date=9 October 2022}}

Churches include:{{cite web |title=Dingwall Churches |url=https://www.rossandcromartyheritage.org/home/mid-ross-communities/dingwall/dingwall-places/dingwall-churches/ |website=Ross and Cromarty Heritage |access-date=1 February 2024}}

• Dingwall and Strathpeffer Free Church of Scotland
• Dingwall Baptist Church
• Dingwall: Castle Street Church of Scotland
• Dingwall Evangelical Church
• Dingwall: Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, opened in the mid/late 1890s, current building 1959.{{cite web | url = https://www.fpchurch.org.uk/location/dingwall-and-beauly-congregation/ | title = Dingwall Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland | date = | publisher = Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland| access-date = 20 November 2023}}
• Dingwall: St Clement's Church of Scotland
• St James the Great Scottish Episcopal Church
• St Lawrence's Church, Roman Catholic Church, opened in 1902.{{cite web |date= |title=St. Lawrence's Catholic Church |url=http://www.stlawrences.org/history-of-our-church.html |access-date=7 December 2019 |publisher=St Lawrence's}}

• James Fraser of Brea theologian and prisoner on the Bass Rock{{cite book |last1=Aird |first1=Gustavus |author2=Gustavus Aird's sketch is often bound with Fraser's Memoirs |title=Short Sketch of Rev. Mr Fraser |date=1891 |publisher=Melven |location=Inverness |pages=v-vi |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirsofjame00fras/page/n7 |access-date=23 February 2019}}
• Prof James Alexander MacDonald (1908–1997) botanist, born and raised in Dingwall.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=22 June 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
• Major General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, Son of a local Crofter at Rootfield, Dingwall.{{cite book |title= Scottish Notes and Queries|editor1-first= John|editor1-last= Bulloch|volume= 1|chapter= The Ancestry of General Hector Macdonald|year= 1900|publisher= A. Brown & Co.|location= Aberdeen|page= 188|chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/scottishnotesan03unkngoog#page/n213/mode/1up|access-date=10 April 2011}}
• John M'Gilligen of Fodderty who held conventicles in houses throughout the county{{cite book |last1=M'Crie |first1=Thomas, D.D. the younger |title=The Bass rock: Its civil and ecclesiastic history |date=1847 |publisher=J. Greig & Son |location=Edinburgh |page=[https://archive.org/details/bassrockitscivil00mcri/page/n394 235]–259 |url=https://archive.org/details/bassrockitscivil00mcri|accessdate=22 December 2018}}{{PD-notice}}
• John Kennedy of Dingwall, Free Church of Scotland minister
• Rev Duncan Leitch, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1952{{Cite web|url=http://gravestones.rosscromartyroots.co.uk/picture/number6886.asp|title=Ross & Cromarty Roots | Duncan Leitch.|website=gravestones.rosscromartyroots.co.uk}}
• Julie Fowlis, a folk singer and multi-instrumentalist{{Cite news| last = Denselow| first = Robin | title = Going back to her roots| newspaper = The Guardian| date = 1 August 2008| url =https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/aug/01/folk.gaelic | access-date = 13 August 2008}}
• Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and member of the Scottish Parliament for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, was born and went to school in Dingwall.{{Cite web|title=Political class|url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/edit-magazine/supplements/political-class|access-date=2021-01-16|website=The University of Edinburgh|date=27 June 2017 |language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2019-10-04|title=Getting to know you: Kate Forbes|url=https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,getting-to-know-you-kate-forbes_13766.htm|access-date=2021-01-16|website=Holyrood Website|language=en}}
• Thomas Simpson (explorer), Arctic explorer and accused murderer (1808–1840){{cite web|url=http://collections.dartmouth.edu/arctica-beta/html/EA15-67.html |title=Simpson, Thomas|publisher=Dartmouth College Library|access-date=9 October 2022}}
• Willie Logan, civil engineer and founder of aviation company Loganair{{cite web|url=https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst769.html|title=William (Willie) Logan | publisher=Gazetteer for Scotland| access-date=9 October 2022}}
• Colin Calder, founder of the Club Atletico Rosario Central - Argentina on 24 December 1889{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28192617 | title = Who were ye?: Scot who brought football to Messi city | work = BBC News | date = 9 July 2014| publisher = | access-date =}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Dingwall, Highland}}

• [https://www.dingwall.scot/ Dingwall Community Development Company]
• [http://www.dingwallcc.com Dingwall Community Council]
• [http://www.dingwallmuseum.co.uk/ Dingwall Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218003810/http://www.dingwallmuseum.co.uk/ |date=18 February 2020 }}

{{Scandinavian Scotland|state=autocollapse}}

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Category:County towns in Scotland

Category:Ports and harbours of Scotland

Category:Royal burghs

Category:Populated places in Ross and Cromarty

Category:Thing (assembly)

Category:Towns in Highland (council area)

Category:Parishes in Ross and Cromarty