Kinross
The majority of visitors that come to Scotland will pass through Kinross. The main road into Scotland is the M90 and the services that were built at Kinross are the first ones that you encounter once you cross the Forth Bridge. It is a natural stopping point on your way north. At one point aside from a service station there was also a campsite here where road weary travellers could rest for the night. The services and the communications outpost shaped like a golf ball are the most recent developments to arrive at this historic town, as the town of Kinross itself dates back a clear fifteen hundred years. Though an old town it is still very much a hive of activity and the narrow streets are filled with people watched over by the historic buildings that make up the town.
Kinross History
The name of the town translates as ‘Head of the Point’, which is a reference to the place that the old church in the original town was sited, where it stood strong and proud overlooking the waters of Loch Leven. Though there is no longer a church on this site anymore there is still a cemetery which is positioned at the end of an expanse of parkland that runs along the side of the Loch. The town owes its existence to the Loch and the islands that it contains.
Castle Island is the location of Lochleven Castle, the place where Mary Queen of Scots was once held prisoner, however she escaped her prison in the May of 1568. Even before Lochleven Castle stood on the site the Picts under the leadership of King Dongart had positioned a fortress here, back in 490AD. The ruins that remain on the site today are testament to the value of this island as a major defensive location. With ruins from different ages littering the island. The town developed as a stopping off point for travellers heading to the north. Industry boomed here throughout the 1700’s and the place is still well known as being one of the best places in the world for spinning cashmere.
Places to Visit
Castle Island of course is a place to see, with millennia of history it can be extremely atmospheric. The town grew to support life at the different castle that have inhabited the island. Once established as a prosperous town the impressive Kinross House was built complete with beautiful landscaped gardens and open parklands. The house was constructed in 1690 and is well worth visiting. The building of the house and the designing of the lands around it resulted in part of the town having to relocate, and new areas of growth developing.
The Loch offers all kinds of water based activities to visitors and there are plenty of choices when it comes to entertainment from picnics by the Loch to curling on the town’s ice rink. Kinross is more than just a stopping off point, it has something for everyone who travels across the impressive Forth Bridge.
