Firth, forest and hilltop stone
Evanton
A planned Highland village on the Cromarty Firth, beneath Cnoc Fyrish and its nine-column monument.
- Best for
- Woodland walks, firth views and local history
- Give it
- A half day for one walk and a village food stop
- Don't miss
- The view along the Cromarty Firth from Fyrish Monument
The Fox verdict
A small village with three strong landscapes
Evanton brings together the wooded Black Rock Gorge, the Cromarty Firth shore and the climb to Fyrish Monument.
Choose the gorge circuit or the Jubilee Path for a substantial walk, then use the community wood, old kirk and village food stops to shape the rest of the visit.
Where to go
Places in Evanton
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesEvanton Community Wood
Volunteer-created paths lead through a community-owned wood with a pond, cabin, octagonal shelter and play area featuring a replica Viking longship.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- bordering the Allt Graad and Black Rock Gorge
Novar Arms Hotel
A family-run village hotel with a restaurant, lounge, family room and public bar, advertising daily specials and a Sunday carvery.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Evanton
The Storehouse, Foulis Ferry
A restaurant, food hall and gift shop in a restored 18th-century storehouse on the Cromarty Firth, with a changing daily menu and locally produced food.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 90 minutes
- Locality
- Foulis Ferry
Food & drink
1 placeCornerstone Café
A volunteer-run community café serving soup, sandwiches, toasties, all-day breakfasts, rolls, burgers, cakes, traybakes, scones and other home baking.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 60 minutes
- Locality
- 16 Balconie Street
Walks & outdoors
2 placesFyrish Monument
The Jubilee Path rises through woodland onto open moorland and reaches the nine-column monument, with views along the Cromarty Firth from the North Sea towards Ben Wyvis.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 2.5 hours
- Locality
- Novar landscape
Black Rock Gorge
From the bridge, the Allt Graad lies more than 100 feet below in a narrow sandstone chasm; a scene for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was filmed here.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: Allow around 1.5 hours
- Locality
- bordering Evanton Community Wood
- Access
- Woodland paths are rough and muddy in places, and care is essential at the gorge edge.
History & heritage
1 placeKiltearn Old Parish Church and Burial Ground
A Category B listed, roofless T-plan kirk rebuilt in 1790–91, with medieval details and a kirkyard containing more than 400 headstones.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: around 45 minutes
- Locality
- Cromarty Firth shore
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Three ways to explore Evanton
Signature outings
Walk to Fyrish Monument
Follow the signposted Jubilee Path through woodland and onto open moorland for views along the Cromarty Firth.
Circle Black Rock Gorge
From the bridge, look down more than 100 feet to the Allt Graad in its narrow sandstone chasm.
Visit Kiltearn's roofless kirk
See the rebuilt T-plan kirk and a burial ground of more than 400 headstones, including a stone dated 1670 and slabs carved with skulls, crossed bones, handbells and gravediggers' tools.
The village story
Evanton Village Guide
Explore Black Rock Gorge on its woodland circuit, or follow the Jubilee Path to Fyrish Monument, alongside Cromarty Firth views and Evanton's layered history.
Fyrish Monument and Village Life
The Fyrish Monument stands on the hill above Evanton with nine stone columns visible for miles, and once you have seen it you keep finding it: over the rooftops, above the trees, at the end of a firth view. General Sir Hector Munro of Novar had it built in 1792 to give his tenants paid work, its three arches loosely following Indian forms in memory of his 1781 victory at Negapatam. Two of his sons died in India, one killed by a tiger and the other by a shark. You can walk up to it on the signposted Jubilee Path from the Boath road car park, a little under four miles there and back through woodland that opens onto moor, ending with the whole sweep of the Cromarty Firth in view, from the North Sea round to Ben Wyvis.
Down in the village, Balconie Street holds the Co-op at number 13, which handles groceries, Costa coffee, parcels and PayPoint. The Cornerstone Café at number 16 is run by volunteers for Kiltearn Parish Church and does soup, sandwiches, toasties, all-day breakfasts, bacon and sausage rolls, burgers, and a spread of cakes, scones and traybakes. The Evanton Walkers Group meets there, as do the arts-and-crafts groups.
Food, Drink and Foulis Ferry
The Novar Arms is the village hotel, family-run, with a lounge, a family room and a public bar carrying a pool table, dartboard, jukebox and television. There are daily specials and a Sunday carvery, and recent menus have run from fish and chips and salmon to haggis bonbons, a Novar burger, chicken pot pie and roast beef. The bar leans on Scottish malts, Dalmore and Glenmorangie among them, and on gins including Harris, Rock Rose and Porter's. One recent guest called it a "lovely village pub with hotel rooms above and bar below," and said everyone was friendly. The Balconie Inn, a smaller community pub at number 10, is the other option.
Two miles out at Foulis Ferry, the Storehouse occupies a restored eighteenth-century grain store on the firth, where estate tenants once brought their grain for shipment to Leith. It now holds a restaurant, a food hall and a gift shop. The menu changes with what is available, and the hall sells local potatoes and vegetables, cheeses, bread, jams, chutneys, game, ice cream and cakes made in the kitchen, gluten-free baking included. Gin is a stated speciality.
Black Rock Gorge and the Old Kirk
The best-known walk is the Black Rock Gorge, a circuit of two and a half miles that takes about an hour and a half. From the footbridge the Allt Graad runs more than a hundred feet below in a narrow, twisting sandstone chasm; the path is rough and muddy in places, and the edge deserves respect. A scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was filmed here. The gorge borders Evanton Community Wood, sixty-five hectares of community-owned woodland where volunteers have laid paths and built a pond, a cabin, an octagonal shelter and a play area with a replica Viking longship. The wood received the King's Award for Voluntary Service in 2025.
On the shore stand the ruins of Kiltearn Old Parish Church, roofless since the roof fell in during the 1960s after the slates were taken off. The T-plan kirk was rebuilt in 1790–91 on older walling, could once seat 700, and stands in a kirkyard of more than 400 headstones, some carved with skulls, crossed bones, handbells and gravediggers' tools. A minister was first recorded on the site in 1227.
Origins, Difficult History and Getting There
Evanton itself was laid out around 1805–10, beside an older fermtoun called Drummond, by Alexander Fraser, who named it after his son Evan Baillie Fraser. He also named Camden, Hermitage and Livera streets after the Caribbean plantations he was tied to, where records list hundreds of enslaved people.
Balconie Street carried the A9 until the bypass opened in 1979. The nearest station is Alness, four miles off, and Stagecoach buses stop outside the Co-op on the run between Inverness, Dingwall and Alness. On a clear evening the columns on the hill hold the last of the light while the village below has already gone into shadow.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- Fyrish Monument — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Black Rock Gorge — walkhighlands.co.uk other published source
- Evanton Community Wood — evantonwood.com operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Kiltearn Old Parish Church and Burial Ground — portal.historicenvironment.scot statutory register or public authority
- Cornerstone Café — evanton.online other published source
- Novar Arms Hotel — novar-arms.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- The Storehouse, Foulis Ferry — thestorehouse.scot operator, sector body or destination organisation