history

Monument History

The Fyrish Monument was built sometime around 1782 on Cnoc Fyrish, near Evanton, on the orders of Sir Hector Munro, 8th of Novar, a native lord of the area who had served in India as a general. As the local population were being cleared off their land to make way for sheep, employment was a problem and so it was built to give the locals some work. It represents the Gate of Negapatam, a port in Madras, India, which General Munro took for the British in 1781. It is visible from almost anywhere in the parishes of Kiltearn and Alness.

There is a myth about the building of the Fyrish Monument, relating to the commissioning of it by Sir Hector Munro. It is said that Sir Munro was a generous man, looking to help the local villagers in their time of unemployment. As the villagers would not take his charity, he instead paid them, as noted, to build the monument. The myth goes that after the villagers had transported the large boulders that the monument is made out of to the top of the hill it is situated on, Sir Hector Munro (presumably with help) rolled all of the stones down the hill again. He could then pay the villagers double the amount for them having to complete the task twice.

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