View source for Merkinch

{{distinguish||text=[[Markinch]], in Fife}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name                    = Merkinch
| gaelic_name                      = Marc-Innis
| country                          = Scotland
| postcode_area                    = IV
| postcode_district                = IV3 8
| coordinates                      = {{coord|57.485|N|4.238|W|display=inline,title}}
| constituency_scottish_parliament = [[Inverness and Nairn (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Inverness and Nairn]]
| constituency_westminster         = [[Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (UK Parliament constituency)|Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey]]
| map_type                         = Inverness
| unitary_scotland                 = [[Highland (council area)|Highland]]
| post_town                        = [[Inverness]]
| hide_services                    = yes
| type                             = Neighbourhood
}}
'''Merkinch''' ([[Scottish Gaelic]]: '''''Marc-Innis''''', meaning "Island of the Horse"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Merkinch|url=https://www.ainmean-aite.scot/placename/merkinch/|access-date=2020-08-01|website=www.ainmean-aite.scot}}</ref>) is an area of the city of [[Inverness]] in the [[Highland (council area)|Highland]] council area of [[Scotland]]. One of the oldest neighbourhoods in Inverness, it's situated in the city's north-west flanked by the [[Caledonian Canal]] to its west and [[River Ness]] to its east. It is a traditionally [[Working class|working-class]] area.
In Merkinch is [[Grant Street Park]], home to [[Clachnacuddin Football Club]],<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-51307964 Clachnacuddin: The fire-hit football club longing to return home], BBC Scotland News, 31 January 2020</ref> and Merkinch Primary School, one of the oldest schools in the city.
In February 2020, Merkinch was ranked as the number 8th most deprived area in Scotland, in a report by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). Residents immediately leapt to defend their community.
Notably, Merkinch was one of the last areas in Inverness to retain the city's own dialect of Scottish Gaelic.
== Local History ==
Merkinch first appears in writing during the reign of [[Alexander II of Scotland|King Alexander II]], when it was granted by royal charter to the [[burgh]] of Inverness. This occurred in 1232, with the charter written four years afterwards. As part of this, the area was required to contribute ''"one pound of pepper"'' (or risk a fine of nine shillings) to the city every [[Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels|Michaelmas]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mackintosh|first=Charles Fraser-|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TLkHAAAAQAAJ&q=merkinch&pg=PA29|title=Invernessiana, contributions towards a history of the town and parish of Inverness from 1150 to 1699|date=1875|language=en}}</ref>
Prior to the area's industrialisation, Merkinch was almost entirely farmland sitting on an island in the River Ness (hence its name-meaning in Gaelic). Wher the river flowed past the neighbourhood on its west side, is now the Caledonian Canal today. In 1829 it was the subject of a land dispute between the Frasers of Torbreck and Duffs of [[Muirtown]], as tenants on both properties were unsure to whom they answered.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Session|first=Scotland Court of|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=76kDAAAAQAAJ&q=merkinch&pg=PA819|title=Cases Decided in the Court of Session|date=1829|publisher=Bell & Bradfute|language=en}}</ref>
In the [[Highland Potato Famine|Highland Potato Famine of 1846]], wide social unrest gripped the city of Inverness. In Merkinch, a march was organised through the area and neighbouring Muirtown (another working-class neighbourhood), led by a 12-year-old drummer boy named John Fraser. The January protests were a direct result of potato prices skyrocketing at the market on Academy Street, it being a staple food both for rural and urban lay-folk. Despite the famine affecting Highlands, potatoes were still being exported in vast quantities to London—causing an angry mob to overturn carts at the city's quay, and vandalise the houses of prominent potato merchants. In the end, 70 soldiers were called in to quell further unrest.
Fraser's march would inspire similar ones across the Highlands, and over a year later similar protests occurred in response to rising oatmeal prices.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hunter|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh6vDwAAQBAJ&q=merkinch&pg=PT245|title=Insurrection: Scotland's Famine Winter|date=2019-10-10|publisher=Birlinn|isbn=978-1-78885-231-9|language=en}}</ref>
Before the [[Second World War]], Merkinch became home to Inverness' [[shipbuilding]] industry; across the railway lines to the area's north, the [[Kessock Ferry]] would cross the [[Moray Firth]] from a pier in [[South Kessock]]. [[Distilling]] was another important industry, with several distilleries in the area.
Today, industrial activity still takes place on the Carse Industrial Estate and Telford Retail Park. <gallery>
File:Trinity Church of Scotland Inverness Scotland (15074761531).jpg|Trinity Church of Scotland, formed from the merger of three separate congregations in 1977
File:Clachnacuddin Football Club ground.JPG|Grant Street Park (Clachnacuddin football ground), in the centre of Merkinch
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Areas of Inverness}}
[[Category:Areas of Inverness]]