This page sets out what we know about the history of the woods, and the surrounding area. Please get in touch if you have more information or stories to share.

The Bronze age (3300 - 1200 BC): Very close to the Culduthel Woods, a valuable range of items was found, dating back to the early Bronze Age, around 2280-2020 BC. The fanstastic set of artefacts (including flint arrowheads, pottery and archery equipment) are on display in the National Museum of Scotand in Edinburgh, and the story of Culduthel Man, and can be seen HERE.

The Iron Age (1200 to 500 BC): An Iron Age craft-work centre was disciovered near the Culduthel Woods in 2005 - a discovery of international significance. Reports said "The site is important for so many reasons. It is incredibly rare to have such good industrial evidence, which indicates a major production centre. The scale of iron-working suggests Culduthel was producing, and probably controlling access to, elite iron objects. The roundhouses are amongst the best-preserved Iron Age examples in the Highlands. Clearly the Culduthel area was a major power centre in the Highlands." There is a very good summary of the archaeological excavations, with photos, on the SRARF website HERE.  There is an excellent lecture about the discovery of the site HERE  - the lecture starts at 6m 10s. Well worth watching!

18th -19th Century: Culduthel House was built between 1780‑90 and was formerly the property of Fraser of Culduthel. It is a modest Georgian building of two storeys and an attic - the building is protected and the official listing by Historic Environment Scotland HERE says it has "5-bay front; harled with contrasting painted tooled ashlar margins. Centre door masked by glazed porch. Tall ground floor windows; 3 wallhead piended dormers; diminutive gable attic lights; 12-pane glazing (4-pane to dormers); coped end stacks; slate roof." There are a few aerial images of the site and some details HERE.

20th Century: The Culduthel Hospital opened on Chistmas Eve 1917 as a fever hspital. The house was purchased by Inverness Town Council in 1914 and plans drawn up for its conversion, and for ward blocks in the grounds, by the burgh surveyor and an Edinburgh architect working for the Local Government Board. Prior to the completion of Culduthel Hospital, infectious diseases cases had been treated at the Royal Northern Infirmary but the managers had long been agitating to have a new hospital built for this purpose. Further ward blocks were added in the 1930s. See photos from September 1983 HERE and HERE. With the transfer of facilties and services to Raigmore Hospital in the 1980s, the Culduthel Hospital closed in September 1989. There is a very full paper from 2023 on the history of Culduthel Hospital, with photos and maps, HERE - and further information at this fantastic website about Highland Hospitals HERE.

Living memory: Do you have any strories about the woods to share? Please let us know and we will add them here:

• The Mortuary Gates - the stone gateposts on Culduthel Avenue, at the end of the main drive up to Culduthel House, are called the "Mortuary Gates" - they are called that because this is the route that the bodies were taken out, after people died at the Culduthel Hospital.
• The Lightning Tree - just to the east of the main drive there is a large, dead Douglas Fir tree with a spiky, shattered top and its long straight trunk lying beside it. The tree was very likely hit by lightning in an electical storm some years ago ago.  Douglas Fir trees are very tall and they stick up above the general tree canopy of the woods and this tree must have attracted the electrical charge. It must have come down with quite a bang!

Aerial Photos: There are many old aerial photos of the Cuduthel / Lochardil area on the Canmore website, run by Historic Environment Scotland, (for example HERE and HERE) where you can see the Culduthel Woods in context of a changing landcape. Search the Canmore website HERE for more images and maps - you can search using the map or words like "Culduthel".

Historic Maps:  The National Library of Scotland has some fantastic maps that are online.

• 1886 Map: See HERE for a very specific map from 1868. You can zoom-in and play with the slider bar on the lower-left-hand-side to compare the old map with current air photos. You can see, for example, that the location of the pond on the map, in front of Culduthel House, is in a different location to the current pond as shown on the aerial photo. You can still find remnants of the old channel to this pond on the ground.
• 1964 Map: And see a very detailed map from 1964, with details of the Culduthel Hospital (Infectious Diseases), HERE.
• More maps from the National Library of Scotland HERE