Foyers, Highland

Foyers (Scottish Gaelic: Foithir, meaning "shelving slope")[1] is a village in the Highland council area of Scotland,[2] lying on the east shore of Loch Ness. The village is situated on the B852, part of the Military Road built by General George Wade, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Fort Augustus.

Foyers Scottish Gaelic: Foithir
River Foyers. Looking upstream on the river Foyers
Foyers Location within the Inverness area
Population	276
OS grid reference	NH496209
Council area	Highland
Lieutenancy area	Inverness
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	INVERNESS
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Scottish Parliament	Highlands and Islands Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch

Foyers is also the name of the river which runs nearby into the Loch, which has two waterfalls, the upper one of 14 metres (46 ft) and the lower one of 30 metres (98 ft), known as the Falls of Foyers.[3]

Since the late 19th century, water courses near Foyers have been harnessed to provide hydroelectricity. British Aluminium Company built their first hydro-powered aluminium smelter at Foyers in 1896 - the first in the UK - and it operated until 1967, powered by water captured in Loch Mhòr. The power station element of the plant was then purchased by Scotland's Hydro Board and redeveloped using a 5MW turbine. Subsequently, a new pumped storage power station, with additional capacity of 300MW, was added, becoming fully operational in 1975.[4]

Foyers is the location of Boleskine House, two miles east of the main town, which was the home of author and occultist Aleister Crowley. The house was once owned by guitarist and Crowley collector Jimmy Page.

Foyers was historically a strong Gaelic-speaking area, with 84.1% reporting as Gaelic-speaking in the 1881 census.[5] However, only 4.9% of residents reported as Gaelic-speaking in the 2011 census.[6]