The Mystery of the General’s Well Inverness
Where: Bught Road, Inverness, on the west bank of the River Ness, just south of the suspension bridge to the Ness Islands.
When: Always accessible.
Cost: Free to visit.
A Well Hidden in Plain Sight
The General’s Well is one of Inverness’s hidden landmarks – passed by thousands, yet overlooked by many. It sits quietly on the banks of the River Ness by Bught Road, near the footbridge onto the Ness Islands. Although it is in the middle of a busy public river side area, it remains strangely unnoticed. Tucked away with a modest plaque.
General MacIntyre? Colonel Warrand? General Wade?
The mystery of the generals well inverness
General or Colonel?
General or Colonel? The well is traditionally said to be named after General MacIntyre, who lived at nearby Bught House in the early 19th century. According to local tradition, he would stroll daily from the house to the riverbank to drink the well’s waters. The waters are believed to have health-giving properties.
However, some records refer to it as the “Colonel’s Well”, linked to Colonel Alexander Warrand, a later owner of the Bught Estate. It is clear that both names refer to the same spring. The real debate is about who the well is actually named after? The earlier General MacIntyre or the later Colonel Warrand – with local memory favouring the more romantic title of “General’s Well”.
Colonel Warrand – A Generous Landowner
Colonel Alexander Redmond Bewley Warrand, of the Seaforth Highlanders, owned the Bught Estate after General MacIntyre’s time. Warrand is graduate of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He served in Egypt and led troops at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in 1882. During the First World War, he became the lead recruitment officer for northern Scotland.
Colonel Warrand never married and had no children. In 1922, he offered to sell the Bught Estate to Inverness Town Council at a price lower than its market value. Hoping the land would become a recreational space for the people of Inverness. After a year of negotiation, the council purchased the estate for £11,250 in 1923,. Finally securing valuable green space for the town.
During modern research into land ownership at the Bught, the name “Colonel’s Well” appeared in some documentation. This created some confusion over whether the well was named after Colonel Warrand or the earlier General MacIntyre. However, it is clear that there has only ever been one well, and local tradition strongly associates it with General MacIntyre. Over time, the name “General’s Well” became firmly rooted in popular memory.
General’s Well Bridge – Crossing to the Islands
The General’s Well Bridge stands just south of the well itself, linking Bught Road to the southern Ness Island. Although the well’s name has long been debated, the bridge has consistently been referred to as the General’s Well Bridge. Earlier footbridges to the islands, first built in 1829, were chain suspension bridges that were washed away by flooding in 1849. They were replaced around 1853 by new suspension bridges designed by James Dredge, and these survived until the 1980s. The current Victorian-style footbridges were installed in 1987, maintaining the historic look of the area. The bridge today firmly carries the name of the General’s Well.
Bught House and Its Legacy
Bught House was an 18th-century Georgian mansion set within extensive grounds along the Ness. It later became a hotel, popular in the 1950s and 60s, before its demolition in 1967. Next arrived the Inverness Ice Centre. Although the house itself is gone, its legacy lives on in the public parklands, sports facilities. Fittingly, the nearby Inverness Botanic Gardens, which were created within the walled garden of the old estate.
The estate was bought by the people of Inverness in 1923 after Colonel Warrand sold it to the Town Council at a reduced price. Intended for the enjoyment of future generations which it now provides.
The Healing Powers of the General’s Well
In the past, wells were not just sources of water; they were places of healing and hope. General’s Well was particularly associated with curing rickets in children. Families would bring afflicted youngsters to bathe their limbs in the spring water and drink from the well. To strengthen the water’s supposed powers, people would drop silver coins and pebbles into the spring.
It was one of several healing wells around Inverness and the Highlands. Part of a much older tradition of sacred water sources stretching back over a thousand years.
Munlochy Clootie Well
Other Local Holy Wells
St Mary’s Well, Culloden.
Famous for its healing traditions. Visitors would wash injured limbs in the well’s water before tying a cloth, or cloot, to nearby trees, hoping the ailment would fade as the cloth rotted. The well was unusually enclosed by a high stone wall to give privacy for bathing. It also had other names Well of the Wood (Tobar na Coille). Also called the Blue Well or the Well of Youth. Known by several names over the centuries.
Well of the Washing Burn, Clachnaharry.
Believed to cure skin diseases, with locals visiting to bathe afflicted areas in the burn’s water.
Munlochy Clootie Well, Black Isle.
One of the best-known surviving clootie wells, linked to St Boniface, where cloths are still tied today for healing and blessings. Read our blog on Munlochy Clootie Well here.
The tradition of holy wells survived even after the Reformation banned pilgrimages in 1581. This shows how deeply rooted these customs remained in Highland life. And the threat perceived by the Christian religion!
The Tradition of Clootie Wells
At wells like St Mary’s, visitors would wash an injured part of the body and tie a strip of cloth – a “cloot” – to a nearby tree. As the cloth rotted away, it was hoped the illness would fade too. This ancient tradition, blending pagan and Christian beliefs, continues today. Sadly, modern synthetic materials spoil the spirit of the ritual, but the wells remain places of quiet devotion and memory.
At St Mary’s Well near Culloden, healing was not just about tying a cloot. The well was unusually enclosed by a seven-foot high stone wall to give privacy to those bathing. Although the crowds are smaller today, the tradition of clootie offerings remains to this day.
Clootie Traditions Through War and Peace
The ancient Highland custom of tying cloots to healing wells never fades. Even during the hardships of the Second World War.
While stationed in Tunisia, six Cameron Highlanders tied pieces of cloth to a well in an olive grove. Following the same ritual they had known at St Mary’s Well near Inverness. They vowed that if they survived, they would meet again at St Mary’s on the first Sunday of May. A promise they kept when they reunited in 1946.
At home, the people of Inverness continued the same tradition during the war years. When the 51st Highland Division was surrounded at Dunkirk, locals tied ribbons to St Mary’s Well to pray for the soldiers’ safe return. These simple acts showed that belief in the healing and protective power of the wells remained strong.
Today, cloots still hang from the trees around St Mary’s Well and Munlochy. A living link to a tradition that has endured across centuries of Highland history.
The Ladle at the General’s Well
The ladle once kept at the General’s Well is remembered today through a small plaque attached to the stonework. It records that the ladle was presented in 1872 by Kenneth Mackenzie before he emigrated to America. In 1956, the plaque itself was added by his son, Robert K. Mackenzie of Cleveland, Ohio.
Why the General’s Well Matters
Today, the General’s Well is a simple site, easy to miss if you are not looking for it. Yet it holds layers of history – from early Christian significance, to Georgian country life, to Highland healing traditions. It stands quietly beside the River Ness, linking modern Inverness to its rich and sometimes mysterious past.
The Mystery of the Name
The General’s Well would likely have had a Gaelic name, perhaps Fuaran an t-Seanaileir or Tobar an t-Seanaileir. But no Gaelic version has been recorded.
The well appears as “Generals Well” on Home’s 1774 map.
Long before General MacIntyre lived at Bught House in the nineteenth century. Making it unlikely that the name refers to him.
The well has also been popularly associated with General Wade. Wade was active in the Highlands during and after the Jacobite rebellions. He lead the building of military roads to suppress further uprisings. This timing would fit better with the well’s early recorded name.
Supporting this, the Ordnance Survey survey of 1868–70 noted that a drinking cup. This was provided by a general officer resident in Inverness about a hundred years earlier, pointing to a mid-eighteenth-century origin.
Despite these clues, no final answer has been found, and the true origins of the General’s Well remain a mystery.
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