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Beauly (pronounced Bewley; a corruption of Beaulieu), is a town of the Scottish county of Inverness-shire, on the River Beauly, 10 miles West of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is now within the Highland council area.
The chief interest of Beauly is the beautiful remains of Beauly Priory, or the Priory Church of the Blessed Virgin and John the Baptist, founded in 1230 by John Bisset of the Aird, for Valliscaulian monks. At the Reformation, the buildings (except the church, now a ruin) passed into the possession of Lord Lovat.
On the right bank of the river is the site of Lovat Castle, which once belonged to the Bissets, but was presented by James VI, to Hugh Fraser and afterwards demolished. To the south-east is the church of Kirkhill containing the vault of the Lovats as well as a number of septs of the Mackenzies, including Seaforth and Mackenzies of Gairloch.
Three miles south of Beauly is Beaufort Castle, the chief seat of the Lovats, a fine modern mansion in the Scottish baronial style. It occupies the site of a fortress erected in the time of Alexander II., which was besieged in 1303 by Edward I.
This was replaced by several castles in succession, of which one - Castle Dounie was taken by Oliver Cromwell and burned by the duke of Cumberland in 1746, the conflagration being witnessed from a neighbouring hill by Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, before his capture on Loch Morar.
The current Lord Lovat sold the castle to Ann Gloag of the Stagecoach Group to pay off debts. The land around Beauly is fertile and the town historically traded in coal, timber, lime, grain and fish.
The town is famous for its shinty team, Beauly Shinty Club, who have won the Camanachd Cup three times and have been World Champions once.
 BEAULY PRIORY
Beauly Priory was a Valliscaulian monastic community located at "Insula de Achenbady", now Beauly, Inverness-shire. It was probably founded in 1230. It is not known for certain who the founder was, different sources giving Alexander II of Scotland, John Bisset and both.
The French monks, along with Bisset (a nearby, recently settled landowner), had a strong enough French-speaking presence to give the location and the river the name "beau lieu" ("beautiful place") and have it pass into English. It is not the best documented abbey, and few of the priors of Beauly are known by name until the 14th century.
It became Cistercian on April 16, 1510, after the suppression of the Valliscaulian Order by the Pope. The priory was gradually secularized, and ruled by a series of commendators. The priory's lands were given over to the bishop of Ross by royal charter on October 20, 1634. The ruins today are still extensive and are one of the main visitor attractions in Inverness-shire.
BEAULY RAILWAY STATION
Beauly railway station serves the village of Beauly in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is the first stop after leaving Inverness station, heading north on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and the Far North Line. The station originally opened in the 1862 with the construction of the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, it had two platforms and a passing loop. It closed a nearly a century later, in 1960.
Following a local campaign, the station was reopened in 2002. A new platform, shelter and car park were built in a £250,000 project. This platform is one of the shortest in Scotland, only long enough for a single carriage. The original station building is now used for offices and housing.
BEAULY SHINTY CLUB
Beauly Shinty Club was founded in 1892, and has won the Camanachd Cup on three occasions, in 1897, 1898 and 1913. After the 1898 triumph against Inverary, Beauly competed against a London Camanachd side and was granted the title "Champions of the World".
In 2005, the club won North Division One but due to league reconstruction remained in this division along with sides from the disbanded National League One. In 2006, they were again denied promtion to the top-flight but this time by losing 1-0 to South Division One runners up, Kyles Athletic in a play-off.
The club has an historic rivalry with near neighbours, Lovat and this is marked every year with the annual New Year Fixture, the Lovat Cup. In 2005 the fixture attracted nationwide attention due to a Northern Constabulary crackdown on public alcohol consumption and again in 2007 by Beauly's decision to charge admission. The club once amalgamated with Lovat for a short period at the start of the 20th Century.
The club also produce shinty balls which are distributed thorughout Scotland and beyond.
From Wikipedia
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