There is a Roman Catholic Church
in Spean Bridge
and one in Roy Bridge.
Good ecumenical relations exist between the two denominations.
Education
There is a fairly new primary
school and nursery in Spean
Bridge. Roy
Bridge primary
school recently closed and now all the children go to Spean Bridge. The parish minister and parish priest both have an active role in the school. Secondary age children go to Lochaber High School in Fort William
where a branch of Scripture Union meet on Wednesday lunchtimes. For tertiary education Lochaber
College in Fort William
runs courses in tourism and outdoor education but most young people have to
leave home for tertiary education.
Charities
The church has a gift fortnight
each year in September, originally set up to raise money for general use but in
recent years it has been used to raise money for specific charities.
Historical
Note
The name Kilmonivaig comes from
Kil meaning church or cell, Mo meaning saint or holy and Nivaig, who was a sixth-century abbot of Lismore who established a
church near Gairlochy. A more permanent and later building on that site was liable to be flooded and collapsed in the 1770s. The present
church was built around 1812 and the chancel area was added in the 1920s. The stained glass window is the official War
Memorial for the parish of Kilmonivaig.
Kilmonivaig
Parish
Kilmonivaig parish lies to the
north east of Fort William, bounded on the west by the river Lochy and
Loch Lochy and on the east by the Nevis range
of mountains and by the Grey Corries and extending to Corrour and Loch
Laggan. The main villages are Spean Bridge,
Roy Bridge and Torlundy with other small
hamlets and scattered housing. The land
is mostly rough moorland with small pockets of arable land given over mostly to
forestry, sheep, deer stalking and some cattle farming.
Communications
By car It takes about 1 ¼ hours to Inverness, 2 hours to Perth
and 2 ½ hours to Glasgow. There is a good bus service to Inverness, Glasgow and Skye. There are stations at Spean
Bridge, Roy
Bridge, Tulloch and Corrour on the
West Highland line with several trains per day to Glasgow and the 8pm sleeper
to London. There is a reasonable local bus service to Fort William
from Spean Bridge
and a less frequent service from Roy
Bridge.
Recreational
Facilities
There are two golf courses in the
parish, a 9 hole one at Spean
Bridge and an 18 hole at
Torlundy. Nevis Range has skiing and snowboarding in
winter and mountain biking in summer and plays host to several national and
world competitions. In Spean Bridge
there is a good well drained playing field with changing facilities used by
Lochaber Shinty Club, currently in North Division 1. Shinty is well supported by the youth of the
parish.
There is some fishing in the rivers Spean and Roy and on some lochs. There are
many miles of cycle tracks and forest roads for cycling or walking and plenty
of opportunity for hill walking and rock climbing
Employment
Many people in the parish work in
the Fort William area. Tourism is important with a good range of
accommodation ranging from small B & B s, guest houses, self-catering
establishments, and medium sized hotels to the top of the range Inverlochy
Castle Hotel. Other employment
opportunities include agriculture, forestry, fish farms, construction,
transport, quarrying and a rapidly growing renewable energy industry.
The Ben Nevis distillery is at the southern
edge of the parish.
