Alness

Alness is a village in the Scottish Highlands. The name is pronounced (roughly) Al'-niss by some Ross-shire residents and Oll-ness' by others. Divided by the River Averon, it is in two parishes, Alness in the west and Rosskeen in the east. Historically these were in different presbyteries.

In the late 20th century the village saw major expansion with housing schemes being built for new workers, many in the oil and aluminium industries. The uprooting of large numbers of people from other areas into housing estates has caused some social problems to become noticeable, but the village is known for its friendliness and in recent years for its involvement in the Beautiful Scotland in Bloom and Britain in Bloom competitions which have had a unifying effect and given some civic pride to an area which had become somewhat depressed after the withdrawal of the larger industries.

Alness has a railway station on the Far North Line.