THE UNMUTUAL PRISONER LOCATIONS GUIDE
INVERLAIR LODGE
Photos: Dave Healey & Rick Davy. Location Info: Rick Davy. Report: Dave Healey.
LOCATION
INFO : Part of the inspiration for The Village in The Prisoner was
due to script-editor George Markstein's knowledge of Inverlair Lodge, near Inverness
in Scotland. The building was used as a "safe haven" for secret agents
during the Second World War (Markstein also claimed it was a "retirement
home for spies").
Inverlair Lodge (photo left) was also the inspiration for one of Markstein's novels, "The Cooler".
LOCATION REPORT:
It is widely known that The Prisoner, at least in part, was influenced by stories of secret institutions set up during World War II to house certain people who "knew too much" or were a risk to national security. For obvious reasons details of these establishments have received little publicity and the truth behind them is still en-shrouded in secrecy. George Markstein, the script editor on The Prisoner, is usually credited as revealing the existence of these clandestine operations to McGoohan. His association with British Intelligence would certainly have given him an awareness of these places and indeed he is often quoted as referring to the existence of a wartime "village" called Inverlair Lodge in Scotland. This wartime "prison" has often been referred to as "The Cooler" and George Markstein used this as the title for his 1974 novel. A legend on the book's dust cover stated "The secret that can only be told as fiction" and inside a short dedication read - "This story is fiction. But there was a Cooler. Those who know about it don't have to be told any more. Those who don't can't be told any more." Clearly the book was based on Inverlair Lodge, with the fictional establishment dubbed Inverloch.
Other than the name no other details of the lodge seem to have come tq light,
so it was decided that we would set about the task of locating this illu-sive
and inspirational building. The assignment did not prove too arduous as Inverlair
is actually shown on the map of Scotland that we consulted, in Glen Spean in
Inverness. Inverlair it-self is a very small hamlet a mile or so off the main
road from Spean Bridge to Newtonmore. Once off the beaten track it became apparent
almost immedi-ately that the road was not a major thoroughfare and in fact it
eventually peters out completely. Before reaching Inverlair, which incidentally
consists only of a handful of buildings and is not signposted, a deep gorge
must be crossed by means of a small bridge. Destruction of this would result
in the small community being cut off from the outside world by road.
Pre-conceived ideas suggested that Inverlair lodge would be a large foreboding
manor house surrounded by high walls in the middle of a wilderness. This did
not prove to be the case at all. It is larger than the average family dwelling,
but it is difficult to imagine more than a handful of "guests" being
incarcerated there. The building itself, painted white with a slate roof, looked
very much like any other in the locale and not much different from its nearest
neighbour, a sheep farm about a hundred yards along the lane. In fact it was
this farmer who confirmed that the building was indeed Inverlair Lodge as it
had no identifying markings at all. Perhaps the most striking feature of building
is its outlook. It faces a huge conical hill which can be climbed to obtain
an almost aerial view of the property. From this vantage point can be seen the
whole estate which consists of a number of outbuildings, a well tended garden
and a small wooded area which shields part of the house from the roadway.
As a Portmeirion "Village" replacement Inverlair Lodge is a disappointment.
However as a retirement home to get away from it all the lodge is in an idyllic,
if remote spot. It is surrounded by beautiful unspoilt high-land scenery with
undoubtedly many fine walks for those who wish explore the forests, rivers and
mountains of the area.
TUW reader Martin Briscoe has passed on the following additional information regarding Inverlair Lodge:
Inverlair
was also known as ISRB Workshops or No.6 Special Workshop School. The book below
says that an officer from Arisaig was sent to set up a training school outside
the restricted area (there was a group of SOE schools around Arisaig in the
restricted area). It had all the usual assault course, weapons range with pop-up
targets etc. I found this all a bit hard to understand why it was outside the
area though I had heard
previously that people were detained there. Then someone suggested that anyone
who dropped out of training for any reason, failure or injury perhaps, would
be sent to Inverlair which they would think was just another training school.
But their training would continue until it was considered safe to let them loose
or perhaps they stayed for the duration of the war? Para-Military Training
in Scotland During World War 2 (Land, Sea & Islands Centre, Arisaig 2001)
An account of SOE training around the Arisaig area.
If someone had been there then you can see the similarities to The Prisoner where someone was held in limbo. There was mention in a book that I read many years ago to "a country house in the Highlands" being used when a RAF pilot was recovered from France with days of being shot down. But on the same flight was a Resistance leader so he had to be kept out of the way for some time. He was due to marry the following weekend so the marriage was allowed to go ahead and then he was sent a country house in Scotland. But it could have been elsewhere in the Highlands. Many of the officers in SOE came from land-owning families in Scotland so perhaps in that case they were just sent to one of their family's houses. I have seen also in one book a suggestion that Hess was held at Inverlair but I doubt it and perhaps it just came from locals knowing that something odd was going on there with a military presence.
The following link, provided by TUW reader Des Gorra, also has a lot of interesting information:
http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/InverlairLodge