A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Kincardine, a large parish of N Ross and Cromarty, containing to the E the village of Ardgay, with a post and telegraph office, and with Bonar-Bridge station on the Highland railway, 13¾ miles WNW of Tain, and 39¼ N by E of Dingwall. It is bounded NE by Creich in Sutherland and by the head of Dornoch Firth, E by Edderton, S by Rosskeen, Alness, Fodderty, and Contin, and SW and W by Lochbroom. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 22¼ miles; its width, contracting to a point at the extremities, elsewhere varies between 3¾ and 21¼ miles; and its area is 239 square miles, or 153, 054 acres. The Oikell, rising at the NW corner and at an altitude of 1500 feet, winds 35¼ miles south-eastward and east-south-eastward along all the Sutherland boundary, through Loch Ailsh (7 x 41/3 furl.; 498 feet) and the Kyle of Sutherland to the head of Dornoch Firth at Bonar-Bridge. Of its twenty tributaries from Kincardine parish, the chief is the Einig, formed by two head-streams, and running 4 miles east-north-eastward to a point ½ mile below Oikell Bridge; whilst the Carron, formed by three head-streams, runs 9 miles east-by-northward to the Kyle at a point ¼ mile above Bonar-Bridge. Of thirty-three lakes, besides Loch Ailsh, the largest are Crom Loch (6 x 31/3 furl.; 1720 feet) on the Fodderty border, and Loch Craggie (51/3 x 1¼ furl.; 507 feet) in the NW interior. The surface is everywhere hilly or mountainous, chief elevations westward and north-westward being Blar Carvary (864 feet), *Cnoc Leathado na Siorramachd (1845), Lamentation Hill (600), Carn Bhren (2080), Breac Bheinn (1516), *Carn Chuinneag (2749), Beinn Ulamhie (1616), Bodach Mor (2689), Carn Loch Sruban Mora (2406), and * Breabag (2338), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the southern and western confines of the parish. Granite and sandstone are the predominant rocks; and precious stones are found upon Carn Chuinneag, exactly similar to those of the Cairngorm Mountains. On the Invercharron estate there is a small tract of very fine arable land, with rich alluvial soil; and in 1847, after the potato disease, the greater part of Upper Gledfield farm, extending to 180 acres, was brought under cultivation, in pursuance of the reclamation scheme of Sir Alex. Matheson of Ardross (Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soe., 1877, pp. 153, 154). Agriculture, however, is practicable over only a small proportion of the land area; and sheep-farming constitutes the staple occupation. There is a pier at the Bridge of Bonar, where ships are moored and discharge their cargoes. A sanguinary contest, called the battle of Tuiteam-Tarbhach, was fought in this parish, about 1397, between the Macleods and the Mackays; and near Culrain station, 4 miles NW of Ardgay, Montrose, with 1200 Cavaliers, Germans, and undrilled Orcadians, was routed by 230 horse and 170 foot under Lieut. -Colonel Strachan, 27 April 1650. The battle-field bears the name of Craigcaoineadhan or Lamentation Hill, but the conflict itself is commonly known as the battle of Invercharron. More than 600 of his men made prisoners, and 396 slain, the great Marquis disguised himself as a common Highlander, and, swimming across the Kyle, fled up Strath Oikell to Assynt, here three days later he was taken captive. Antiquities re remains of several dunes, cairns, and stone circles, and a sculptured stone in the churchyard. The principal residences, with their distance from Ardgay, are Invercharron House (2 miles N by W), Gledfield House (1¼W), Culrain Lodge (3¼ NNW), Braelangwell Lodge (6 W by N), Amat Lodge (9 W), Alladale Lodge (13 W by S), Achnahannet Lodge (9¼ NW), and Inveroikell Lodge (10¾ NW). Sir Charles Ross of Balnagowan holds nearly half of the entire rental, 2 other proprietors hold each an annual value of between £1200 and £1870, 3 of between £600 and £800, and 8 of between £100 and £350. Giving off the quoad sacra parish of Croick, Kincardine is in the presbytery of Tain and synod of Ross; the living is worth £324. The parish church, near the shore of Dornoch Firth, 7 furlongs SSE of Bonar-Bridge station, was built in 1799, and contains 600 sittings. There are Free churches of Kincardine and Croick; and 4 new public schools- Achnahannet, Croick, Culrain, and Gledfield -with respective accommodation for 40, 35, 50, and 110 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 25, 17, 27, and 67, and grants of £53, 6s. 6d., £31, 0s. 6d., £36, 11s. 6d., and £66, 3s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £6860, (1882) £13,754, plus £848 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1865, (1841) 2108, (1861) 1746, (1871) 1685, (1881) 1472, of whom 1116 were Gaelic-speaking, and 1256 belonged to Kincardine ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 102, 93, 92, 101, 1881-82.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a large parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | Kincardine ScoP Cromarty ScoCnty Ross Shire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Kincardine |
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