Lochs, a parish of Lewis proper, Outer Hebrides, Ross-shire, whose church stands on the northern shore of Loch Erisort, 11½ miles SSW of the post town, Stornoway. Its main part, the south-eastern section of Lewis proper, is bounded N by Stornoway, E and SE by the North Minch, SW by Loch Seaforth and Harris, and W by Uig; another part, the Carloway district, on the W coast, is bounded NW by the Atlantic, NE by Barvas, E by Stornoway, and S and SW by Uig; and other parts are the Shiant Isles, 5 miles SE of the nearest point of the main body, with several islets lying off the coast and within the sea-lochs. The utmost length of its main portion, from N to S, is 19¼ miles, its utmost breadth is 167/8 miles; the utmost length of the Carloway district, from NW to SE, is 9 miles, its utmost breadth is 6½ miles; and the area of the entire parish, including foreshore and water, is 2252/3 square miles, or 144, 444 acres. A profusion of sea-lochs and of fresh-water lakes cuts all the main district into a labyrinth of land and water, and gave the parish its name of Lochs. Lochs Grimshadar, Luirbost, Erisort, Odhairn, Shell, Brolum, Claidh, and Seaforth, penetrate from the sea to lengths of from 2¼ to 10 miles; Loch Seaforth, besides penetrating 8¾ miles inland, lies for 7 miles along the boundary with Harris; freshwater Loch Langavat, with a maximum breadth of 7 furlongs, extends 8½ miles north-north-eastward along the boundary with Uig; innumerable other freshwater lakes, both large and small, lie scattered over the interior; and several sea-lochs and fresh-water lochs also diversify the Carloway district. Kebock Head flanking the S side of Loch Odhairn, Uskenish Point flanking the E side of Loch Brolum, and numerous smaller headlands jut out along the coast-line, which for the most part is very bold and rocky. Part of the interior, especially in the south-eastern district, called the Park or the Forest, is mountainous, and contains the summits of Crionaig (1500 feet) and Benmore (1750); elsewhere the surface is mostly low, and either marshy or heathy. The Park district, forming a great peninsula between Lochs Erisort and Seaforth, and intersected by fully one-half of all the sea-lochs, connects with the south-western district by an isthmus, only 1¾ mile broad, was once a deer forest, protected by a very high wall across that isthmus, and exhibits a profusion of wild, grand, Highland scenery. Barely one-fiftieth of the entire area is regularly or occasionally in tillage; and all the arable lands have more or less a mossy soil, generally of blackish colour, occasionally intermixed with gravel, and, to some extent, improved by cultivation. The inhabitants mostly reside in groups of 40 families or fewer; and each group has its habitations in the form of a sort of village. Lochs has largely participated in the improvements effected by the late Sir James Matheson, and noticed in our articles Hebrides, Lewis, and Stornoway. A great dune is in Carloway; ruins or vestiges of other but smaller fortifications are in several other places; and a ruined pre-Reformation church, surrounded by a buryingground, is on Ellan Collumkill in the mouth of Loch Erisort. Lady Matheson is sole proprietor. Lochs is in the presbytery of Lewis and the synod of Glenelg; the living is worth £233. The parish church was built about 1830, and contains about 700 sittings. There are Free churches of Lochs, Park, Kinloch, and Carloway; and 13 public schools, with total accommodation for 1564 children, had (1882) an average attendance of 764, and grants amounting to £605, 8s. 10d. Valuation (1860) £2944, (1884) £4159, 11s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1875, (1831) 3067, (1861) 4904, (1871) 5880, (1881) 6284, of whom 6128 were Gaelic-speaking.—Ord. Sur., shs. 89, 105, 1858.
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