Loch Morar

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Morar, a territorial district and a lake of W Inverness-shire. The district is bounded N by Loch Nevis, E by the district of Lochiel, S by Arasaig, and W by the Sound of Sleat. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 19 miles; and its breadth varies between 4 and 9. Loch Morar bisects a great part of it lengthwise, and divides it into two nearly equal sections, which are called respectively North and -South Morar. The lake, which is 11¾ miles long and from 5 furlongs to 1¾ mile broad, is overhung nearly all round, and, at a very brief distance, by water shedding Highland heights. Its foot is ' very prettily wooded-a pleasant contrast to the wilder scenery of the upper end. The shore here is much indented; and there are two or three picturesque islands, on the largest of which, in the hollow of a tree, Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, found a hiding-place in June 1746.' On the E Loch Morar is fed by streamlets coming from the lochlets Beoraich and Anamack; and it discharges its superfluence on the W by a stream of only a few furlongs in length into a small bay. Its waters contain good store of salmon, sea-trout, and loch trout. North Morar belongs to the parish of Glenelg, South Morar to that of Ardnamurchan; and both are included, in a large sense, in the comprehensive district of Lochaber. Morar is mainly peopled by Roman Catholics; and in 1837 was provided, by voluntary subscription, with a new Roman Catholic chapel at Bracara. Morar, 43 miles WNW of Fort William, is the seat of Eneas Ronald Macdonell, Esq. (b. 1822), who holds 3000 acres in Inverness-shire, valued at £671 per annum. See an article by Capt. T. P. White on p. 634 of Good Words (1874).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer