River Affric

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry

Affric (Gael. abh-riach, 'greyish water'), a lake and a river in Kilmorack parish, NW Inverness-shire. The lake lies 14 miles NW of Fort Augustus, at an altitude of 744 feet above sea-level, and, extending in a northeasterly direction, is 3¹/₈ miles long and from 1½ to 4 furlongs wide. Of great depth, it abounds in trout, running 3 to the lb.: receives some 18 streams and brooklets: and is flanked NW by Mam Sodhail (3862 feet) and Carn Eige (3877), N by Sgurr na Lapaich (3401), and NE by Am Meallan (2136), SW by Carn a' Choire Chairbh (2827), Tigh Mor (3222), and Sgurr 1an Conbhairean (3634), S by Carn Glas Lochdarach (2330), and Aonach Shasuinn (2901), and SE by Creag nan Colman (2167). It belongs to The Chisholm, and a shooting-lodge stands at its foot. The river is formed by the Grianain and Fionn, both of which rise upon Drumalban-the former flowing 3¾ miles N and E from Ben Fhada (3383 feet), the latter 5 NE from Sgurr a' Bhealaich (3378). They unite 5 miles W by S of the head of Loch Affric: and thence the river runs 18 miles ENE, through Lochs Affric and Beneveian (2⁵/₈ miles by 3½ fur.), till, 2¾ miles SW of Glenaffric Hotel, it joins with the Amhuinn Deabhaidh to form the Glass. The scenery is lovely along its banks, wooded with birches and ancient pines, survivors of the Caledonian Forest: and the plentiful trout of its waters, all owned by The Chisholm, range from ¼ to 1 lb. in weight. Salmon and grilse are also sometimes taken, and the rod season lasts from Feb. 11 to Oct. 15.—Ord. Sur., shs. 72,73,188078

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