River Lyon

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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Lyon, a river of Breadalbane district, Perthshire. Rising among alpine mountains, close to the Argyllshire border, at an altitude of 2400 feet above sea-level, and 5 miles NNE of Tyndrum, it first runs 4 miles northward, under the name of Abhainn Ghlas or Avonglass, to the head of Loch Lyon (1¾ x ¼ mile; 1100 feet), after issuing from which it proceeds 30 ¼ miles east-north-eastward, along Glenlyon, and mainly through or along the confines of Fortingall parish, till, after a total descent of 2090 feet, it falls into the Tay at a point 9 furlongs NNE of Taymouth Castle, and 2¾ miles below the Tay's own efflux from Loch Tay. Its tributaries are very numerous, but most of them are mere impetuous torrents of only a few furlongs to 3 miles in length of course. The chief are the Allt Conait, running 81/8 miles east-by-southward, through Lochs Dhamh and Girre, and entering its N side 1¾ mile SW of Meggernie Castle; and Keltney Burn, running 87/8 miles east-by-northward and south-south-eastward to a point 1½ mile above the Lyon's confluence with the Tay. Its waters make two considerable cascades; and they contain valuable pearl mussels and plenty of capital trout, besides salmon, grilse, and sea-trout.—Ord. Sur., shs. 46, 54, 55, 1869-73.

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

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