Langwell

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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Langwell, the Scottish seat of the Duke of Portland, in Latheron parish, S Caithness, on a green eminence between confluent Langwell and Berriedale Waters, ¾ mile W of Berriedale. The estate was purchased by Sir John Sinclair in 1788 for £7000, by James Horne, Esq., in 1813 for £40,000, and by the fifth Duke in 1860 for £90,000, this enormous rise in value being due to the improvements carried out both by Sir John Sinclair and Mr Horne. By the Duke nearly all the property was converted into deer-forest. His cousin, John William Arthur Charles James Cavendish Bentinck, sixth Duke since 1716 (b. 1857; suc. 1879), holds 81, 605 acres in the shire, valued at £7902 per annum. See Latheron.—Ord. Sur., svh. 110, 1877.

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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