Acharn

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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Acharn, a village and a burn in Kenmore parish, Perthshire. The village stands at the burn's month, on the S shore of Loch Tay, 1¾ mile above Kenmore. A neat little place, it has a public school, which, with accommodation for 118 children, had (1879) an average attendanee of 80, and a grant of £79, 2s. The burn rises on Creagan na Beinne, at an altitude of 2400 feet, and has a northward course of about 5 miles. Near the village, over the side of a wooded dell, it makes a picturesque fall, first a sheer leap of 50 feet, then in two streams that meet in a little pool, and thence down a series of inclined descents, the total height being between 80 and 90 feet. A grotto opposite was visited on 5 Sept. 1803 by Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy, who writes in her Journal (ed. by Principal Shairp, 1874):-' We entered a dungeon-like passage, and, after walking some yards in total darkness, found ourselves in a quaint apartment stuck over with moss, hung about with stuffed foxes and other wild animals, and ornamented with a library of wooden books covered with old leatherbacks, the mock furniture of a hermit's cell. At the end of the room, through a large bow window, we saw the waterfall, and, at the same time, looking down to the left, the village of Kenmore and a part of the lake-a very beautiful prospect. '

Croftniartaig, a hamlet adjoining the village of Acharn.

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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