Loch Achray

Loch Achray and Ben Venue
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Loch Achray and Ben Venue

A picturesque small loch, surrounded by woodland, in the Trossachs district of Stirling Council Area, Loch Achray lies between Loch Venachar and Loch Katrine, 7 miles (11 km) west of Callander. It has a surface area of 82 ha (202.6 acres) and a mean depth of 11m (36 feet). The loch provides a popular recreational fishery for brown trout. Its principal affluent is the Achray Water, while it is the source of the Black Water which flows into Loch Venachar to the east. Along with its neighbours, it features in the narrative poem Lady of the Lake (1810) by Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832). Loch Achray also impressed Dorothy Wordsworth (1771 - 1855) who wrote excitedly of it in her journal having visited in 1803 with her brother William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834). Amongst others, the loch was sketched by artists J.M.W. Turner (1775 - 1851) and Waller Hugh Paton (1828-95). It gave its name to the Royal Navy frigate HMS Loch Achray launched in 1944. The Trossachs Parish Church sits in a dramatic location on its northern shore, with the Tigh Mor timeshare development occupying the former Trossachs Hotel to the west and the Loch Achray Hotel to the southwest.


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