Lismore

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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Lismore (Gael. `great garden'), an island of Lorn district, Argyllshire, in the middle of the lower waters of Loch Linnhe, less than 1 furlongfrom the nearest point of the Argyllshire mainland, and 5 to 11 miles NNW and N of Oban. Its utmost length, from NE to SW, is 10½ miles; its breadth is 1½ mile; and its area is 6013<sup>4</sup>/<sub>5</sub> acres, of which 368 are foreshore and 93 water. With a basis of limestone, it consists of an uneven rocky ridge; and its rugged surface attains a maximum altitude of 417 feet above sea-level at Barr Mor. Limestone rock crops everywhere up; but the soil, though thin, is a fertile deep-coloured loam. A lighthouse at the south-western extremity, built in 1833 at a cost of £11,229, shows a fixed light, visible at a distance of 16 nautical miles. The bishopric of Lismore or Argyll in 1236 had its seat transferred from Muckairn on the S side of Loch Etive to the island of Lismore, where long before a Columban monastery had been founded by St Lnghadh or Moluoc. The only remains of the Cathedral, once 137 by 29<sup>1</sup>/<sub>3</sub> feet, are an aisleless Decorated choir, with traces of a chapter-house and sacristy; and as re-roofed in 1749, this choir now serves as a parish church. One of its deans, Sir James M `Gregor, between 1512 and 1540, compiled a commonplace-book, filled mainly with Gaelic heroic ballads, several of which are ascribed to the authorship of Ossian or his kindred. This, the earliest specimen of Scottish Gaelic, strictly so called, was edited, with a translation and notes, by the Rev. T. M `Lauchlan and Dr Skene, in 1862. Achanduin or Auchindown Castle, Castle Rachal, Castle Guylen (a Danish fort), and Tirefoor Castle make up the antiquities with cairns and fortified camps. Lismore is the Epidium of Ptolemy, one of his five Ebudæ The property is divided among four. Pop. (1801) 1329, (1831) 1790, (1861) 865, (1871) 720, (1881) 621, of whom 571 were Gaelic-speaking.—Ord. Sur., shs. 45, 44, 1876-84.

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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