Loch Ericht

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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Ericht, a loch on the mutual border of Perth and Inverness shires, and a stream of Fortingall parish, Perthshire. The loch, beginning 1 mile SW of Dalwhinnie station, extends 14¾ miles south-south-westward; forms, for 5 miles, the boundary between the two counties; has a varying width of ¼ mile and 9 furlongs; and lies among the central Grampians at an elevation of 1153 feet above sea-level. Overhung on its W side by the precipitous mountain-range of Ben Alder (3757 feet), on its E by Ben Udlaman (3306), it presents an aspect of wild desolation and solemn grandeur, having nowhere on its shores any other signs of human habitation than a couple of shooting lodges and a shepherd's hut. The fishing is capital, the salmo-ferox running up to 20 and 25 lbs., whilst the trout, though rather shy, are very plentiful. The stream, issuing from the foot of the loch, runs 5⁵/₈. miles south-south-eastward to Loch Rannoch (668 feet), at a point 7 furlongs from that loch's head; flows, for the first mile or two, in slow, deep current; and is afterwards a sheer torrent, lashing and tearing its banks with wild fury.—Ord. Sur., shs. 63, 54, 1873.

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