River Broom

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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Broom, a river and a sea-loch of NW Ross-shire. The river, rising among the Dirri Mountains, issues in two head-streams from two lakes 6 miles asunder, Lochs Bhraoin and Droma. Uniting its head-streams at a point 3½ miles NE and 4½ WNW of those lakes, it thence runs 4¾ miles N by W to the head of Loch Broom proper in the vicinity of Lochbroom church, and has throughout a rapid current. The sea-loch (Ptolemy's Volsas Bay), opening from the Minch, with a width of 12½ miles, goes 7 miles south-eastward with very little diminution of its width; and is sprinkled, over these 7 miles, with Summer isles, Priest island, Gruinard island, Horse island, Du island, and a number of islets and skerries. It ramifies into Loch Broom proper in the N, Little Loch Broom in the middle, and Gruinard Bay in the S. Loch Broom proper commences with a width of 4 miles, goes 5 miles south-eastward with a maximum width of 4¾, and a mean width of about 4 miles; suddenly contracts to a width of about 1 mile, and goes 9½ miles south-eastward and south-south-eastward, with a mean width of about ¾ mile, to Lochbroom church. Nearly all the loch, in both the larger and the proper sense, presents a picture of singular loveliness. Rocky promontories and sweeps of wood diversify its shores; abrupt lofty mountains, with strong features, striking flexures, and bold amassments, form its cincture; and Benmore of Coigach, one of the most remarkable mountains in the Highlands, for both contour and colour, occupies the middle portion of the N flank. Little Loch Broom goes 9½ miles south-eastward, with a mean breadth of about 1 mile, and is separated from Big Loch Broom by a peninsula from 2 to 4 miles wide, commencing in Cailleach Head, and comprising the mountains Ben Goleach (2074 feet) and Ben-nam-Ban (1893).—Ord. Sur., sh. 92,1881.

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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