Glen Garry

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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Glengarry, a beautiful Highland glen in Kilmonivaig parish, W Inverness-shire, traversed by the river Garry winding 18 ⁷/₈ miles eastward, out of Loch Quoich, and through Loch Garry, till it falls into Loch Oich at Invergarry, 7 ½ miles SW of Fort Augustus. From the beginning of the 16th century Glengarry was held by the Macdonnells, the last of whose chiefs, Col. Alexander Ranaldson Macdonnell, maintained to the day of his death (1828) the style of living of his ancestors, and is deemed the prototype of Fergus Mac Ivor in Waverley. His son was compelled to dispose of Glengarry to the Marquis of Huntly, and emigrated to America. By the marquis it was resold in 1840 for £91,000 to Lord Ward (afterwards Earl of Dudley), and by him in 1860 for £120,000 to the late Edward Ellice, Esq. of Glenquoich (1810-80), who sat as Liberal member for the St Andrews burghs from 1837 till his death, and who held 99,545 acres in Inverness-shire, valued at £6721 per annum. This acreage includes the 25,000 acres of Glenquoich deer forest, to the N of Loch Quoich and the upper waters of the Garry. Let for £1800 a year to Michael Arthur Bass, Esq., M.P. for Stafford (b. 1837), Glenquoich forest was estimated in 1880 to contain between 800 and 900 stags and 1700 hinds. The seats of the Glengarry property, old and new, are noticed under Invergarry. A quoad sacra parish of Glengarry is in the presbytery of Abertarff and synod of Glenelg; the minister's stipend is £120. Its church, 7 ¾ miles W of Invergarry, is an Early English edifice of 1865. Two public schools, Invergarry and Inshlaggan, with respective accommodation for 112 and 40 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 44 and 11, and grants of £50 and £21, 16s. Pop. of q. s. parish (1871) 692, (1881) 627, of whom 469 were Gaelic-speaking, and 74 were in Boleskine and Abertarff parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 62, 63, 1875-73.

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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