Ben Lomond, a mountain in Buchanan parish, Stirlingshire, extending along the E side of the upper part of Loch Lomond, and culminating 6½ miles SSW of the head of Loch Katrine, and 18½ N by W of Dumbarton. Its summit line runs within 2 miles of the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, yet forms part of the watershed between the river systems of the Forth and Clyde. Its base measures about 5 miles from N to S, and about 31/3 miles from E to W. Ascending from the S in a long and gradual mass, it presently rises more steeply aloft in a great crowning cone, which breaks down on the N in a precaptious or almost mural face about 2000 feet in depth. Its summit-altitude is 3192 feet above sea-level. Its general outline, in multitudes of distant views, in many different directions or with many different phases, is grandly beautiful, and its western acclivities, closely overhanging Loch Lomond, as seen from the further shores or from the surface of the lake, are sublime and strikingly impressive. The ascent of it is commonly made on foot from Rowardennan, on the shore of Loch Lomond, at its SW base, and measures geographically about 4 miles, and in traversed distance about 6 miles, but can be effected also, from the same point, on pony back, up to a point very near the summit. The view from the top has less breadth, less force, less gorgeousness than the view from the top of Ben Lawers, but in aggregate diversity, brilliance, and picturesque magnificence, is equalled by no view in all the United Kingdom. To the N are seen sublime arrays and tumultuous assemblages of mountains, away to Ben Vorlich, Ben Cruachan, and Ben Nevis; to the E are seen Stirlingshire, Lanarkshire, and the Lothians, away to the heights of Edinburgh; to the S are seen the counties of Renfrew and Ayr, the islands of Bute and Arran, and the waters beyond these islands, away to the coast of Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the W, immediately under the eye, are seen the waters, islands, and western screens of Loch Lomond with a distinctness, a beauty, and a fulness of grouping greater far than belong to them as seen anywhere from the lake's own bosom. Granite is the principal rock of the mountain; mica slate also is plentiful; and quartzite occurs near the top in masses so large as to appear, in views from the W shore of the lake, like patches of snow. Among Ben Lomond's memories, the most curious, perhaps, is its ascent in 1796 by the Rev Charles Simeon and James Alexander Haldane, who, ` on the top, impressed by the grandeur of the surrounding scenery, kneeled down and solemnly consecrated their future lives to the service of Almighty God. '—Ord. Sur., sh. 38,1871.
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
