Chanonry Point

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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Chanonry, a town and the seat of a presbytery in Rosemarkie parish, Ross-shire, on the Moray Firth, at the E side of the Black Isle peninsula, ½ mile SW of Rosemarkie town, and 10½ NNE of Inverness. It commands an extensive view of the waters and shores of the Moray Firth; adjoins a tongue of land, called Chanonry Point, projecting into the Firth to within 7 furlongs of Fort George on the opposite shore; and took its name from being the Canonry of Ross and the residence of the bishop. Constituted a royal burgh by Alexander II., it became united in burgh privileges with Rosemarkie town, under the common name of Fortrose, by charter of James II. in 1444; and now, except for being the seat of a presbytery, is known only as a constituent part of Fortrose. A chief feature in it is the remnant of its ancient cathedral, but that and other matters connected with it will be noticed in our article on Fortrose. A lighthouse on Chanonry Point was built in 1846 at a cost of £3571, and shows a fixed light, visible at the distance of 11 nautical miles. The presbytery of Chanonry comprehends the quoad civilia parishes of Rosemarkie, Avoch, Cromarty, Killearnan, Resolis, and Knockbain, the quoad sacra parish of Fortrose, and the Gaelic church of Cromarty; is in the synod of Ross; and meets at Chanonry on the last Tuesday of March, the first Tuesdays of May and of October, and the last Tuesday of November. Pop. (1871) 10,403, (1881) 9405, of whom 266 were communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878. The Free Church also has a presbytery of Chanonry, with congregations at Fortrose, Avoch, Cromarty, Killearnan, Knockbain, and Resolis, which together had 2683 members and adherents in 1880.

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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