Corrieyairack Hill

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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Corryarrick (Gael. coire-eirigh, ` rising ravine '), a dreary mountain ridge on the mutual border of Boleskine and Laggan parishes, central Inverness-shire, 7 miles SSE of Fort Augustus. Parting Glenmore from Upper Strathspey, it culminates in Corryarrick Hill (2922 feet) and Carn Leac (2889), midway between which, at 2507 feet above the sea, Wade formed about 1735 his military road from the Bridge of Laggan to Fort Augustus ` This, ' says Hill Burton, ` the most truly Alpine road in the British dominions, has been left to decay, and large portions of it have been swept away by torrents, so that the zigzag lines by which the military engineer endeavoured to render the steep side of an abrupt mountain accessible to artillery, have been tumbled into heaps of rubbish like natural scaurs. ' See also H. Skrine's Three Successive Tours in the North of -England and Great Part of Scotland (Lond. 1795).

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