Parish of Contin

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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1791-99: Contin 1834-45: Contin

Contin, a very large Highland parish of central and south-eastern Ross-shire. Its church and school, towards the SE corner, stand on the right bank of the Blackwater, a little above its influx to the Conan, 4¼ miles SW of Strathpeffer station, on the Dingwall and Skye railway (1870), this being 4½ miles N by W of Dingwall, under which Contin has a post office. Itself it contains three stations on that railway, Garve, Lochluichart, and Achnasheen, distant respectively from Dingwall 11¾, 17, and 27¾ miles. Bounded NW by Lochbroom parish, NE and E by Fodderty, S by Urray, and W by outlying portions of Fodderty and by Lochcarron and Gairloch parishes, it has an irregular outline, and sends off a long south-western wing, in which are Lochs Fannich, Rosque, and Benachran. Its greatest length is 22¼ miles from NW to SE, viz., from Ben Dearg to the Conan; its width varies between 4³/₈ and 16¼ miles. The principal streams are the Sheen and Meig, uniting to form the Conan, and the Blackwater, joining the latter at Moy. Lakes, with their utmost length and width and altitude above sea-level, are Lochs Achilty (7 x 3 furl., 170 ft.), Garve (1½ x ½ mile, 220 ft.), Luichart (1¾ mile x 6½ furl., 270 ft.), Fannich (6⁵/₈ mile x 6½ furl., 822 ft.), Rosque (3 x ½ mile), Benachran (2 x 1 mile), A Garbh Raoin (4½ x 3 furl., 900 ft.), and Coire Lair (6 x 1 furl., 980 ft.). There are, besides, close upon fifty smaller lochs, most of them, like the above, affording capital angling. The surface sinks in the extreme SE to 53 feet above sea-level, thence rising westward to Carn Sgolbaidh (1342), *Carn na Cloiche Moire (1936), *Meall nan Damh (2198), and Sgurr Mairc-suidhe (1899), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the borders of the parish; north-westward to Carn na B

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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