Parish of Urquhart and Logie Wester

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: Urquhart and Logie 1834-45: Urquhart and Logie

Logie-Wester, an ancient parish in Ross-shire, annexed about 1490 to Urquhart.

Urquhart and Logie Wester, a parish partly in Rossshire, but comprehending also in its centre the whole of the detached section of Nairnshire forming the barony of Ferintosh. It is bounded for ½ mile at the N corner by Cromartyshire; NE by the parish of Resolis, and for ³/₈ mile by Cromartyshire again; SE by the parishes of Avoch, Kilmuir Wester, Killearnan (detached), Kilmuir Wester, and Killearnan; SW and W by the parish of Urray; and NW by the parish of Fodderty and the Cromarty Firth. All along the NW side the boundary follows the course of the river Conan and the Cromarty Firth, but elsewhere it is almost entirely artificial. The extreme length, from NE to SW, parallel to the Cromarty Firth, is a little over 8¾ miles; the average breadth at right angles is about 2½ miles; and the total area is 14, 999.722 acres, of which 125.429 are water and 1293.511 foreshore. The Ross-shire portion contains 8613.977 acres, of which 49.279 are water and 986.738 foreshore, and the rest forms the detached portion of Nairnshire. The surface rises pretty regularly from the Conan and the Cromarty Firth south-eastward to the boundary line, which runs partly along Ardmeanach or the Mullbuie ridge of the Black Isle, along which it reaches a height of 627 feet. The higher grounds command magnificent views of the upper reaches of the Cromarty Firth. The slope is cut across by ravines formed by a number of small burns, which carry off the drainage to the river Conan or direct to the Cromarty Firth. The soil of the lower grounds is good but light loam, but in the higher portions it is poorer, though all districts produce excellent crops of barley and oats. Along the coast there are large farms, but the higher ground is given up to small holdings and crofts, the tenants of these having within the last fifty years reclaimed and improved a large extent of land formerly waste. There is still some moorland, but more than half the area is under the plough, and the great proportion of the rest pasture, there being very little under wood. The underlying rocks are Old Red Sandstone. The Nairnshire portion, which constitutes the barony of Ferintosh, belonging to the family of Forbes of Culloden, and Kinkell Castle have both been separately noticed. The parish is traversed along the centre and NW by main roads from Cromarty to Dingwall, with a branch running up the valley of the Conan. The extreme W corner is crossed for 2¾ miles by the Inverness and Dingwall section of the Highland Railway, on which is Conan station, 16½ miles NW of Inverness and 2 S of Dingwall. The only village is Conan Bridge, but there are hamlets at Culbockie, Duncanston, and Newton of Ferintosh. The mansions are Conan House and Ryefield. This parish, formed by the union of the parishes of Urquhart (NE) and Logie-Wester (SW) as early as 1490, is in the presbytery of Dingwall and synod of Ross, and the living is worth £446 a year. The parish church, near the centre, on the coast side, was built in 1795, and contains over 1000 sittings; and there is also a Free church. Under the school board Conan, Culbockie, Ferintosh, and Mullbuie schools, with accommodation for 110, 134, 155, and 95 pupils respectively, had in 1884 attendances of 62, 56, 53, and 78, and grants of £40, 7s. 7d., £34, 7s. 6d., £62, 0s. 8d., and £48, 8s. 8d. The principal proprietors are D. Forbes, Esq. of Culloden, Sir K. S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, and Sir J. D. Mackenzie of Findon; 1 other holds an annual value of between £500 and £100, and 3 hold each between £50 and £20. Valuation (1860) £7245, (1885) £10,566, 8s. 6d., plus £813 for the railway. Pop. (1801) 2820, (1831) 2864, (1861) 3147, (1871) 2863, (1881) 2525, of whom 1133 were males, while 1639 were in the Ross-shire section.—Ord. Sur., shs. 83, 93, 1881.

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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