Parish of Ardersier

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Ardersier
1834-45: Ardersier

Ardersier (Ardrosser in 1266-Gael. ard-ros-iar, `high western promontory '), a coast parish at the NE corner of Inverness-shire. It contains the fishing village of Campbelltown, Fort George, and a post office of its own name, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments; ¾ mile beyond its southern border is Fort George station on the Highland railway, 10½ miles NE of Inverness, and 15¼ W by S of Forres. Bounded W and N by the Moray Firth, E by Nairnshire, and S by Petty, Ardersier has an extreme length from E to W of 4, and a breadth from N to S of 3¼ miles; its land area is 3824 acres. The shore is sandy and flat (etymology notwithstanding), and to the W has suffered considerable encroachment from the sea; inland the surface is generally tame, nowhere attaining 200 feet of altitude above sea-level. In 1792 the rental of this parish amounted to only £365, but a vast improvement has been carried out, acres on acres of barren moor or moss having been added to the arable area since 1845, whilst in the E an extensive tract is occupied by woods. The roads are exceedingly good, that to Fort George being one of General Wade's. Antiquities are the hillfort of Tom Mhoit or Cromal (Cromwell's Mount), behind Campbelltown, and the ` Cabbac Stone,' 6 feet high and 3 broad, on the boundary with Nairnshire, which tradition asserts was reared over a chieftain slain at Inverness in an affray about a cheese; and a curious sword and spear head-Roman according to Roy-have also been discovered. Anciently divided between the Bishops of Ross and the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, Ardersier is now chiefly the property of the Earl of Cawdor, one other landowner holding an annual value of between £100 and £500, and three of from £20 to £50. It is in the presbytery of Nairn and synod of Moray; and its church, built in 1802, with over 500 sittings, stands ¾ mile NE of Campbelltown. The minister's income is £191. There are, besides, a Free church, a U.P. church at Campbelltown, and a public school, which in 1879 had accommodation for 200 children, an average attendance of 95, and a grant of £72,18s. Valuation (1881) £4386,8s. 10d. Pop. (1831) 1268, (1861) 1239, (1871) 1284, (1881) 2084.—Ord. Sur., sh. 84,1876.

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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better