Parish of Killearnan

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: Killearnan 1834-45: Killearnan

Killearnan, a parish of SE Ross-shire, whose church stands on the northern shore of the Beauly Firth, 3³/₈ miles E by S of Muir of Ord station, and 6¾ WNW (viâ Kessock Ferry) of Inverness, under which there is a post office of Killearnan. It is bounded S by the Beauly Firth, W by Urray, NW by Urquhart, and NE and E by Knockbain, a strip of which, 280 yards wide at the narrowest, divides it into two unequal portions, the smaller of them to the NE. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 5 miles; its breadth varies between 2¹/₈ and 4¼ miles; and its area is 8019½ acres, of which 740½ are foreshore and 9¾ water. The shore-line, 5 miles long, is low, broken by no marked bay or headland; and the interior rises gradually to the summit of the Millbuie, attaining 351 feet near Ploverfield, 217 at the Free church, and 500 at the north-western boundary. Old Red sandstone is the prevailing rock, and has long been quarried; whilst clay abounds on the shore, and is used for mortar and for compost. The soil along the coast is sandy or clayish, and in the interior is so diversified as on one and the same farm to comprise gravel, light loam, red clay, and deep blue clay. Nearly one-fourth of the entire area is pasture, and the rest is almost equally divided between woodland and land in tillage. General Mackenzie Fraser and General Sir George Elder were natives. Kilcoy and Redcastle, both noticed separately, are the chief estates; and 2 proprietors hold each an annual value of between £2500 and £3540. Killearnan is in the presbytery of Chanonry and synod of Ross; the living is worth £250. The parish church is a cruciform structure of the 18th century, containing 570 sittings. There is also a Free church; and a public school, with accommodation for 180 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 58, and a grant of £63, 9s. Valuation (1882) £6337, 11s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 1131, (1841) 1643, (1861) 1494, (1871) 1272, (1881) 1059, of whom 558 were Gaelic-speaking.—Ord. Sur., sh. 83, 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