Parish of Kirkhill

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: Kirkhill
1834-45: Kirkhill

Kirkhill, a parish of N Inverness-shire, comprising the ancient parishes of Wardlaw and Farnua, and containing the stations of Bunchrew, Lentran, and Clunes, 3½, 5¾, and 7½ miles W by N of the post-town Inverness. It is bounded NW by Kilmorack, N by the Beauly Firth, E and SE by Inverness, and S by Kiltarlity. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 71/8 miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 5¾ miles; and its area is 13, 2132/3 acres, of which 20¼ are water, 104¾ tidal water, and 17032/3 foreshore. The river Beauly winds 4¾ miles north-eastward along all the north-western border to the head of the Beauly Firth, which lower down receives from this parish Moniack, Bunchrew, and other burns, and from which the surface rises steeply southward over the eastern half to 588 feet at Inchberry Hill, 1036 at Cnoc na Moine, and 1337 at An Leacainn. The rocks are partly eruptive, partly Devonian; and the soil of the low grounds is a rich clayey loam, whilst that of the higher grounds is thin and gravelly. A large proportion of the parish is occupied by plantations or by natural woods of birch and alder. Near the left bank of the Beauly, opposite Beauly town, stood Lovat Castle, founded by the Bissets in 1230. Other antiquities are remains of two ancient Caledonian stone circles; a group of tumuli, said to be memorials of a desperate clan -fight; and the site of Wardlaw church, now occupied by the Lovat mortuary chapel. Mansions are Achnagairn, Balblair, Bunchrew, Kingillie, Lentran, Moniack Castle, and Newton; and Lord Lovat and 6 lesser proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards. Kirkhill is in the presbytery of Inverness and synod of Moray; the living is worth £343. The parish church, ¾ mile SSW of Clunes station, is a modern and commodious edifice. There is also a Free church; and three public schools:- Inchmore, Kirkton, and Knockbain-with respective accommodation for 160, 60, and 75 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 75, 27, and 72, and grants of £5l, 9s. 6d., £38, 19s. 6d., and £63, 19s. Valuation (1860) £8493, (1882) £10,659, 13s. Pop. (1801) 1582,(1831) 1715, (1861) 1757, (1871) 1582, (1881) 1480, of whom 886 were Gaelic-speaking.—Ord. Sur., sh. 83, 1881.

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

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