Inchnadamph

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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Assynt (Gael. as agus innte, ` out and in '), a hamlet and a coast parish of SW Sutherland. The hamlet, called also Inchnadamff, stands at the head of Loch Assynt, 33½ miles WN W of Lairg station, and 13 E of Lochinver; comprises the parish church (built about 1770; repaired 1816; and seating 270), a Free church, an inn, and a post office under Lairg, with money order and savings' bank departments; and holds fairs on the Friday of August before Kyle of Sutherland, and the Monday of September before Beauly. Lochinver is the chief place in the parish, lying at the NE angle of- a sealoch of its own name, which is 2½ miles long, and from 3 to 6 furlongs wide. A Glasgow steamer calls at its pier fortnightly in winter, weekly in summer; and it has an Established mission church, a post office under Lairg, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, and an inn; whilst Culag House, a former lodge here of the Duke of Sutherland, was opened in May 1880 as a first-class hotel, with accommodation for 60 guests, and shooting and fishing over 12,000 acres. Other inns are Unapool, at Kylesku Ferry, 10 miles N by W of Inchnadamff; and Altnakealgach, on the south-eastern border, 7½ miles S by E.

The parish is bounded W and N by the Minch, NE by the great sea-loch Kylesku and its south-eastern branch Glencoul, E by Eddrachillis, Creich, and Rossshire, and S by the western portion of Cromarty, from which it is separated by Lochs Veyatie and Fewn, and by the river Kirkaig, the link and outlet of those long, narrow lakes. It is 18 miles long from Unapool to the Cromalt Hills, and 16¼ wide from Coinne-mheall to Rhukirkaig; its area is 119,677¼ acres. From Kylesku Ferry westward to the Point of Stoir is a distance of 10 miles, and thence south-south-eastward to Loch Kirkaig of 11½ more; but both distances would be trebled or quadrupled, were one to follow the infinite windings of the high, rockbound coast-the bays or lochs of Ardvar, Nedd, Claismessie, Culkein, Ballcladich, Stoir, Clachtoll, Roe, Inver, and Kirkaig. Along it are scattered some 30 uninhabited islands and islets, the largest being Ellen-na-ghawn in Kylesku, Ellen-riri, Oldany, and Crona on the northern, Soyea and Clette on the south-western, coast- Inland, `rough moor and heather-tufted rock alternate with lochs, which lie under some of the wildest and most imposing mountains of Scotland. ' To the S of Loch Assynt rise the sharp summits of Canisp (2786 feet) and Suilven (2403), the ` sugar-loaf ' this of sailors. Glasven (2541 feet) and Quinag (2653) extend their precipices along its northern shore. And ESE, just over the border of Creich parish, Benmore Assynt, the loftiest mountain of Sutherland, culminates at 3273 feet, whilst sending into Assynt a western shoulder, Coinne-mheall, 3234 feet high. These are the oldest mountains in the British Isles, for, while Benmore is made up of Silurian quartzite and trap, the others consist of Cambrian conglomerate and sandstone, Quinag being capped with Silurian quartzose- A strip of the Laurentian system on the coast is overlaid by Silurian beds as one advances inland, and the two result in a bare bleak country, treeless, almost devoid of bushes, and intersected by a streak of limestone, which runs up into a stupendous ridge, 1½ mile long, and over 200 feet high, at Stronechrubie, to the left of the road between Inchnadamff and Loch Awe- To this limestone belongs the bright white marble, formerly quarried in Glen Assynt, where Dr Macculloch came upon marble cottages. Excepting a few spots, chiefly consisting of moss, none of the surface is fit for cultivation; the climate is moist to an extreme, the annual rainfall being some 60 inches; but for the naturalist and the fisherman Assynt is indeed a happy hunting-ground- Golden eagles still build upon Quinag, though not as in 1846, when one keeper shot 16 in three weeks; like peregrine falcons, they are now preserved. Ospreys and badgers are recently extinct; but to-day's fauna includes wild-cats, martens, blue hares, herons, all kinds of game, and seafowl in abundance; the flora, alpine and bog plants, as well as a few rare ferns. Of freshwater lochs there is a perfect net-work, particularly in the NW. Their traditional number is 300, and the Duke of Sutherland's ½-inch map (1853) shows 225, of which by far the largest is Loch Assynt, occupying the centre of the parish. Curving from ESE to WNW, it is 6¾ miles long, and from 3 to 6 furlongs wide, at several points is more than 100 fathoms deep, and with its birch-clad southern shore, its baylets, ruins, and amphitheatre of overhanging hills, presents a picture singularly lovely. It abounds with the common and the great lake trout, and, in the season, with sea-trout and grilse; its outlet is the Inver river; and at its head it receives the Loanan from Loch Awe, and from Benmore the half-subterranean Traligill. Near the source of the latter is Loch Mulack-Corrie, supposed (but wrongly) to contain the true gillaroo trout; and other noticeable lakes are, in the SE, Borrolan, Urigill, and Camaloch; in the NW, Beanoch (2 miles long, by 1 to 3 furlongs wide), isleted Crokach (1½ mile, by ½ to 3 furlongs), Clashmore and Culfralchie, all yielding capital sport, as also do innumerable burns. Assynt has one most memorable association-the capture in it of the great Marquis of Montrose. After the rout of Invercharron he and the Earl of Kinnoull escaped into Assynt; and here, after two days' wandering, ` the Earl, ' says Gordon's contemporary History of Sutherland, ` being faint for lack of meat, and not able to travel any further, was left among the mountains, where it was supposed he perished. James Graham had almost perished, but that he fortuned in this misery to light upon a small cottage in that wilderness, where he was supplied with some milk and bread. . . . The Laird of Assynt, Neil Macleod, was not negligent, but sent parties everywhere; and some of them met James Graham, accompanied with one Major Sinclair, an Orkneyman, apprehend them, and bring them to Ardvreck, the laird's chief residence. James Graham made great offers to the Laird of Assynt, if he would go with him to Orkney, all which he refused, and did write to the Lieutenant General. James Graham was two nights in Skibo, and from thence he was conveyed to Braan, and so to Edinburgh '-there to be hanged, 21 May 1650. The beautiful ruins of Ardvreck Castle (built about 1591) stand at the end of a long rocky peninsula, on the NE shore, and 1½ mile from the head, of Loch Assynt; a little higher up is the shell of Calda House, a mansion erected about 1660 by Kenneth Mackenzie, third Earl of Seaforth, and destroyed by fire towards the middle of last century. The forfeited Seaforth lands were purchased in 1758 by the Earl of Sutherland, whose descendant, the present duke, owns the entire parish. Sheep-farming is the staple industry, and lobster-fishing is also carried on. The north-western part of Assynt forms the quoad sacra parish of Stoer; the remainder is a parish in the presbytery of Dornoch and synod of Sutherland and Caithness, and its minister's income is £228. Under a school-board for the whole civil parish there are 7 public schools-at Achmelvich (in W), Assynt, Culkein (NW), Drumbaig (N), Elphine (SE), Lochinver, and Stoer. These had in 1879 a total accommodation for 366 children, an average attendance of 275, and grants amounting to £289,7s. Pop., mostly Gaelic-speaking, of ecclesiastical parish (1871) 1499; of civil parish (1801) 2395, (1861) 3178, (1871) 3006, (1881) 2778. See Origines Paroehiales, ii. 2,692; an interesting article in the Cornhill for July 1879; and pp. 89-119 of A. Yonng's Angler's and Sketeher's Guide to Sutherland (Edinb. 1880).—Ord. Sur., sh. 107,1881.

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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