Dores

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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Dores, a village and a parish of NE Inverness-shire. The village stands on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, towards its foot, 7 miles SSW of Inverness, under which it has a post office; at it are a small inn and a steamboat pier. The parish is bounded NE by Inverness, SE by Daviot-Dunlichity and the Farraline section of Boleskine, SW by Boleskine-Abertarff, and NW by Loch Ness and Inverness. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 151/8 miles; its breadth, from WNW to ESE, varies between 1 furlong and 4¼ miles; and its land area is 25,693 acres, including the two small Dell and Killin sections, surrounded by Boleskine. The river Farigaig, entering from Daviot, and winding 6¼ miles north-north-westward and south-westward to Loch Ness at the south-western corner of the parish, is the only considerable stream; and the eastern half of the lower 10¾ miles of Loch Ness belong to Dores. Other lakes, with utmost length and breadth and altitude, are Lochs Bunachton (½ x ¼ mile, 701 feet), Dundelchack (33/8 miles x 1 mile, 702 feet), and Ruthven (2¼ miles x 41/3 furl., 700 feet), on the Daviot border; Loch Farraline (9 x 2½ furl., 650 feet), on the Boleskine detached border; and, in the interior, Loch Ashey (15/8 mile x 5 furl., 716 feet), Lochan nan cun Ruadha (3¾ x 2 furl., 750 feet), Loch Ceo-Glas (7 x 1 furl., 760 feet), and eight smaller ones. Except for the narrow strip along Loch Ness, traversed by Wade's military road, which ranges in altitude between 56 and 106 feet above sea-level, for Strath Dores, and for a portion of Stratherrick, the surface everywhere is hilly or mountainous, elevations from NNE to SSW being Drumashie Moor (776 feet), Creag a' Chlachain (1000), Ashie Moor (790), Tom Bailgeann (1514), Carn an Fheadain (1445), and Cairn Ardochy (1116). Most of the land is suited only for sheep-pasture, the light arable soils lying chiefly along the bottom of the valleys, but with patches here and there among the hills. The rocks are mainly granitic; and woods and plantations cover a considerable area, especially along the shore of Loch Ness. Vestiges of an ancient fort, supposed to be Scandinavian, and called Dun-Richnan or the Castle of the King of the Ocean, are at the head of Loch Ashey, 1½ mile SE of the village; and several cairns a little to the E, one of them almost equal in size to all the rest, are fabled to commemorate a victory won by Fingal over Ashi, the son of a Norwegian king, and give the name of Drumashie (` Ashi's ridge ') to their site. Aldourie Castle is the principal mansion; and 3 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100 and £500. Dores is in the presbytery of Inverness and synod of Moray; the living is worth £300. The parish church, at the village, was built in 1828, and contains 500 sittings. A preaching-station is at Torness, in Stratherrick, 6 miles S of the village; and a Free church for Dores and Bona stands 13/8 mile NNE of the same; whilst three public schools-Aldourie, Bunchrubin, and Stratherrick-with respective accommodation for 125,80, and 110 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 20,18, and 48, and grants of £35,1s., £26, and £55,18s. Valuation (1881) £9008,9s. Pop. (1801) 1313, (1831) 1736, (1861) 1506, (1871) 1401, (1881) 1146.—Ord. Sur., shs. 73,83,1878-81.

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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