Parish of Lochbroom

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: Lochbroom
1834-45: Lochbroom

Lochbroom, a coast parish of NW Ross and Cromarty, whose church stands at the head of salt-water Loch Broom, 6 miles SSE of Ullapool, 26 NW of Garve station, and 35¾ NW by W of Dingwall, under which there is a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments. Containing also Ullapool village, it is bounded NE by Assynt in Sutherland, E by Kincardine and Contin, SE by Contin, SW by Gairloch, and W by the North Minch. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 29½ miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 201/8 miles; and its area is 4132/3 square miles, or 264,7952/3 acres, of which 10,4256/7 are water, 69¼ tidal water, and 1832 foreshore. It thus is the third largest parish in Scotland, exceeded only by Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, and larger than the whole county of Midlothian. The coast is much indented by Enard Bay, Loch Broom, Little Loch Broom, and Greinord Bay; projects the bold headlands of Rudha na Breige (302 feet), Rhu Coigach (263), Cailleach Head (370), and Stattic Point (607); and is fringed by Tanera, Isle Martin, Greinord, and other islands. On the Sutherland border lies Loch Veyatie (4 miles x 1 to 31/3 furl.; 390 feet), sending off the Uidh Fhearna 9 furlongs west-north-westward to Fewin or Fionn Loch (21/8 miles x 3 furl.; 357 feet), out of which the Kirkaig runs 3¼ miles west-north-westward to the sea. Fionn Loch (53/8 miles x ½ furl. to 1¼ mile; 559 feet) sends off the Little Greinord 5½ miles north-by-eastward along the Gairloch boundary to the head of Greinord Bay; and Loch Droma (1¼ x ¼ mile; 905 feet) sends off the Abhuinn Droma or Broom 10 miles north-north-westward to the head of Loch Broom. Other freshwater lakes are triangular Loch Gainmheich (7 x 6½ furl.; 251 feet), isleted Loch Skinaskink (3 miles x 70 yards to 2¼ miles; 243 feet), Loch na Doire Seirbhe (1¼ x¼ mile; 222 feet), the chain of Lochs Lurgain (37/8 miles x 4½ furl.; 173 feet), Bad a' Ghaill (2 miles x ¾ mile), and Owskeich (15/8 x ¾ mile; 72 feet), Loch Achall (17/8 mile x 3 furl.; 265 feet), and Loch an Daimh (1¾ mile x 11/3 furl.; 672 feet), all to the N of Loch Broom; with Loch a' Bhraoin (25/8 miles x 2½ furl.; 813 feet) and Loch na Sheallag (4¾ miles x 5 furl.; 279 feet) to the S. From the latter the Meikle Greinord flows 5¾ miles north-north-westward to the western side of Greinord Bay; and the Strathbeg river, rising at an altitude of 2240 feet, winds 12½ miles north-by-westward to the head of Little Loch Broom. Lesser streams and lakes there are without number, all, like the above, yielding capital fishing. The surface is everywhere hilly or wildly mountainous, chief elevations from N to S being Cul Mhor (2786 feet), An Stac (2009), Cul Beag (2523), Benmore-Coigach (2438), Beinn Eilideach (1830), Meall Dubh (2105), Eididh nan Clach Geala (3039), *Ben Dearg (3547), Sail Mhor (2508), An Teallach (3483), Sgurr Ban (3194), and *A' Chailleach (3276), where asterisks mark two summits that culminate on the Contin boundary. ` To a spectator placed on a central eminence the appearance is that of a wide and dreary waste of bleak and barren heath, as if a segment of the great ocean, agitated and tossed and tumbled, not by an ordinary storm, however violent, but by some frightful convulsion of nature, with here and there a rude and lofty peak of rugged rock towering to the skies, had been suddenly condensed and formed into a solid shapeless mass of unproductive desert, without one spot of green on which to rest the eye.' But much of the vales, the seaboard, and the shores of the salt-water inlets exhibit delightful blendings of wood and water, fertile field, and green hill pasture, luxuriant lowland, and lofty romantic mountains, and is brilliantly picturesque. Metamorphic rocks, chiefly gneiss, but partly granite, partly quartzite, predominate in the mountains. Quartz is in places plentiful; Old Red sandstone prevails in Coigach, in some other parts of the mainland, and in most. of the islands; limestone appears in Strathbeg; bog iron ore occurs in great quantity on Scorrig Farm; and mineral springs, chiefly of a chalybeate character, are numerous. The soil is exceedingly various, but on much of the arable land is light, sharp, gravelly loam. The adjoining estates of Braemore and Inverbroom were purchased in 1865-67 by the eminent engineer, John Fowler, Esq. (b. 1817), who holds 39,530 acres in Ross and 7618 in Inverness-shire, valued at £2995 and £760 per annum. At Braemore, 4 miles S by E of the parish church, he built a handsome mansion in 1866-68, and he has planted 1200 acres along the river Broom with larch and Scotch firs, besides doing much in the way of draining, fencing, reclaiming, road and bridge making, etc. Another mansion, noticed separately, is Dundonnell; and, in all, 5 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 3 of between £100 and £500, 1 of from £50 to £100, and 3 of from £20 to £50. Sir George Simson (1792-1860), governor of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories, was a native. The only antiquities are several round drystone buildings of the kind called `duns.' Loch Broom gives name to one of the twenty-five fishery districts of Scotland. Within this district the number of boats at the beginning of 1883 was 703, of fishermen 2337, of fishcurers 24, and of coopers 4, whilst the value of boats was £8844, of nets £15, 240, and of lines £2191. The following is the number-of barrels of herrings cured or salted in different years (1854) 1328, (1874) 3070, (1878) 13, 282, (1881) 4418, (1882) 1126; of cod, ling, and hake taken (1854) 117,194, (1874) 43, 880, (1878) 70, 388, (1882) 53, 273. Since 1859, giving off the quoad sacra parish of Ullapool, Lochbroom is in the presbytery of Lochcarron and the synod of Glenelg; the living is worth £468. The parish church, built in 1844, is amply commodious. Ten public schools, with total accommodation for 749 children, had (1882) an average attendance of 417, and grants amounting to £508, 11s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £9329, (1884) £15, 250, 18s. 3d. Pop. (1801) 3533, (1831) 4615, (1861) 4862, (1871) 4406, (1881) 4191, of whom 3726 were Gaelic-speaking, and 1618 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 101, 92, 1882-81.

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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