Parish of Croy and Dalcross

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: Croy and Dalcross
1834-45: Croy and Dalcross
1791-99: Croy and Dalcross
1834-45: Croy and Dalcross

Croy, a hamlet on the NE border of Inverness-shire, and a parish partly also in Nairnshire. The hamlet lies 8 miles SW of Nairn and 3 S of Fort George station, which is 10½ miles NE of Inverness, and under which it has a post office.

The parish, containing also Clephanton village, 6¼ miles S W of Nairn, comprises the ancient parishes of Croy and Dalcross, united in the latter part of the 15th century. Bounded N by Nairn parish, E by Cawdor, S by Moy and Daviot, and NW by Daviot and Petty, it has an utmost length, from NNE to SSW, of10¼ miles; a varying width of 1¼ and 45/8 miles; and a land area of 22,779 acres. This last includes the Leys or south-western division, which, severed from the main body by a strip (5 furlongs wide at the narrowest) of Daviot, is on all other sides surrounded by Inverness, its greatest length and breadth being 61/8 and 1¾ miles. The river Nairn winds 12¾ miles north-eastward along the borders and through the interior of the main portion, from just below Daviot House to just above Rosefield; the Loch of the Clans (2 x 1 furl.) lies in the northern extremity, and on the Petty boundary is Loch Flemington (4½ x 1¼ furl.). The beautiful strath of the Nairn here sinks from 400 to 100 feet above sea-level; but the surface generally is flat and forbidding in aspect, including the wide bleak moors of Clava and Culloden, and only in the south-eastern corner rising steeply to 1000 feet on Saddle Hill, 1027 on Creagan Glas, and 1787 on Beinn Buidhe Mhor. The rocks are variously granite, gneiss, Old Red sandstone, unconsolidated drift, and liassic limestone, the last of which has been calcined for economic purposes. The soil in the eastern division is of all descriptions, so interspersed with one another that scarcely two continuous acres can be found of the same quality; that of the western is also various, but forms, on the whole, a fine mixture of clay black land and sandy or gravelly material. Great improvements have been effected since 1845, hundreds of acres that once were barren moor having either been planted or brought under the plough. A remarkable ancient Caledonian monument, comprising two concentric circles of large stones, two large slabs within the inner circle, and a huge upright of conglomerate a few feet W of the outer, crowns a round gravel mound on the NW border of the parish; and remains of crannoges or ancient lake-dwellings, formed of alternate strata of stones, earth, and oak, and resting on oaken piles strongly fixed by transverse beams, were discovered at the draining of a lake in the eastern end of the parish. The Stones of Clava are separately noticed, as likewise are the battlefield of Culloden, the ruins of Dalcross Castle, and the four mansions, Cantray House, Holme Rose, Kilravock Castle, and Leys Castle. Seven proprietors hold each an annual value ofmore, and five ofless, than £500. Croy is in the presbytery of Nairn and synod of Moray; the living is worth £384. The parish church, at the hamlet, was built in 1767, and contains 527 sittings; a Free church stands 1 mile to the SSW. Two schools, Clava and Croy, with respective accommodation for 100 and 150 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 32 and 129, and grants of £36, 10s. and £129, 3s. 6d. Valuation (1880) £10,399, 19s. 2d., of which £3699, 1s. 6d. was in Nairnshire. Pop. (1801) 1601, (1831) 1664, (1861) 1873, (1871) 1841, (1881) 17.09.—Ord. Sur., sh. 84, 1876.

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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