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[Illustration: FLOWERDALE HOUSE, GAIRLOCH,

WEST COAST RESIDENCE OF THE BARONETS OF GAIRLOCH.]




    GAIRLOCH

    IN NORTH-WEST ROSS-SHIRE

    ITS RECORDS, TRADITIONS, INHABITANTS, AND NATURAL HISTORY

    WITH A

    GUIDE TO GAIRLOCH AND LOCH MAREE

    AND A MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

    By JOHN H. DIXON, F.S.A. Scot.

    INCLUDING CHAPTERS BY

    _WILLIAM JOLLY, F.G.S., F.R.S.E.; THE REV. JOHN McMURTRIE, M.A.;
    AND PROFESSOR W. IVISON MACADAM, F.C.S., F.I.C., M.M.S., &c.,
    EDINBURGH_

    EDINBURGH
    CO-OPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY LIMITED
    1886

    [_Entered at Stationers' Hall._]




    EDINBURGH
    CO-OPERATIVE PRINTING COMPANY LIMITED,
    BRISTO PLACE.




    TO

    _SIR KENNETH S. MACKENZIE_,

    SIXTH BARONET AND THIRTEENTH LAIRD OF GAIRLOCH,

    AND

    HER MAJESTY'S LIEUTENANT OF ROSS-SHIRE,

    Is Dedicated

    THIS ACCOUNT OF THE ROMANTIC HIGHLAND PARISH

    WITH WHICH, DURING FOUR CENTURIES,

    HE AND HIS ANCESTORS HAVE BEEN SO INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED.




PREFACE.


The preparation of the following account of Gairloch has been prompted
by regard--almost affection--for this beautiful and interesting Highland
parish. It is published in the hope that it may not only assist the
tourist, but also be found to constitute a volume worthy of a nook in
the great library of local history. Here and there some few general
remarks on the subjects dealt with have necessarily been introduced by
way of explanation or illustration, but in the main this book relates
solely to Gairloch. I have tried to make short chapters, and to dispense
with footnotes.

Without much assistance the work could not have been satisfactorily
completed. The necessary help has been given with the greatest freedom
and kindness. Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, has himself
furnished much valuable and accurate information, and Lady Mackenzie of
Gairloch has kindly assisted. From Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie of Inverewe,
youngest son of the late Sir Francis Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, I
have received a large amount of personal aid. Much of the information
about the Mackenzies has been culled from the works of Mr Alexander
Mackenzie (a native of Gairloch) with his consent. He is the able author
of a copious history of the Mackenzies and other important books, and
the editor of the _Celtic Magazine_, from which last the memoir of John
Mackenzie of the "Beauties" and several of the traditions have been
mainly taken. From the MS. "Odd and End Stories" of Dr Mackenzie,
Eileanach, only surviving son of Sir Hector Mackenzie, Bart., eleventh
laird of Gairloch, numerous quotations will be found. These extracts are
published with the consent of Dr Mackenzie, as well as of Mr O. H.
Mackenzie to whom he has given his MS. volumes. With one exception,
wherever Dr Mackenzie is quoted the extract is taken from his "Odd and
End Stories." The Dowager Lady Mackenzie of Gairloch has been so good as
to prepare a short statement, from which extracts are made. Dr Arthur
Mitchell, C.B., Senior Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland, has
permitted the use of his paper on the Isle Maree superstitions. Mr Jolly
has contributed three valuable chapters, and the Rev. J. M'Murtrie and
Professor W. Ivison Macadam have each given a chapter. To Mr William
Mackay of Craigmonie, Inverness, I am indebted for full notes on
ecclesiastical matters, and for extracts from the old records of the
Presbytery of Dingwall. The Rev. Alexander Matheson, minister of
Glenshiel, has supplied extracts from the records of the Presbytery of
Lochcarron. I have to thank Messrs Maclachlan & Stewart, of Edinburgh,
who in 1882 brought out a sumptuous edition of the "Beauties of Gaelic
Poetry," by the late John Mackenzie, a Gairloch man, for permission to
use the accounts of John Mackay (the blind piper), William Ross, William
Mackenzie, and Malcolm Maclean, contained in the "Beauties." James
Mackenzie, of Kirkton (brother of John Mackenzie of the "Beauties"), has
furnished a large chapter of Gairloch stories, besides a number of
facts, traditions, and anecdotes; wherever the name of James Mackenzie
occurs in these pages,