Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ASSYNT
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, 33J miles WNW of Lairg station, and 13 E of
Lochinver ; comprises the parish church (huilt 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 sea-
loch of its own name, which is 2J miles long, and from
3 to 6 furlongs wide. A Glasgow steamer calls at its pier
weekly; and it has an Established mission church, a post
office with a daily despatch to and from Lairg, and with
money oraer, savings' Dank, and telegraph departments,
and an inn ; whilst Culag House, a former lodge here of
the Duke of Sutherland, was opened in May 1SS0 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 Inchna-
daniii" ; and Altnakealgach, on the south-eastern border,
7i 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 Ross-
shire, and S by the western portion of Cromarty, from
which it is separated by Lochs Vetatie and Fewn, and
by the river Kiukaig, the link and outlet of those long,
narrow lakes. It is 18 miles long from Unapool to the
Cromalt Hills, and 164; wide from Coinne-mheall to Rhu-
kirkaig ; its area is 119,6774 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 11^
more ; but both distances would be trebled or quadrupled,
were one to follow the infinite windings of the high, rock-
bound coast — the bays or lochs of Ardvar, Nedd, Clais-
messie, Culkein, Ballcladich, Stoir, Clachtoll, Roe, Inver,
and Kirkaig. Along it are scattered some 30 uninh abited
islands and islets, the largest being Ellen-na-ghawn in
Kylesku, Ellen-riri, Olda-N'Y, 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 if the wildest and most imposing
mountains of Scotland.' To the S of Loch Assynt rise
the sharp summits of Canisp (2779 feet) and Suilven
(2399), 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, Ben'Moke Assynt, theloftiest mountain of Suther-
land, culminates at 3273 feet, whilst sending into Assynt
awestern 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 a3 one advances inland, and the two result
in a bare bleak country, treeles9, almost devoid of bushes,
and intersected by a streak of limestone, which runs up
into a stupendous ridge, 1J mile long, and over 200 feet
high, at Stronechrubie, to the left of the road between
Inehnadamll and Loch Awe. To this limestone belongs
the bright white marble, formerly quarried in Glen
Assynt, where Dr Macculloch came upon marble cot-
tages. 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
ii 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 re-
cently extinct ; but to-day's fauna includes wild-cats,
martens, blue hares, herons, all kinds of game, and sea-
fowl 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 N\V. Their tradi-
tional number is 300, and the Duke of Sutherland's
80
ATHELSTANEFORD
i-inch map (1853) shows 225, of which by far the largest
is Loch Assynt, occupying the centre of the parish.
Curving from ESE to AYNW, it is 6f miles long, and
from 3 to 6 furlongs wide, at several points is more than
100 fathoms deep, and with its birch-claa southern shore,
its baylets, ruins, and amphitheatre of overhanging hills,
presents a picture singularly lovely. It abounds with
the common and the great lako 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 Awb,
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, Bokrolan, Ueigill,
and Camaloch ; in the NW, Beanoch (2 miles long, by
1 to 3 furlongs wide), isleted Crokach (l 1 mile, by j 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 Inver-
charron 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 farther,
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 every-
where ; and some of them met James Graham, accom-
panied with one Major Sinclair, an Orkneyman, appre-
hend 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 Edin-
burgh' — there to be hanged, 21 May 1650. The beauti-
ful ruins of Ardvreck Castle (built about 1591) stand at
the end of a long rocky peninsula, on the NE shore, and
1J 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 Sxoee ; 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 1891 a total accommodation for
464 children, an average attendance of 300, and grants
amounting to £454, 18s. Id. A coach runs to and from
Lairg and Lochinver on week days. Pop. mostly Gaelic-
speaking, of ecclesiastical parish (1891) 1270; of civil
parish (1861) 3178, (1871) 3006, (1881) 2778, (1891)
2551. See Origines Parochiales, ii. 2, 692; and pp.
89-119 of A. Young's Angler's and Slcclelier's Guide to
Sutherland.— Ord. Sur., sh. 107, 1881.
Aflta, a village and a lake in Shetland, 1 mile from its
post-village, Scalloway.
Athelstaneford, a village and a parish of N central
Haddingtonshire. The village is 3 milos NNE of Had-
dington, and has a post office under Duem, another post
office hamlet in this parish, 2J miles to the NNW,
with money order, savings bank, and telegraph depart-
ments, and the junction of the North Berwick branch of
the North British railway. The name Athelstaneford
is supposed to commemorate a victory of Hungus or
Angus mac Fergus, King of the Picts (731-761), and.
founder of St Andrews, over one Athelstane, ' dux ' on
commander of Eadben, King of Northumbria (Skene,
Celt. Scot., I 299).