Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

LORETTO
the Earl of Glasgow, and is sometimes called Moonzie
estate.— Cj-iZ. Sur., sh. 48, 1068.
Loretto. See Musselbuegh.
Lorn, a district and a presbytery of Argyllsliire. The
district is bounded, on the N\V, by Loch Linnhe, which
divides it from Morvern ; on the N by Locli Leven, the
river Leven, and the chain of lakelets drained by the
Leven, -which divide it from Inverness-shire ; on the E by
an arbitrary line across Rannoch Moor, and by the great
central southward reach of the Grampians, which divide it
from Perthshire ; on the S partly by brief arbitrary lines,
and chiefly by Lochs Awe, Avich, and Melfort, which
divide it from Cowal and Argyll ; on the W by the
Firth of Lorn, which divides it from MulL It includes
also the islands belonging to the parish of Lismore and
Appin, and the islands of Eerrera, Easdale, and Shuna.
Its length, from N to S, varies from 22 to 33 miles, and
its breadth, from E to W, varies from 15 to 32 miles.
The parishes comprised in it are Lismore and Appin, Ard-
chattan and Muckairn, Kilmore and Kilbride, Glenorchy
and Innishail, Kilbrandon and Kilchattan, Kilchrenan
and Dalavich, Kilninver and Kilmelfort. The north-
eastern portion of it, comprising Glencoe, Glenorchy,
and the minor part of Rannoch Moor, belongs to it only
in a loose and indefinite manner, whilst the rest of it,
measuring 33 miles in extreme length, and about 9 miles
in mean breadth, is strictly or emphatically Lorn, and
is divided into Upper Lorn, lying N of Loch Etive, and
including Appin and Airds ; Middle Lorn, lying im-
mediately S of Loch Etive, and including Muckairn ; and
Nether Lorn, separated from Middle Lorn by no natural
boundary, and extending to Lochs Avich and Melfort.
The district, in a general view, is grandly Highland ;
displaj's great wealth and variety of mountain, glen,
romantic seaboard, picturesque fresh-water lake and
long-reaching sea-loch ; abounds in many kinds of
interesting antiquities, both civil and ecclesiastical,
from the ancient Caledonian to the late mediaeval ; has
ancient historical associations connected with Dalriada,
or the original Scottish liingdom ; and possesses three of
the most renowned ancient castles in the Western
Highlands — Dunstaffnage, DunoUy, and Kilchnrn. The
Firth of Lorn extends southward from the junction of
Loch Linnhe and the Sound of Mull ; washes all the AV
coast of Lorn and all the SE coast of Mull ; has a length
of 17 miles, and a breadth of from 5 to 15 miles ; cou-
tains Kerrera island, most of the Slate islands, and some
small islets ; has screens and intersections of remarkable
force of character ; is traversed by all the steamers plying
between the Clyde and the North of Scotland ; and,
whether seen from many parts of its own bosom, or
from numerous vantage-grounds on its shores, displays
a variety and a magnificence of scenery unsurpassed
by any in the kingdom. The district got its name
from Loarn, one of the three brothers, sons of Ere,
who, in the end of the 5th century, immigrated from
the Irish Dalriada, and founded the Scottish monarchy ;
and it gives the titles of Baron and Marquis, in the
peerage of Scotland, to the Duke of Argyll — the former
title created in 1470, the latter in 1701. The Duke
of Argyll's eldest son bears, by courtesy, the title of
Marquis of Lorn ; and the present Marquis, born in
1845, married in 1871 Her Royal Highness Princess
Louise-Caroline-Alberta. The presbytery of Lorn com-
prehends the quoad cimlia parishes of Ardchattan,
Glenorchy, Kilbrandon, Kilchrenan, Kilmore, Kil-
ninver, and Lismore, the quoad sacra parishes of
Appin, Duror, Muckairn, Oban, and St Columba
(Oban), and the chapelries of Kingairloch, Glencoe,
Lochawe, Dalavich, and Connel Ferry, and holds its
meetings at Oban on the last Tuesday of March and
November, and the first Tuesday of May and November.
Pop. (1871) 12,956, (ISSl) 14,361, of whom 1128 were
communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878. — The
Free Church also has a presbytery of Lorn, with churches
at Appin, Ardchattan, Glenorchy, Kilbrandon, Kilnin-
ver, JIuckairn, and Oban, and a preaching station at
Kilchrenan, which 7 churches together had 1747
members and adherents in 1883.
558
LOSSIEMOTJTH
Lorn Furnace. See Bunawe.
Lomty. See Bl.itegoweie.
Lossie, a river of Elginshire, which rises in the parish
of Dallas, near Carn Kitty (1711 feet), where the parishes
of Dallas, Edinkillie, and Enockando meet, 14 mUes
SW of the city of Elgin. Springing from the feeders of
two small lochs — Trevie and Lossie — and receiving also
near its source a bum from the loch marked on the
Ordnance Survey map as Loch Nair, but which ought to
be Loch-an-Iore, it flows in a very winding course, with
a general N by E direction, to the Moeat Firth at
LossiEMOtJTH, passing through or along the borders of
the parishes of Dallas, Birnie, Elgin, Spynie, St Andrews-
Lhanbryd, and Drainie. The distance from source to
mouth is only 19 miles, but so numerous are the windings
that the distance along the river itself is 31 miles. The
upper part of its course is bleak and bare, but there are
pretty parts from Dallas church downwards, particularly
in the neighbourhood of the city of Elgin, where one of
the banks is always well wooded, and sometimes both.
At Kellas, a little below Dallas, there is a very fine series
of river terraces at three different levels, and not sur-
passed in the N of Scotland. Immediately further down
there are narrow rocky gorges, through whicli the river
flows in a succession of rapids. The lowest of these is
the Dun Cow's Loup. Near Birnie a hollow known as
Foths (? fosse, fossa) opens off. This is evidently an old
course of the river, though the present channel, cutting
backwards, is now at a much lower level. Below Birnie
the flow, which is nowhere rapid, becomes more sluggish
still, and the river along the gi-eater part of the rest of
its course has to be bounded by strong embankments.
Good examples of terraces may again be seen W of the
bend at Haughland near Elgin. In 1829 the river, like
all the others on the N side of the Moray Firth, came
down in heavy flood, sweeping almost all the bridges
before it, and inundating the whole of the low country
along its banks, and breaking into the old bed of the
Loch of Spynie, which had been drained about twenty
years before. The streams that join it from the E
are the Burn of Corrhatnich, the Lennoc Burn, the
Burn of Shougle, the Muirton, Linkwood or Wauk-
mill Burn, and the Burn of Lhanbryd. The Lennoc
Burn flows through the deep Glenlatterich, and at one
narrow rocky gorge called the Ess of Glenlatterach has a
fall 50 feet high. The streams from the W are the
Lochty or Black Burn and the Monaughty Canal. The
river and its tributaries afford good trout fishing (only
three salmon have been captured within the last twenty
years) ; and though the fishings are let by the proprietor,
the Earl of Moray, the tenant allows the public to fish.
—Ord. Sur., shs. 85, 95, 1876.
Lossiemouth, a small coast town in Deainie parish,
Elginshire, at the mouth of the river just described,
and by rail 5J miles NNE of Elgin, of which, as well as
of a considerable part of the district, it is the seaport.
It consists of three different villages, Lossiemouth pro-
per, Branderburgh, and Stotfield. There is a port of
' Lossy, otherwise of Spynie,' mentioned in the Chartu-
lary of Moray in 1383, but it was very probably farther
up the river than the present site. It was then as now
the port of Elgin, and the reason of the mention is a
dispute as to the rights of the bishop and burgesses.
The bishop seems to have prevailed, and the mouth of the
river became a pertinent of the estate of Kinedder, and
thus remained till near the end of the 17th century.
In 1698 the town of Elgin feued from the then pro-
prietor of Kinedder, Brodie of Brodie, about 80 acres of
bare gravel and sand, at a yearly feu-duty of £2, Is. 7d.,
and a harbour was constructed ; and streets and cross
lanes, all at right angles, were regularly laid out round
a large central square, in which is the sadly dilapidated
town's cross. The feus measure 120 by 180 feet, and are
held at a very low rate. They were, so long as the old
harbour remained, readily taken off, though since the
erection of the new harbour many of tlie fishermen
prefer Branderburgh, and the earlier village is now
known, sometimes, as the Old Town. The original
harbour was within the mouth of the river, and cost