largest county of Scotland, comprising, besides its mainland portion, a considerable number of the Hebrides, and having a total area of 2,723,501 statute acres, or 4,256 square miles. The mainland portion lies between N. Lat. 56° 40' and 57° 26', and W. Long. 3° 50' and 5° 50'; and is bounded on the N. by Ross-shire, E. by the counties of Nairn, Elgin, Banff, and Aberdeen, S. by Perthshire and Argyllshire, and W. by the Atlantic. It is 85 miles in length from E. to W., and 57 in breadth from N. to S., and has an area of about 1050 square miles. The exterior outline of the county is very irregular. On the N.E., where the county town is situated, a narrow tract runs out between Nairnshire and the Moray Frith. Farther to the S.E., a portion of it is detached and inclosed by the counties of Elgin and Banff. Argyllshire penetrates it from the S.W., and Ross-shire from the N.W., while its W. coast is indented by Lochs Moidart, Aylort, Nevish, Hourn, and other arms of the sea.
The surface of the county is very varied, consisting of ranges of lofty mountains, alternating with deep, narrow valleys, the beds of numerous lakes and rivers. The deep valley of Glenmore, or the Great Glen, traverses the county from S.W. to N.E., dividing it into two nearly equal parts. It is for the most part about a mile in breadth, and is bounded on either side by precipitous banks. In this glen are Lochs Ness, Oich, and Lochy, which, being united by the Caledonian Canal, form a line of inland navigation between the E. and W. seas, from the Moray Frith on the N.E. to Loch Linnhe on the S.W., a distance of about 60 miles. Of these the lochs comprise 37, and the canal 23 miles. Loch Ness is remarkable for its depth, which is so great that its waters never freeze. On each side of this valley there are numerous glens and straths, separated by mountain ridges with lakes and rivers, displaying all the varieties of picturesque scenery.
The western side of the county, or that portion of it lying between the Caledonian Canal and the Atlantic, is the most wild and mountainous, and is known by the name of the Rough Bounds. Its principal divisions are Moidart, Arasaig, Morar, Knoydart, and Glenelg, which contain the glens or valleys of Glengarry, Glennmoriston, Glenurquhart, and Strathglass. The most considerable lakes in this quarter are—Loch Eil, Loch Shiel, Loch Arkaig, Loch Garry, and Loch Maddy. The portion lying E. of the Caledonian Canal comprises the extensive district of Badenoch, S. of which lies Lochaber; and on the N. the Aird, one of the most fertile parts of the county. The divisions also include numerous glens, lakes, and rivers, with extensive woodlands, and a great extent of pasture lands. The valley of Glenroy deserves especial notice for its parallel roads, which were supposed, by Dr Macculloch and others, to have been the shores of ancient lakes, or of one lake occupying successively different levels, but attributed by Agassiz to the action of a glacier from Ben Nevis. The other noteworthy valleys are Strathspey, Stratherrick, Strathearn, and Strathmairn. The most considerable lochs are Treig, Erchit (partly in Perthshire), Laggan, Insch, and Moy.
It is estimated that two-thirds of the surface of the county are covered with heath. In many large tracts heath prevails to such a degree, that for twelve or fourteen miles scarcely any verdure is to be seen except on the banks of some solitary rivulet. On the S. of Badenoch there is a moss, supposed to be the most extensive in Britain, in which a great number of small lakes are interspersed, some of them containing wooded islands, where deer find a secure shelter. By far the greatest part of the county is occupied with mountains. Ben Nevis, now ascertained by the Ordnance Survey to be the highest mountain in Great Britain, stands on the S.W., a few miles to the E. of Fort William, and is 4406 feet above the mean level of the sea. Neallfionvich, on the west of Loch Ness, rises almost perpendicularly from the loch to the height of 3060 feet. Cairngorm, which is partly in this county and partly in Banffshire, is 4050 feet high.
The principal rivers of Inverness-shire are—the Spey, which rises in a small loch of that name in the hills between Badenoch and Lochaber, and flowing in a northeasterly direction for about 100 miles, falls into the sea 8 miles E. of Elgin, draining an area of 1300 square miles; the Ness, which issues from Loch Ness, and flows through the town of Inverness, falls into the Moray Frith after a course of 6 miles; the Lochy issues from Loch Lochy, and has a course of 10 miles westward, in which it receives from the E. the Spean, and falls into Loch Eil near Fort William; and the Beuly, which has its source in the N.W., and carries the united waters of the Glass, and two other rivulets, into the firth of the same name. The Findhorn and the Nairn on the E., and the Garry and Moriston on the W., are smaller streams. The River Foyers, which flows into Loch Ness from the S. is remarkable for its celebrated falls, one of which is 30, and the other (about a quarter of a mile lower down) is about 90 feet in height.
Granite, limestone, gneiss, slate, marble, brick-clay, abound in many parts of Inverness-shire. Lead has been discovered in Ben Nevis, and at several other places in that neighbourhood, and also at Glengarry, but none of it is wrought. Silver has also been found in several parts. A vein of plumbago has been found at Glengarry. A great part of the mountain of Ben Nevis is composed of beautiful porphyry. There is no coal, and for want of it the limestone is of little value.
From the trees found in great numbers, and some of them of a remarkable size, in all the mooses, this country must at an early period have been thickly covered with wood; and at present there is here a greater space covered with natural pines than in all the rest of Britain. In Strathspey it is said that three tiers of stocks have been found, directly above one another, in a moss; from which it is inferred that the deepest must have come to maturity, and been destroyed, before the one next above it was formed. This district is still celebrated for its great forests; and the natural woods on Loch Arkraig, in Glengarry, Glennmoriston, Strathglass, Strathfarer, and at the head of Loch Shiel, are also very extensive. The forests consist chiefly of oak, fir, birch, ash, mountain ash, holly, elm, hazel, and the Scotch poplar. There are also extensive plantations of larch, spruce, silver fir, beech, and plane. The birch is very abundant on the sides of Loch Ness, Loch Laggan, about Rothiemurchus, Glenurquhart, Invermoriston, and Glengarry, and is purposely cultivated for the manufacture of bobbins. Part of the great Caledonian Forest extends for several miles near the boundary of this county with Perthshire. Considerable tracts have been planted, chiefly with firs and larches, particularly in the N.E., in Badenoch, and on Loch Eil.
There are several fishing villages on the E. coast, but the sea-fishery is not prosecuted to a great extent. The herring occasionally visit Loch Eil; salmon yield a considerable rent on the rivers Lochy, Beauly, and Ness, and are found also in the Morar, in Loch Insh in Badenoch, at Invermoriston, and Invergarry. Char is caught in several of the lochs, and flounders and sprats in the Beauly. The moors and woodlands are plentifully stocked with game, viz., red and roe deer, the Alpine and common hare, black game and ptarmigan, grouse, partridges, &c.; and pheasants have lately been introduced. Foxes and wild cats are still numerous, and, in the lakes and rivers, otters. There are also eagles, hawks, and owls; and a multitude of water fowls, particularly swans, resort to Loch Insh, and the other lakes of Badenoch.
The territory of Inverness-shire is divided into estates of great extent, and, in proportion to the rental of the county, of great value. In 1804 more than the half, if we may judge from the old valuation, belonged to seven proprietors, and as much more was held by other six as made the possessions of these thirteen individuals equal to more than two-thirds of the whole; each of them, at a medium, must therefore have contained about 100,000 acres. The valued rent of the county was L73,185 Scots, the annual value of real property, as assessed in 1816, was L185,956; as assessed in 1849, L196,825; and as assessed in 1855, under the new valuation act, L196,275. The assessment for rogue money is L150; and for prisons, L644,12s. 11d.
The cottar or crofter system is gradually decreasing in this county, and in some parts of it no longer exists. A few tacksmen or great tenants held the land from the proprietor. They sublet portions to cottars, receiving payment in labour, or in contributions of hens, eggs, and small sums of money. In this way the tacksmen often sat rent free, and it was this class that made the great outcry when the system was changed. Now the land is chiefly appropriated to sheep farming, and good rents are obtained. Part of Glenquoich, for example, lets for about L500 per annum, which used to bring only from L20 to L30 as a sheiling for the Kintail men. This practice of shelling is one of the old forms of the crofter system that has ceased. The people not having pasture enough for their cattle, clubbed and hired a range of pasture ground elsewhere, whither they went with their wives, children, and cattle, for about six weeks in summer, living in temporary bothies, making butter, dancing, singing Gaelic songs, and holding a sort of rural carnival. On all the high farms best adapted for pasture or deer-forests, the crofter system is nearly at an end; but on the low grounds, where the land is improvable, there are thousands ofcrofters, by whom the population of the Highland counties is kept up. They have a house, land for a cow, and a few sheep, and a certain right of hill pasture, and pay from L4 to L10 or L15 a-year of rent. Lord Lovat, on his extensive estates, encourages this system; he gives leases for nineteen years at very low rents, on condition that a certain amount of land is cultivated. The holding is directly from the landlord on clearly-defined and understood conditions, without the severe exactions of the tacksmen,—to all whose demands they were forced to attend, though their own crofts were neglected. In some instances they are not allowed to multiply to too great a number. Sons, on marrying, must remove from the paternal bothy; and this, though seemingly a harsh, is, in some measure, a necessary restriction; the poor-law compelling Highland proprietors to pay more attention than they formerly did to the state of the people; but good landlords will not apply it too rigidly.
The following tables, made up from the Report of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland to the Board of Trade, give the agricultural statistics of holdings in this county of the valued rental of L20 and upwards, for 1854 and 1855; the number of occupants being 749:
| Crop | 1854 Acres | 1855 Acres | |------------|------------|------------| | Wheat | 1,084 | 1,539 | | Barley | 2,660 | 2,200 | | Oats | 13,674 | 13,704 | | Rye | 141 | 125 | | Bere | 1,914 | 1,034 | | Beans | 852 | 674 | | Pease | 234 | 162 | | Vetches | 141 | 182 | | Turnips | 6,135 | 5,288 | | Potatoes | 3,524 | 2,916 | | Mangel | 10 | 16 | | Carrots | 3 | 2 | | Cabbage | 35 | 25 | | Flax | 2 | 3 | | Turnip seed| 11 | 4 | | Other crops| 2 | 2 | | Bare fallow| 572 | 506 | | Grass and hay, under rotation | 15,318 | 14,226 |
Total | 44,242 | 42,030
The estimated produce of the principal crops for these years were,
| Crop | 1854 Bolls | 1855 Bolls | |------------|------------|------------| | Wheat | 47,573 | 37,814 | | Barley | 93,100 | 64,957 | | Oats | 437,584 | 369,176 | | Bere | 23,068 | 21,206 | | Pease and Beans | ... | 5,227 | | Turnips, tons | 84,984 | 73,948 | | Potatoes | 6,519 | 12,176 |
The amount of stock possessed by these occupants in 1855 were,
| Stock Item | Number | |------------|--------| | Horses for agricultural purposes above three years old | 2,339 | | Horses for agricultural purposes under three years old | 634 | | All other horses | 621 | | Milk cows | 8,301 | | Other cattle | 9,758 | | Calves | 6,002 | | Sheep of all ages, for breeding | 285,919 | | Sheep of all ages, for feeding | 143,158 | | Lambs, produce of 1855 | 138,619 | | Swine | 1,667 |
Total stock, 1855 | 596,907 | Total stock, 1854 | 568,404 |
Amongst the antiquities of Inverness-shire, which we can only notice generally, are the circles of stones ascribed to the Druids, which are found in many parts of the county, particularly at Corrimony in its northern quarter; two artificial mounds in the parish of Petty, supposed to have been places for administering justice; round buildings, called Picts' Houses, in Glenelg, and other parts; forts, built without mortar, one of which, called Castle Spynie, 2 miles E. from the church of Beauly, incloses a circle of 54 yards, and another, in the parish of Laggan, stands on a rock, 100 yards in perpendicular height; vitrified forts on the hill of Craig Phadric, about 2 miles from Inverness, Dundhaidghall in Glen Nevis, and Dun Thion, near the River Beauly; and a variety of castles, of which Inverlochy Castle, a building of great extent and unknown antiquity, on the banks of the Lochy, near Fort William, is, perhaps, the most remarkable.
There is a chain of forts stretching across the county, along the line of the Caledonian Canal. Fort George, a regular fortress, mounting eighty guns, with barracks for 3000 men, was begun in 1747, and completed in twenty years, at an expense of about L160,000. It is situated 12 miles eastward from Inverness, upon a neck of land on the Moray Frith, opposite to Fortrose in Ross-shire. Fort Augustus, also a regular fortification, though a place of no great strength, with four bastions, and barracks for 400 men, is situated at the west end of Loch Ness, nearly midway between the east and west seas. It was first built in 1730, at some distance from Loch Ness; but having been demolished by the rebels in 1745, it was afterwards rebuilt nearer the lake. Fort William, built in the reign of William III., is situated on a navigable arm of the sea, called Loch Eil, at the south-western termination of the great valley. These forts are now useless in a military point of view, though kept in a state of good repair, and used as barracks for a few soldiers. On Culloden Moor, a level heath to the eastward of Inverness, on the 16th April 1746, was fought the battle which put an end to the rebellion of 1745.
Inverness-shire contains twenty-eight entire parishes, and shares several others with the counties of Argyle, Nairn, and Elgin. Of these, twenty are on the mainland, and the remainder in its islands. Some of the parishes on the mainland, as well as in the islands, are very extensive. Those of Kilmalgie and Kilmoreack are about 60 miles in length, by almost 30 in breadth. Many of the inhabitants are Roman Catholics, particularly in the districts of Moildart, Arasaig, Morar, and Knockhart, on the west side. The county sends one member to parliament; and the town of Inverness, along with Forres, Nairn, and Fortrose, chooses one for the burghs. The sheriff holds courts at four places, two of which, Inverness and Fort William, are for the mainland, and two more for the isles in Skye and Long Island.
The population of Inverness-shire by the last six censuses was as follows:
| Year | Males | Females | Total | |------|-------|---------|-------| | 1801 | 33,071 | 39,601 | 72,672 | | 1811 | 35,411 | 42,250 | 77,671 | | 1821 | 42,204 | 47,757 | 89,961 | | 1831 | 44,510 | 59,287 | 93,797 | | 1841 | 45,538 | 52,261 | 97,799 | | 1851 | 44,961 | 51,539 | 96,500 |
The occupation census for 1851 shows that the inhabitants are chiefly engaged in, or dependent on, agriculture or cattle rearing. There were of males, 3052 farmers, 357 graziers, 1699 farmers' or graziers' sons, grandsons, brothers, and nephews, of fifteen years of age and upwards, and residing on the farms; 169 farm bailiffs, 6666 out-door agricultural labourers, 814 shepherds, 1702 in-door farm servants, and 27 others connected with agriculture.—Of females, 365 farmers', 2325 farmers' or graziers' wives, 2098 farmers' or graziers' daughters, grand-daughters, sisters, and nieces, of fifteen years of age and upwards, and living on the farm; 1903 out-door agricultural labourers, and 1497 in-door farm servants. There were also 202 gamekeepers, 230 gardeners, 67 woodmen, and 1034 fishermen. There were 20 females and 6 males of 100 years of age or upwards, a greater number than in any other county in Scotland.
According to the census of religious worship and education for 1851, there were in this county 109 places of worship, of which 44 belonged to the Free Church, 35 to the Established Church, 4 to the United Presbyterians, 3 to the Episcopalians, 1 to the Independents, 4 to the Baptists, 1 to the Wesleyan Methodists, and 17 to the Roman Catholics. The total number of sittings was 40,918, and the attendance at each of the services on Sunday 30th March 1851 was, morning 18,086, afternoon 11,692, and evening 5211. The number of day-schools was 162, of which 142, with 9716 scholars, were public; and 20, with 1017 scholars, were private schools. The number of Sunday-schools was 75, with 4485 scholars; of these schools 32, with 1255 scholars, belonged to the Established Church; 30, with 2286 scholars, to the Free Church; 3 each to the United Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Baptists, and 1 each Independents, Methodists, isolated congregations, and Roman Catholics. There were also 2 mechanics' institutions, and a Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, having together 546 members.