Strathglass

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The River Glass running through the strath River Glass - geograph.org.uk - 247778.jpg
The River Glass running through the strath

Strathglass is a strath or wide and shallow valley in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland down which runs the meandering River Glass from the point at which it starts at the confluence of the River Affric and Abhainn Deabhag to the point where, on joining with the River Farrar at Struy, the combined waters become the River Beauly.

Contents

The A831 road runs southwest from the vicinity of Erchless Castle up the length of Strathglass and serves the village of Cannich which is the largest settlement within the valley. The road then runs east from here via Glen Urquhart to Drumnadrochit beside Loch Ness. A minor road continues southwest up the valley from Cannich towards Glen Affric. [1] Strathglass was also followed by a line of electricity pylons but that has been replaced by a line of new pylons across Eskdale Moor to the east of the strath. Both flanks of the valley are heavily wooded; on the higher ground to the northwest, beyond the forests are the moors of Struy Forest and Balmore Forest.

History

Strathglass has been carved out by water and glacial action along the line of the Strathglass Fault through Loch Eil Group psammites of the Loch Ness Supergroup. The northeast–southwest aligned fault is a Caledonoid tectonic feature. The floor of the valley is formed from alluvium deposited by the river, backed by remnant river terraces in places. [2]

The Christianisation of the Picts and Gaels of Strathglass is believed to have been spearheaded by Irish missionaries of the Celtic Church from Iona Abbey, during the Abbacy of St Columba's kinsman and immediate successor, St Baithéne mac Brénaind, who is referred to in Strathglass as St Bean. [3]

Beginning on 27 May 1700, underground Catholic Bishop Thomas Nicolson had visited Strathglass. In his later Report, the Bishop had described the region, unlike the Hebrides, as so abundant with trees that the local population lived in wattle and daub houses instead of dry stone and thatch crofts. The Bishop explained, "They are called Criel Houses, because the larger timbers are interlaced with wickerwork in the same way baskets are made. They are covered outside with sods, or divots. All of the houses on the mainland, wherever we went, are built in this fashion, except those of the lairds and principal gentry. Strathglass is partly inhabited by Frasers, whose chief is Lord Lovat, and partly by Chisholms under the Laird of Strathglass. These latter are all Catholics." [4]

According to Odo Blundell, "When writing of Strathglass on a previous occasion, I mentioned that, 'from the Reformation to the beginning of the [19th-]century, the Catholics in the Aird and in Strathglass received no more support from the two chief families of the neighbourhood, namely, the Frasers and the Chisholms, than was to be expected from the heads of clans who looked upon all their clansmen, whatever might be their religion, as members of their own family." [5]

According to Alexander Mackenzie, the people of once heavily populated Strathglass began to empty of his people, first through voluntary emigration and the estate clearances ordered by Mrs. William Chisholm of Chisholm in 1801, "In 1801, no less than 799 took ship at Fort William and Isle Martin from Strathglass, The Aird, Glen Urquhart, and the neighbouring districts, all for Pictou, Nova Scotia; while in the following year 473 from the same district left Fort William for Upper Canada, and 128 for Pictou. Five hundred and fifty went aboard another ship at Knoydart, many of whom were from Strathglass. In 1803, four different batches of 120 souls each, by four different ships, left Strathglass, also for Pictou; while not a few went away with emigrants from other parts of the Highlands." [6]

For similar reasons, Odo Blundell commented ruefully in 1909 that the language, customs, and oral tradition of Strathglass were better preserved in Nova Scotia than at home. [7]

Local residents

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References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 scale Explorer map sheet 431 Glen Urquhart and Strathglass
  2. ↑ http://www.largeimages.bgs.ac.uk/iip/mapsportal.html?id=1002467 BGS 1:50,000 sheet Scotland sheet 83W Strathconon Solid & Drift Geology
  3. ↑ History of the Marydale Church, From the Website "Christianity in Strathglass."
  4. ↑ Odo Blundell (1917), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume II, pp. 124-125.
  5. ↑ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, Volume I, London, p. 191.
  6. ↑ Alexander Mackenzie (1914), The History of the Highland Clearances, P.J. O'Callaghan, 132-134 West Nile Street, Glasgow. pp. 187-188.
  7. ↑ Odo Blundell (1909), The Catholic Highlands of Scotland. Volume I: The Central Highlands, Sands & Co., 21 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, 15 King Street, London. p. 211.
  8. ↑ Christianity in Strathglass, From the Website for St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Beauly.
  9. ↑ John Lorne Campbell, The Sources of the Gaelic Hymnal, 1893, The Innes Review , December 1956 Vol. VII, No. 2, pp. 101-111.
  10. ↑ "Mo Rùn Geal Òg". Bliadhna nan Òran (in Scottish Gaelic). BBC. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  11. ↑ "Duncan Chisholm, Liz Doherty & Julie Fowlis - Mo Rùn Geal Òg". BBC Alba. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2023.

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