Killearnan

Killearnan is a civil parish in the Black Isle peninsula of Ross and Cromarty in the Highland area of Scotland. It is bordered by the parish of Urquhart and Logie Wester on the north, Urray to the west and Knockbain in the east. It borders the Beauly Firth on the south and its church lies on the banks of that firth. The coastline is 5 miles (8.0 kilometres) and has no marked bay or indentation. The civil parish extends about 8 miles (13 kilometres) from east to west. The name Killearnan means "Iurnan's church" in Gaelic. The parish is mainly rural with no major villages or towns. The land gently rises to 518 feet (158 metres) at Carnurnan, on the northern border with Urquhart and Logie Wester. At the 2011 census, the population of the civil parish was 697. 4.9% had some knowledge of Gaelic. A hundred years before, in 1911, 46.7% were Gaelic speaking (and 52.7% in 1881). The area of the parish is 7,735 acres (12.1 mi2; 31.3 km2). The most significant buildings historically are Redcastle, near the shore of Beauly Firth and Kilcoy Castle in the centre of the parish. Redcastle was built of local Old Red Sandstone on rising ground near the firth. Kilcoy Castle (built early 17th century) was the seat of a barony belonging to the Mackenzie family and has a commanding view of the upper part of the parish. The parish church, west of Redcastle, is also made of local red sandstone and dates from 1450. It was extensively altered in 1892, when the major part of the manse was built. The parish war memorial is sited at the crossroads in Newton about one mile (1.6 km) to the north-east from the church. The small village of Tore in the north-east of the parish has a population of 307 (in 2011) and has a school, hall and other public facilities. Prior to 1891 Torre formed a detached part of the parish of Killearnan, separated from the rest by a strip of Knockbain parish, 280 yards (260 metres) wide at the narrowest. In that year the strip was annexed to Killearnan, uniting the two…