Glenmoriston or Glen Moriston ( gd, Gleann Moireasdan) is a river glen in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

, that runs from

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; gd, Loch Nis ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands extending for approximately southwest of Inverness. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claim ...

, at the village of

Invermoriston Invermoriston (''Inbhir Mhoireastain'' in Gaelic) () is a small village north of Fort Augustus, Highland, Scotland. The village is on the A82 road, at a junction with the A887. The village's most visited attraction is the Thomas Telford bri ...

, westwards to Loch Cluanie, where it meets with

Glen Shiel Glen Shiel ( gd, Gleann Seile; also known as Glenshiel) is a glen in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The glen runs approximately 9 miles from south-east to north-west, from the Cluanie Inn (216 metres, 708 feet) at the western end of Loc ...

. The A887 and A87 roads pass through Glenmoriston. The Glen is dominated by the River Moriston, which in Gaelic might mean "river of the waterfalls". The river is a big attraction for fishers, but also for birdwatchers who come to see

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

and

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

s fishing on the river. The river crashes over waterfalls at Invermoriston into Loch Ness, passing under an original

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

bridge, built in 1813. About five miles along the glen from Invermoriston is Loch Dundreggan, "Dundreggan" being of Gaelic origin and meaning "Dragon Haugh". Here the natural force of the river is tapped through a

hydro-electric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

dam, which supplies power to the area. Water is let out of the dam on Tuesdays, making it a popular attraction for white water rafting and canoeing. After a feasibility study in

Glen Affric Glen Affric ( gd, Gleann Afraig) is a glen south-west of the village of Cannich in the Highland region of Scotland, some west of Loch Ness. The River Affric runs along its length, passing through Loch Affric and Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin. A mi ...

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

were re-introduced by the charity Trees for Life to a large fenced area of the Dundreggan Estate in November 2009.

Glenmoriston Footprints

Not far east of Torgoyle Bridge are the Glenmoriston Footprints. From the bridge, head towards Invermoriston. About a quarter of a mile beyond a cluster of houses on the right is a short stone wall on the right where the verge widens enough to park a car. Opposite this is a small gate and a path leading in about thirty yards to a stone cairn. Immediately behind this are two "footprints", bare patches of earth about the size and shape of footprints. They are said to be the footprints of Finlay Munro, otherwise known as the Highland Evangelist, a native of Tain. After a productive ministry on the Isle of Lewis, he made a tour of the southern Highlands during which he preached in Glenmoriston in 1827. His sermon, on the text "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (Amos 4:12), was generally well received but some Catholics from Glengarry heckled him, calling him "a cheat and a liar" Munro is supposed to have closed his Bible and retorted that the ground on which he stood would bear witness to the truth of what he said until the Day of Judgement comes. Thus the marks on the ground are said to be his footprints, where ''nothing will grow.''

Other history

Saint Irchard founded a church in Glenoriston at a place where his bell rang of its own accord for the third time. The bell was preserved there for many centuries, and after the church was ruined in the 17th century it remained in the churchyard. The glen is also steeped in Jacobite history. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the pretender to the Scottish throne,

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

escaped to safety through Glenmoriston. Here the Prince took refuge in a cave up in the hills where the River Doe flows down into the glen. He was famously protected by the Seven Men of Glenmoriston, in spite of a £30,000 reward (around £4.2 million or US$6 million in 2016). By the side of the road is Roderick Mackenzie's cairn, a tribute to a loyal supporter of the Stuart Prince who pretended to be Charlie and allowed himself to be captured and killed by the soldiers pursuing the young pretender – giving the real man time to escape to safety. Glenmoriston is commonly misspelled as Glenmorriston especially in history books.

Census Data

Census data from 2001 as applied to the IV63 7 postcode district (Glenmoriston and Invermoriston) *Population - 264. (Glenmoriston - 102, Invermoriston north of river - 75, Invermoriston south of river 87) *Born in England - 37% (Highest in the Highlands. Rises to 47% in Glenmoriston) *Born in Scotland – 55% (Lowest in the Highlands. Decreases to 46% in Glenmoriston) *Retired - 24.4% (Highest in the Highlands) *Average age - 45.6 (6th oldest out of 113 postal areas in the Highland region) *Percentage of households with children - 22% (98th out of 113) *Percentage of children - 17.5%. (101st out of 113 areas ) *In good health - 68% (99th out of 113 areas) *Households as second or holiday homes - 58% (2nd highest out of 113) *Percentage of households rented from council - 4.4% (12th lowest out of 113, and no housing association stock) *Amount of rented housing decrease 1991-2001 - 50%. (Second worst in the Highlands)

References

{{coord, 57.173, -4.813, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:30000, display=title Glens of Scotland Valleys of Highland (council area) 2Glenmoriston

Glenmoriston Footprints

Other history

Census Data

See also

Further reading

References