Killean and Kilchenzie

" Killean and Kilchenzie, a united parish on the W coast of Kintyre peninsula, Argyllshire, containing the hamlets or villages of Kilchenzie, 4 miles NW of Campbeltown, under which it has a post office; Glenbarr, 8¼ miles N by W of Kilchenzie, with a post office under Tayinloan; Killean, 5⅝ miles N by E of Glenbarr; and Tayinloan, 7 furlongs N by E of Killean, with a post, money order, savings' bank, and telegraph office under Greenock, an inn, and fairs on the Friday before the last Wednesday of May and the Wednesday after the last Thursday of July. Bounded N by Kilcalmonell, E by Saddell and Campbeltown, S by Campbeltown, and W by the Atlantic Ocean, it has an utmost length from N to S of 16⅝ miles, a varying breadth of 2⅜ and 6¼ miles, and an area of 42,742 acres, of which 441 are foreshore and 192 water. The coast-line, extending 18¼ miles south-by-westward from opposite Druimyeon Bay in Gigha island to a point 1¼ mile W by S of Kilchenzie hamlet, projects low Rhunahaorine Point and bolder Glenacardoch Point (102 feet), and is slightly indented by Beallochantuy Bay and several lesser encurvatures. Barr Water, running 8½ miles south-westward, is the chief of thirteen streams that flow to the Atlantic; and the largest of ten small lakes are Loch nan Canach (3¾ x 2 furl.; 475 feet) in the S, and Loch an Fhraoich (4 x 1 furl.; 709 feet) in the N. A narrow strip of low alluvial land lies all along the coast, and from it the surface rises rapidly eastward, chief elevations from N to S being Narachan Hill (935 feet), Cnoc na Craoibhc (1103), Cuoc Odhar Auchaluskin (796), Cruach Mhican-t-Saoir (1195), Cruach Muasdale (655), *Beinn Bhreac (1398), *Meall Buidhe (1228), Cnoc Buidhe (1023), and *Ranachan Hill (706), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the eastern confines of the parish. The rocks are eruptive, metamorphic, or Devonian; and have been supposed to include carboniferous strata, containing coal. The soil of the lower tracts consists mainly of disintegrations and comminutions of the local rocks, and on the higher grounds is mostly moorish. Little more than a tenth of the entire area has ever been brought under tillage, nearly all the remainder being either pastoral or waste. Antiquities, other than those noticed under Dundonald and Giant's Fort, are a number of barrows, hill forts, and standing stones. Killean House, 1 mile S of Tayinloan, was, with exception of a handsome new wing, entirely destroyed by fire in 1875, but has been since restored; its owner, James Macalister Hall, Esq. of Tangy, holds 7450 acres in the shire, valued at £2500 per annum. Other mansions are Glenbarr Abbey, Glencreggan House, and Largie Castle; and, in all, 7 proprietors hold each an annual value of more, 5 of less, than £500. This parish is in the presbytery of Kintyre and synod of Argyll; the living is worth £264. The parish church, on the coast, 3 miles S by W of Tayinloan, was built in 1787. Near it is a handsome Free church (1846), with a tower; and at Beallochantuy, 2⅞ miles S by W of Glenbarr, is an Established mission church. Five public schools - Beallochantuy, Glenbarr, Kilchenzie, Killean, and Rhunahaorine, - with respective accommodation for 70, 80, 63, 72, and 84 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 25, 29, 32, 58, and 45, and grants of £32, 16s., £38, 5s., £54, 16s., £65, 10s., and £45, 11s. Valuation (1860) £10, 558, (1883) £14,110. Pop. (1801) 2520, (1821) 3306, (1841) 2401, (1861) 1890, (1871) 1614, (1881) 1368, of whom 901 were Gaelic-speaking. —Ord. Sur.., shs. 20, 12, 1876-72."

Extract from Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)