NORTH KNAPDALE

"Knapdale, North, a parish in Knapdale territorial district and Islay political district, Argyllshire. Formed out of the large old parish of Knapdale in 1784, it includes the port of CRINAN and the small village of Bellanoch. It is bounded N by the Crinan CanaI. E by South Knapdale,S and W by the Sound of Jura. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 12 miles; its utmost breadth is 6 miles ; and its land area is 26,293 acres. Bellanoch is a small village in the N of the parish, with a population in 1891 of 223. It is situated on the southern bank of the Crinan Canal, 6 miles NW of Ardrishaig, in a glen which here forms a fine triangular sheet of water, and terminates at Crinan, about a mile farther west. It has a post office and a public school. A number or small islands, including the inhabited ones or Danna and Ulva, lie off the W coast. Loch Swin, from 444 foot to head, penetrates the interior, and peninsulates the north-western district at three different points. The coast, along the W and within Loch Swin, is fully 50 miles in extent; its shores are much diversified by rocky bluffs and abrupt projections, which rise in many places boldly to heights of 300 feet; but it includes some reaches of gentle slope or moderate acclivity. ... ... North Knapdale is in the presbytery of Inveraray and synod of Argyll; the living is worth £280, exclusive of manse. The parish church, at Kilmichael Inverlussa, built in 1820, and since altered, contains 200 sittings; and Tayvallich chapel of ease, on the other side of Loch Swin, 3 miles distant by sea but 10 by land, was built in 1827, and contains 700 sittings. There is also a Free church; and three public schools-Ashfield, Bellanoch, and Tayvallich-with respective accommodation for 89, 73, and 100 children, have an average attendance of about 10, 60, and 35, and grants amounting to nearly £22, £106, and £55. Pop. (1801) 2401, (1831) 2583, (1861) 1327, (1871) 1059, (1881) 927, (1891) 867, of whom 770 were Gaelic-speaking."

Extract from Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, c.1896