Fearn - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

"FEARN, a parish and post village in the district of Easter Ross, county Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, 9 miles N.W. of Fair. It is situated on the coast of the Firth of Moray, and contains the villages of Balintore and Hiltown. It includes Loch Eye. The surface is flat, consisting of a medium soil. This parish is in the presbytery of Tain and synod of Ross, in the patronage of the crown. The minister has a stipend of £252. Here is a Free church and a pay day school. The ruins of an abbey founded in the time of Alexander II. by Farquhar, first Earl of Ross, still exist. In 1742, during public worship, the roof of the abbey fell in, killing several persons. About a mile N.E. of Loch Eye stand the ruins of Lochlin Castle, supposed to be of great antiquity. It was a fortress of immense strength, consisting of two turreted quadrangular towers, touching at the corners. Here are also traces of Cadboll Castle, a place of very ancient foundation. In the parish are Druidical remains, and a square pillar with Saxon inscription."

"BALINTORE, a village in the parish of Fearn, in the county of Ross, Scotland, 6 miles from Tain. It lies on the western coast of the Moray Firth, and is inhabited chiefly by fishermen."

"EYE, a loch in the parish of Fearn, county Ross, Scotland. Its length is 2½ miles, its breadth half a mile. The river Eye and a chain of minor lochs issue from it, and fall into the Firth of Moray."

"HILLTOWN, (or Hallton), a village in the parish of Fearn, county Ross, Scotland, 3 miles S.E. of Tain. It is situated on the Moray Firth."

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003