National Gazetteer, 1868

"LAIRG, a parish in county Sutherland, Scotland. It contains a small village of its own name, 16 miles N.W. of Dornoch. Its size is 30 miles by 12. Its surface is mountainous, Ben Clybric attaining a height of 3,200 feet above the level of the sea. The greater portion of the parish is in sheep pasture. It is traversed by the river Shin, and is varied by a loch of the same name, also by a number of small lakes. Granite, trap, and sandstone are the chief rocks. The parish is in the presbytery of Dornoch, and synod of Sutherland and Caithness. The minister's stipend is £166. The parish church was erected in 1846. There are a Free church and a school in connection with it. J. Mackay was once minister of this parish, whose son Hugh fell at Assaye, and another, William, wrote the account of the Juno's shipwreck, referred to in "Don Juan." At Knock-achath are a number of tumuli, said to commemorate a battle between the Mackays and Sutherlands. The Duke of Sutherland is the chief heritor."

"MEALNENION, a summit of the Benclybric range, on the border of the parishes of Lairg and Farr, county Sutherland, Scotland. It ascends in a conical form to the height of 3,200 feet above sea level."

"SHIN, (or Skin), a loch and river in the parish of Lairg, county Sutherland, Scotland, 15 miles N.W. of Dornoch. It is about 15 miles in length by 2 in breadth, and is supplied by a stream rising under Ben Clybric.

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)