Golspie

1851, Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, Samuel Lewis

• GOLSPIE, a parish, in the county of Sutherland, 8 miles (N. N. E.) from the town of Dornoch; containing, with the village of Bachies, 1214 inhabitants, of whom 491 are in the village of Golspie. This place, anciently called Culmallie, and the present name of which is of doubtful etymology, formed part of the ample territories of the Thanes of Sutherland, of whom William was created Earl of Sutherland bv Malcolm Canmore in IO67. Robert or Robin, the second earl, in 1100 erected here the castle of Dunrobin, which has since that time been the residence of many of his successors, and is now a seat of his descendant, the Duke of Sutherland, who is proprietor of nearly the whole county. In 1746, a battle took place on the north side of the Little Ferry, between the militia of the county and a party of the adherents of the Pretender, in which the latter were defeated svith great slaughter, and the Earl of Cromarty and several other men of rank were made prisoners. The parish, which is bounded on the south-east by the ISIoray Firth, and on the south-west by the Little Ferry inlet and the Fleet stream, which separate it from the parish of Dornoch, is about eight miles in length, and six miles in extreme breadth. Its surface, though generally level, is diversified with hills, of which those in the direction of the coast are Bein-a-Bhragidh, having an elevation of 1300 feet above the level of the sea, and Silver Rock and Morvich, which are of inferior height: in the interior are Bein-Horn, 1712, and Beinlundie, 1464 feet high. In the centre of the parish is the valley of Dunrobin, which is richly wooded, and abounds in picturesque scenery; and towards the coast, and between the bases of the hills, are some level tracts of fertile land. On the summit of Bein-a-Bhragidh, a monument was erected by his tenantry in 1836 to the memory of the late Duke of Sutherland, who died in 1 833. The rivers in the parish are, the Fleet, forming part of its western boundary; and the Golspie burn, which intersects the eastern portion of it, flowing through the picturesque glen to which it gives name, into the Firth, at the village. There are several inland lakes, the principal of which are Horn, Lundie, Farralarie, and Salachie; but none of them are more than half a mile in length and about one-third of a mile in breadth.

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