1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Rannoch

RANNOCH, a district of north-west Perthshire, Scotland, partly extending into Argyllshire. It measures 32 m. E. and W. and from 10 to 12 m. N. and S. and is surrounded by the districts of Badenoch, Atholl, Breadalbane, Lorne and Lochaber. Much of it is wild, bleak and boggy, and, saving on the E., it is shut in by rugged mountains. The chief rivers are the Tummel and the Ericht, and the principal lakes Loch Rannoch and Loch Lydoch, or Laidon (about 6 m. long, ¾ m. wide and 924 ft. above the sea). Loch Rannoch lies E. and W., measures 9¾ m. long by fully 1 m. broad, is 668 ft. above the sea, covers an area of nearly 7½ sq. m., and has a greatest depth of 440 ft. It receives the Ericht and many other streams, and discharges by the Tummel, draining a total area of 243½ sq. m. At the head of the lake is Rannoch Barracks, so named because it was originally built to accommodate a detachment of troops, under ensign (afterwards Sir) Hector Munro, stationed here to maintain order after the Jacobite rising of 1745. Two miles east is Carie, which was the residence of Alexander Robertson, 13th baron of Struan (1670-1749), the Jacobite and poet, who was “out” with Dundee (1689), Mar (1715) and Prince Charles Edward (1745), and yet managed to escape all punishment beyond self-imposed exile to France after the first two rebellions. Kinloch Rannoch, at the foot of the loch, is the principal place in the district, and is in communication by coach with Struan station (13 m. distant) on the Highland, and Rannoch station (6 m.) on the West Highland railway. Dugald Buchanan (1716-1768), the Gaelic poet, was schoolmaster of the village for thirteen years, and a granite obelisk has been erected to his memory.