Place:Lochs (Western Isles), Ross and Cromarty, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

From The Gazetteer for Scotland

"Lochs is a coastal island parish, which lies on the long island of Lewis and Harris in the Western Isles Council Area, some 12 miles (20 km) southwest of Stornoway and 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Tarbert in the Western Isles.

"It is located in the old county of Ross and Cromarty, which disappeared following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974.

"The parish has an area of 490.9 sq. km (189.5 sq. miles)...."

Lochs is located in the southeast part of Lewis with the parish of Uig to the west and Stornoway to the north. Prior to 1975 the parish was located in the old county of Ross and Cromarty, which was replaced in that year by the Outer Hebrides Region, Scotland and in 1996 by the unitary authority named the Western Isles council area. The Gazetteer for Scotland supplies a map.

The parish does not appear to have a principal settlement, but includes a number of small places: Achmore, Arivruaich, Balallan, Ceann Loch Shealg, Calbost (Lochs), Crobeg, Cromore, Crossbost, Eishken, Garyvard, Gravir, Grimshader, Habost (Lochs), Kenmore (Lochs), Keose, Keose Glebe, Kershader, Kintaravay, Laxay, Limervoy, Leurbost, Marvig, Orinsay, Quier, Ranish, Seaforth Head, Shieldinish, Soval, Steimreway and Tom an Fhuadain. Some of the above places have the word "Lochs" after them because there is a settlement of the same name somewhere else, not necessarily on Lewis or even in Ross and Cromarty.

The parish of Lochs does not have an article in Wikipedia.

Notes for the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area

The local archives are held by The Highland Archive Service which is based in Inverness with branches in Stornoway, Fort William and Caithness. It is "responsible for locating, preserving and making accessible archives relating to all aspects of the history of the geographical area of the Highlands."

Family history societies and historical associations covering the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area are:

• The Highland Family History Society based in Inverness.
• Lochaber and North Argyll Family History Group based in Fort William.

These associations publish their aims on their websites as well as a list of publications. In many cases the publications are also available through the Scottish Genealogy Society (see below).

• The FreeCen Project--Scotland has a searchable (not browsable) transcription for each of the counties in the area. Nairnshire and Caithness have the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 complete. Inverness-shire and Ross and Cromarty have 1841 complete with some work on 1851 and Sutherland has not completed 1841.

Transcriptions of Gravestone Inscriptions

• The Scottish Genealogy Society provides a series of monumental inscriptions either in print in booklet form or on CD for each of the counties in the area (Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland). Some of the booklets cover only one graveyard, others cover a group. Prices vary. In many cases the coverage is of pre-1855 stones only--this is because gravestone inscriptions are often used by family historians as death registration equivalents in the era of the Old Parish Registers (when deaths were not universally recorded).
• The Fearn Peninsula Graveyards Project has a paid website which allows browsing in ten graveyards in Easter Ross. They charge £2.50 for 24 hours of usage with unlimited searches.
• An index of monumental inscriptions from Caithness compiled by D J Ryrie might prove to be a useful start for searching gravestones in that county. GENUKI states "All (?) of the monumental inscriptions (MIs) in Caithness have been collected and are in print currently from Books From Scotland amongst other places." The Scottish Genealogy Society also has a list of their holdings.
• Sutherland cemeteries are covered in Pre-1855 tombstone inscriptions in Sutherland burial grounds by A S Cowper & I Ross, published at Edinburgh in 1989 by the Scottish Genealogy Society.
• There are no specific notes for gravestone transcriptions for either Inverness-shire or Nairnshire in GENUKI. However, the Scottish Genealogy Society lists booklets for both counties.

Sources for Emigration Records

• Hebrides People have a database containing lists of people who emigrated to North America from a number of parishes in the Western Isles.