Place:Acharacle, Inverness-shire, Scotland

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Acharacle (Gaelic: Àth Tharracail; "Tarracal's ford") is a township in Ardnamurchan in the Lochaber district of Highland Council Area, but within the county of Argyll.

According to the tradition of the local Moidart area noted in the 19th century, Torquil (or Tarracal) was the leader of a force of Norwegians who were pursued by Somerled(who died 1164), and made a final stand at the riverside below Acharacle Manse, where they were slain.

Acharacle lies on the western end of Loch Shiel and is surrounded by beautiful scenery making it a popular holiday destination for hill climbers and naturalists. It has a population of about 200 and the main postal sorting office for the peninsula of Ardnamurchan.

Acharacle is about 6 km from the Dorlin Beach, where the ruins of Castle Tioram lie. It is connected to the towns of Mallaig on the west coast and Fort William by a mixed dual and single track road to the villages north and by road south and east and then ferry at Ardgour to Fort William and Oban.

It is a main centre for deer stalking on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. It supports salmon and trout fishing in Loch Shiel (subject to local fishing rights) and sea fishing from Loch Sunart which is nearby. Sheep farming and crofting are to be found locally and in due course a new distillery is to be built close to the village.

The Gazetteer for Scotland provides an historical perspective of Acharacle, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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.