Place:Ballachulish, Inverness-shire, Scotland

NameBallachulish
Alt namesLaroch
West Laroch
East Laroch
Ballachulish and the Corran of Ardgour
TypeTown
Coordinates56.667°N 5.15°W
Located inInverness-shire, Scotland     (1890 - 1975)
Also located inArgyll, Scotland     ( - 1890)
Highland Region, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Highland (council area), Scotland     (1996 - )
See alsoLismore and Appin, Argyll, Scotlandparish in which it was located until 1890
Kilmallie, Inverness-shire, Scotlandparish in which it was located since 1890
Lochaber, Inverness-shire, Scotlandadministrative district in which it was located 1930-1975 and onward in Highland
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog

Ballachulish (Scottish Gaelic Baile a' Chaolais, Straits town) is now located in the Lochaber district of the Highland Council Area in Scotland.

From The Gazetteer for Scotland:

"Ballachulish comprises the settlements of Ballachulish, South Ballachulish and North Ballachulish. The village of Ballachulish, formerly known as Laroch, lies on the south side of Loch Leven to the west of Glen Coe. Slate has been quarried near here since the 16th century.
"On either side of the strait where the mouth of Loch Leven narrows, stand the villages of North and South Ballachulish. The two settlements were linked by ferry until 1975 when a road bridge across the loch was completed. A monument on the south side of Loch Leven marks the spot where James Stewart was hanged for the murder in May 1752 of Colin Campbell of Glenure and a stone in the forest between South Ballachulish and Kentallen indicates the site of the famous 'Appin Murder' which featured in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped."

The quoad sacra parish of Ballachulish and Ardgour (sometimes named the Corran of Ardgour) was part of the larger Kilmallie parish.

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:

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.