Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and

Kilmonivaig Kilmonivaig ( gd, Cill Mo Naomhaig) is a small village, situated close to the southeast end of Loch Lochy in Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland. Fort William lies approximately 15 m ...

, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creation of '' Quoad Sacra'' parishes in the 19th century. Lochaber once extended from the Northern shore of

Loch Leven Loch Leven may refer to: ;Bodies of water in Scotland * Loch Leven (Kinross), a freshwater loch in Perth and Kinross ** Loch Leven Castle, a fortress on the loch ** William Douglas of Lochleven, later the 6th Earl of Morton * Loch Leven (Highlands ...

, a district called Nether Lochaber, to beyond Spean Bridge and Roybridge, which area is known as Brae Lochaber or ''Braigh Loch Abar'' in Gaelic. Lochaber is now also used to refer to a much wider area, one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and one of eight former

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...

districts of the two-tier

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. The main town of Lochaber is Fort William. According to legend, a glaistig, a ghostly woman-goat hybrid, once lived in the area.

Name

William Watson outlined two schools of thought on this topic. He favoured the idea that ''Abar'' came from the Pictish and

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

for "river mouth" and that ''Loch Abar'' meant the confluence of the Lochy and the Nevis as they flowed into Loch Linnhe, in Gaelic. He also conceded that ''abar'' might also come from the Gaelic , meaning "mud" or "swampy place". Thus Lochaber could be the "loch of swamps", a historic water feature that existed on the Blàr Mòr, where the area's High School and Health Centre are situated today. Other experts favour the "swamp" derivation. A Lochaber person is called an Abrach.

History

Lochaber is first recorded in the ''

Life of Columba The ''Life of Columba'' ( la, Vita Columbae) is a hagiography recounting the life of Columba, the founder of Iona Abbey, written a century after Columba's death by Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (, la, Adamnanus, Adomnanus; 624 � ...

'' written in c.690 by Adomnán, the Abbot of Iona Abbey. Although there are no known Pictish stones within the area, Ardnamurchan Point is believed to have marked the boundary between the lands ruled by the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

to the north and east, and those of the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, an ...

kingdom of Dál Riata to the south. Archaeological evidence of earlier structures supports the tradition that

Inverlochy Castle Inverlochy Castle ( gd, Caisteal Inbhir Lòchaidh) is a ruined, 13th-century castle near Inverlochy and Fort William, Highland, Scotland. The site of two battles, the castle remains largely unchanged since its construction. It is now in t ...

was built on the site of an earlier Pictish settlement, described by the historian Hector Boece in 1526 as a "city ... much frequented with merchants of France and Spain", but destroyed by the

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

. Lochaber contains no early monastic locations, but the numerous placenames starting with the element ''"Kil-"'' or ''"Cille-"'' suggest early Christian sites dating from the period 600-900, while the placename element ''"annat"'' found near

Corpach Corpach ( gd, A' Chorpaich) is a large village north of Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands. The canal lock at Corpach Basin on Loch Linnhe, east of the narrows leading to Loch Eil, is the western sea entrance of the Caledonian Canal. It i ...

suggests the site of an early mother church. Placename evidence also suggests the presence of Viking settlements in the Morvern and

Ballachulish The village of Ballachulish ( or , from Scottish Gaelic ) in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, is centred on former slate quarries. The name Ballachulish (Ballecheles, 1522 – Straits town) was more correctly applied to the area now called No ...

areas, but nowhere north and east of Fort William. Lochaber formed part of the

Province of Moray Moray ( mga, Muréb; la-x-medieval, Moravia; non, Mýræfi) was a province within the area of modern-day Scotland, that may at times up to the 12th century have operated as an independent kingdom or as a power base for competing claimants to th ...

from the early 12th century at the latest. It was first recorded as a provincial lordship at the end of the 13th century, but a "Steward of Lochaber" is recorded witnessing a charter sealed by

Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch Walter Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1258) was the son of William Comyn, Justiciar of Scotia and Mormaer or Earl of Buchan by right of his second wife. Life Walter makes his first appearance in royal charters as early as 1211–1214. In 122 ...

in 1234, suggesting that Lochaber had already been granted as a lordship by that date, and had probably, like Badenoch, been granted to Comyn by Alexander II in 1229. It was therefore one of the seven lordships created within Moray by ca. 1230 that as well as Badenoch included The Aird,

Glencarnie Glencarnie was a provincial lordship in Strathspey, Scotland, co-extensive with the parish of Duthil. It was, alongside Badenoch, Lochaber, The Aird, Stratha'an, Abernethy, Strathbogie and Garioch, one of the eight militarised provincial lordship ...

, Abernethy, Stratha'an and Strathbogie. The lordship was made up of the two parishes of Kilmallie and

and had its ''

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