Killearnan is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Black Isle The Black Isle (, ) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. It includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose, and the villages of Culbokie, Resolis, Jemimaville, Rosemarkie, Avoch, Munlochy, Tore, and North Kesso ...

peninsula of

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty (), is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a Shires of Scotland, county. Historical ...

in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It is bordered by the parish of Urquhart and Logie Wester on the north,

Urray Urray () is a scattered village and coastal parish, consisting of Easter, Old and Wester Urray and is located in the county of Ross-shire, Ross in the Scotland, Scottish council area of Highland Council area, the Highland. Urray is also a paris ...

to the west and Knockbain in the east. It borders the Beauly Firth on the south and its church lies on the banks of that firth. The coastline is and has no marked bay or indentation. The civil parish extends about from east to west. Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, ed.Francis H. Groome, publ. Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh, 1885; Vol 4, p. 365 The name Killearnan means "Iurnan's church" in Gaelic. Third Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol 13 Ross and Cromarty, ed.A.S. Mather, publ. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1987; pp. 191-197 Origines parochiales Scotiae : the antiquities ecclesiastical and territorial of the parishes of Scotland, publ.by Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh 1851; Vol2, Part 2, p. 468 The parish is mainly rural with no major villages or towns. The land gently rises to at Carnurnan, on the northern border with Urquhart and Logie Wester. At the 2011 census, the population of the civil parish was 697. 4.9% had some knowledge of Gaelic.Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved April 2021. See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish A hundred years before, in 1911, 46.7% were Gaelic speaking (and 52.7% in 1881).Twelfth Decennial Census of the Population of Scotland, 1911, publ. H.M.S.O. Edinburgh 1912; Vol 1, Part 31, Table I, p.1950 The area of the parish is . The most significant buildings historically are

Redcastle Redcastle (), historically known as Edirdovar and Ederdour, is a medieval castle in Killearnan on the Black Isle, northern Scotland. It is so named from the colour of the stone of which it is built. The castle is now in a state of ruinous d ...

, near the shore of Beauly Firth and Kilcoy Castle in the centre of the parish. Redcastle was built of local

Old Red Sandstone Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the eastern seaboard of North America. It ...

on rising ground near the firth. Kilcoy Castle (built early 17th century) was the seat of a barony belonging to the Mackenzie family and has a commanding view of the upper part of the parish. The parish church, west of Redcastle, is also made of local red sandstone and dates from 1450. It was extensively altered in 1892, when the major part of the manse was built. The parish war memorial is sited at the crossroads in Newton about to the north-east from the church. The small village of Tore in the north-east of the parish has a population of 307 (in 2011) Census of Scotland 2011, Output Areas (Tore: Output Areas S00117900,S00117901,S00117902) – www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/search-the-census#/location/OA?title=Output%20Area%202011 - retrieved April 2024. and has a school, hall and other public facilities. Prior to 1891 Torre formed a detached part of the parish of Killearnan, separated from the rest by a strip of Knockbain parish, wide at the narrowest. In that year the strip was annexed to Killearnan, uniting the two parts of the parish. The parish council was formed in 1895 with 7 elected members. This was replaced by Avoch District Council in 1930, which was made up of the parishes of Avoch, Knockbain and Killearnan. The District Council had 7 members, 2 of whom were the County Councillors for the area and 5 elected to the District Council from the parishes (Avoch had 2 members, and the other two parishes 1 member each). From 1976, this was superseded by Killearnan Community Council

community council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. ...

covering the area of the civil parish, within Highland Region. The community council has 7 members. Highland Council - Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils in Highland Updated Sept 2019 www.highland.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/4456/scheme_of_establishment_for_community_councils.pdf - retrieved Jan. 2024 Tore is in the ward of

of Highland council and the remainder of Killearnan is in the ward of Dingwall and Seaforth Highland - polling district map: map-highland.opendata.arcgis.com/ - retrieved April 2024

Settlements

* Artafallie *

Tore, Scotland Tore () is a small village in the civil parish of Killearnan, on the Black Isle, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. Settlements It is located north of Inverness, next to the A9 road. The Tore roundabout, a major roundabout A ...

Landmarks

* Redcastle railway station * Kilcoy Castle

References

{{Reflist Parishes in Ross and Cromarty