GLENLYON, a quoad sacra parish, chiefly in the
parish of Fortingal, and partly in that of Weem,
county of Perth, 12 miles (W.) from the Kirktown of
Fortingal; containing 570 inhabitants. This district
extends in a western direction, from the head of Fortingal,
nearly to the stage-house of Tyndrum, upon the
western military road, a distance of about thirty-two
miles. It consists of a very narrow glen, the sides of
which are formed of some of the loftiest mountains in
the county. What is termed its general level ground,
by the river Lyon, is seldom more than a furlong broad;
and the mountains on the north approach so closely in
some places to the opposite range, on the south, as to
confine the struggling river to a bed not much more
than eight yards wide. Numerous streams, some of
them four miles in length, descend from the mountains
and swell the waters of the Lyon; and this river, the
source of which is a lake of the same name, after flowing
in nearly an eastern direction for upwards of forty miles,
its tributaries rendering it more rapid at each confluence,
falls into the Tay below Taymouth Castle. In the head
of the district the soil is good; but the seasons are inclement,
and the crops seldom attain to perfection. The
hills, however, afford excellent pasturage for sheep; and
in this respect Glenlyon is exceeded by few, if any, of the
glens in the Perthshire Highlands. In different parts
along the vale are small hamlets, so secluded amidst
Alpine scenery as to be deprived of the rays of the sua
for a third part of the year. The means of communication
are but indifferent: a carrier or runner passes
and repasses between Aberfeldy and the extremity of
the glen three times a week. Ecclesiastically Glenlyon
is within the bounds of the Presbytery of Weem, synod
of Perth and Stirling, and the patronage is vested in the
Crown: the stipend of the minister is £120, with a
manse, and a glebe of the annual value of £2. 10., a privilege
of cutting peat, and the summer grazing of two
cows. The church, situated in the hamlet of Innerwick,
was built by the heritors, in 1828, at a cost of £673, and
contains between 500 and 600 sittings. This place gave
the title of Baron, in the peerage of the United Kingdom,
to James, second son of John, fourth Duke of Atholl,
who died in 1837, and was succeeded by his son George,
as second lord, now sixth Duke of Atholl. See Fortingal.