SALEN, a quoad sacra parish (for a time), partly in
the parish of Torosay, and partly in that of Kilninian
and Kilmore, district of Mull, county of Argyll, 8
miles (S. E. byS.) from Tobermory; containing 775 inhabitants.
This place, at one time only a missionary
station in Torosay, was severed from that parish for
ecclesiastical purposes, and, together with part of Kilninian
and Kilmore, erected into a quoad sacra parish,
under act of the General Assembly. A religious establishment
appears to have been founded at a very early
period, which became a cell to the monastery of lona;
and St. Columba is said to have preached occasionally
here, from which circumstance a rivulet near the ruins
of the convent not far from the village, still retains the
name of the Preacher's burn. The district is bounded
on the north by the bay of Aros, in the sound of Mull,
and on the south-west by Loch-na-Gaul; and is intersected
by the road to Knock, which separates that portion
of it within the parish of Kilninian and Kilmore
from that which is in Torosay. Aros bay, though wild,
is marked with features beautifully picturesque, and derives
much interest from the remains of an ancient
castle, for many years the baronial residence of the Macdonalds,
lords of the Isles, situated on the summit of a
rocky eminence overlooking the bay. The small village
of Salen is seated on the south bank of the water of
Aros, over which a bridge has been constructed on the
new line of road leading from Tobermory to Knock, at
S A LL SALT
the head of Loch-na-Gaul: the surrounding scenery is
pleasingly diversified. Ecclesiastically Salen is within
the bounds of the presbytery of IMull and synod of
Argyll. The church, originally built about the year
1770, for the missionary station, was afterwards transferred
to the parliamentary commissioners, by whom it
was considerably enlarged. The minister has a stipend
of £120 from the e.\chec|uer, with a manse built by government
in IS'JS, and a glebe comprising two acres of
land; patron, the Crown.