BUCHANAN, a parish, in the county of Stirling,
1 mile (N. W.) from Drymen; containing 754 inhabitants.
The name of this place was originally Inchcaileoch,
which it received from an island in Loch Lomond,
its western boundary; but a detached porti<m of the
parish of Luss, containing the Buchanan estates and
chapel, having been annexed to it in IG^I, and the inhabitants
finding this religious edifice more convenient
than the church, regularly attended at the former, in
consequence of which the parish assumed the name of
Buchanan. This appellation is of uncertain origin; but
the family who used it in consequence of having, at a
very early period, obtained a grant of the lands so called,
sprang from Anselan, a native of Ireland, who is supposed
to have located himself here in the eleventh century.
From this ancient race, always more celebrated for
literary than political or military fame, descended the
poet and historian George Buchanan, born in 1506;
Dr. Buchanan, author of works on the civil and natural
history of India; and Dr. Claudius Buchanan, whose
writings, designed to awaken the British nation to a
sense of the necessity of extending education and religious
instruction in India, are well known. The parish
is situated at the western extremity of the county, bordering
on Dumbartonshire, and is bounded on the south
by the river Endrick. It is about twenty-four miles in
length and five in breadth, and comprises 76,800 acres,
of which 1,500 are arable, 69,750 natural pasture and
waste, 4250 in woods and plantations, and the remainder
in pleasure-grounds, &c. It contains a portion of lowland,
some of the islands in Loch Lomond, and a mountainous
ridge belonging to the highlands, stretching
along the eastern bank of the loch, and terminating the
Grampian hills on the west. This ridge is altogether
a dreary barren tract, consisting chiefly of sheep-pasturage,
used formerly, as is supposed, for the purpose
of hunting, and now abounding in grouse, black game,
and other fowl.
Luch Lomond, the rich and magnificent scenery of
which is perhaps unrivalled, and which has been so often
described, is twenty-four miles in length and about seven
at its greatest breadth, and is twenty-two feet above the
level of the sea. It contains salmon, pike, eels, &c., and
a fish called powans, somewhat similar to a herring.
On the east it is joined by the river Endrick; the Leven
quits it on the south, and, running into the Clyde,
affords to boats the means of communication with
Glasgow, Greenock, and other places. A steam-boat, in
the summer season, plies upon this beautiful expanse of
water chiefly for the accommodation of visiters. The
lake is studded with above thirty islands, mostly at the
southern extremity. These, together with the shores of
the loch, are in general clothed with dark wood, which
gave occasion to a distinction drawn some years ago by
a Swiss tourist, between Lausanne and Loch Lomond:
" Our lake", he said, " is the fair beauty; your's, the
black". In ancient times, the lake was famed for three
wonders, " waves without winds, fish without fins, and
a floating island". The first phenomenon is attriJouted
to a pecuhar atmospheric effect, not easily described,
but which has also been observed on the Cumberland
lakes: vipers swimming from island to island account
for the second; whilst the floating island is supposed to
have been a detached fragment of moss, or a matted
mass of aquatic plants, which ultimately fixed itself
near the west side of Inch Conagan. Most of the
islands in the lake are unimportant. The largest is
Inchmurrin, which is two miles in length and about half
as broad, and contains a considerable number of deer,
the property of the Duke of Montrose: at the western
limit of the island, on a hill, are the ruins of a castle
built by the ancient Earls of Lennox, and near the same
place is a lodge of modern date erected by the same
family. In the parish is the lofty mountain of Ben Lomond,
the highest point of the Grampians, rising 3000 feet
above the sea, and commanding from its summit, which
is of conical form, a prospect, on the north, of an interminable
range of mountains rising in succession, one
above another; and, on the south, of all the rich and
varied scenery in the great tract from the Western Isles
to the Firth of Forth. It is one of the most striking
and commanding objects in the whole country, having
the remarkable advantage of not being overcrowned or
crowded up with surrounding hills; and besides the
varied and most extensive prospect it embraces in every
direction, Ben Lomond in itself affords a great variety
of scenery. To the south it stretches out into a slope
of a very gentle declivity; the north side is awfully
abrupt, and presents a concave precipice many hundred
yards in depth. The whole consists of three great
stages, one rising above another; and these, again, are
divided into a number of smaller swelling knolls, some
of which are covered with heath and crags, whilst others
are smooth and verdant.
The soil, on the bank of the Endrick, is for the most
part alluvial; and towards the mountains the land
comprises clay, gravel, and moss, the last supplying
abundance of peat. The chief agricultural produce is
barley and oats, the latter of which are raised in by
far the larger quantity; potatoes and turnips are also
grown. But the principal wealth of the parish arises
from its sheep and black-cattle, grazed on the mountainous
tracts; the sheep are of the black-faced breed, and
of small size. The annual value of real property in the
parish is £6400. The rocks mostly consist of various
kinds of slate, but the quarries formerly wrought have
been discontinued. The natural wood contains about
3000 acres; the plantations are chiefly oak and larch,
and were for the most part formed by the late Duke of
Montrose, whose decease occurred in IS36. Buchanan
House, the summer residence of the Duke of Montrose,
was situated in the lower district, and surrounded by
extensive and well laid-out grounds; the body of the
edifice was ancient, but the wings comparatively of
modern date. This mansion was unfortunately destroyed
by fire on January 22nd, 1850: the pictures
and family records were saved. At Balmaha is a manufactory
for the preparation of pyroligneous acid; 700
tons of small wood are annually used in the works, and
the acid and dye-stuffs extracted from it are sold to the
proprietors of print-works in the vicinity of Glasgow.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Dumbarton,
synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and in the patronage
of the Duke of Montrose: the minister's stipend is
£156. 12. 8., of which above a third is received from
the exchequer; with a manse, and a glebe valued at
£10 per annum. The church, situated in the lower
portion of the parish, is a neat edifice, built about \~6-l,
and contains 300 sittings. A small part of the ruins of
the old church still remains, in the island of Inchcaileoch.
The master of the parochial school receives a
salary of £30, with fees; and at Salochy, in the higher
district, is a school, the master of which has £15 per
annum, paid by the Edinburgh Society, and a house,
with a piece of grass-land, given by the duke. A library
was formed some years since.