DUROR, a quoad sacra district, in the parish of
LiSMORE-and-Appin, district of Lorn, county of Argyll,
6 miles (N. N. E.) from Appin House; containing
1692 inhabitants. This quoad sacra parish is situated
on an arm of the sea, called the Linnhe loch, into which
a portion of the land projects in a kind of promontory;
on the north is Loch Leven, and on the south Loch
Creran. It includes the district of Glencoe, is about
twenty-eight miles in length, and averages about seven
in breadth; but of this extensive area scarcely a twentieth
part is under cultivation, the rest being chiefly
pasturage for sheep and black-cattle, and very thinly
inhabited, by shepherds. The greater number of the population
are in Glencoe, where, and near the village, are
considerable slate works and quarries; the material is
of a blue colour, and much esteemed, and is exported in
large quantities to Leith, England, and even America.
The surface around Glencoe is in many places wild,
mountainous, and romantic; and the vale is celebrated
as the birthplace of Ossian, and for the cruel massacre
of its unsuspecting inhabitants iu I691. At Ballichulish
and Ardsheal are good mansions, the former rather modern,
and the latter somewhat ancient. The district is
in the presbytery of Lorn, synod of Argyll; the stipend
of the minister is £120, with a manse, and a glebe of
upwards of two acres: patron, the Crown. The church,
built about 1826 by the parliamentary commissioners,
and repaired in 1834, is a plain edifice containing accommodation
for 323 persons. In Glencoe are a mission
church, a place of worship for members of the Free
Church, an episcopal chapel, and a Roman Catholic
chapel. Two parochial schools are supported, in which
English and Gaelic, and the first elements of education,
are taught; the salaries of the masters respectively are
£18 and £8, with about £22 and £10 in fees. A mineral
spring here was used for medicinal purposes for some
time, but it lately fell into disrepute, and is now quite
neglected. See Lismore and Appin, and Glencoe.