XIV. The Baronets of Gairloch, and some other Gairloch Mackenzies 53 XV. Gairloch Estates, and Old Names of Places 60 XVI. Ecclesiastical History of Gairloch 63 XVII. Ancient Gairloch Ironworks 72 XVIII. The Historic Ironworks of Loch Maree 75 XIX. The Iron Ores used in Gairloch 86 XX. Remains of Ironworks in the Parish of Gairloch 90 XXI. Antiquities 97 GAIRLOCH Chapter I. EARLY HISTORY. The blessedness attributed to the nation without a history cannot be assigned to the parish of Gairloch. Although her ancient history has never been written, it is to be feared her inhabitants were far from wholly blessed in the far off days of yore. The earlier annals of Gairloch are indeed veiled in mists, almost as impenetrable as those that often shroud her mountains. Amid the gloom there are faint glimpses to be had of the wild natives of the district, of fierce warriors from other lands, and of saintly Christian pioneers; but complete pictures of the doings of those old times can be found only in the galleries of the imagination. The same everlasting hills still tower over the same straths, glens, and lochs; but the actors are changed, the play has another plot, with incidents of a very different kind. In a region so innocent of letters, so inaccessible to the scholar, it is easy to account for the total absence of ancient records. The narratives of the seannachies, or bards, handed down by oral tradition from generation to generation, might have been expected to fill in the blank, yet it is only in the stories of some few salient adventures that these traditions have been preserved beyond the past four centuries.