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Gairloch is a Village in northwest Scotland,
70 miles northwest of Inverness, popular for its
museum, boat trips, kayaking, beaches, golf,
camping and a number of Walks in the
area.
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Click on Map for area Attractions
Camping & Touring Parks in
area
The image top right is Gairloch Beach on the
south side of the village.
The image second top is of the Golf Course next to
the Beach with a Cafe that welcomes
visitors.
The Parish Church is next to the Golf Course
built in 1792, with the Free Church only about
300 yards further north, built from 1881.
Gairloch Hotel is on the south side across
from the Free Church, built in 1872 for the
growing number of tourists arriving by
Steamers.
Gairloch Museum
Art Gallery and Cafe is also on the south side
close to the hotel, opened here in 2019 in a
former Anti-Aircraft Operations Room from 1953
for the Cold War.
Gairloch Shops are at the Village centre
cross roads, with a fair sized Co Op, Farm
Shop, and a small Morrisons.
The Myrtle Bank Hotel is in the Village
centre overlooking the south side of Strath
Bay, built in 1910.
Mountain Coffee is in the village centre at
the north end of Strath Bay.
The Millcroft Hotel is by the Mountain
Coffee, built in the early 1900s as a house,
then used as a Post Office, then converted to a
Hotel around the 1960s?
Sands Camping
and Touring Park is 3 miles northwest by going
out past the Millcroft Hotel, on the B8021
single lane road.
Big Sands Beach is next to Sands Camping,
popular for paddle boarding and kayaking.
This is a large holiday park with a shop,
licensed cafe and games areas.
There are a number of Boat Trips from
Gairloch Harbour just over 1 miles south of
Gairloch centre, for whales, porpoises and
dolphins, there is also a glass bottom boat,
and a shellfish safari boat.
Shieldaig Lodge
is 4 miles south of Gairloch, built in 1870 as
a hunting lodge for the Mackenzie's of
Gairloch, converted to a Hotel in 2014.
The Gairloch Kayak Centre
is at Shieldaig Lodge, for Kayak trips on Gair
Loch and Loch Maree.
Gairloch History
600s - a Church is said to have been built
where Gairloch Parish Church is today,
dedicated to St. Maelrubha, an
Irish Saint who founded early Christian
Monasteries in this area.
800s - 1200s - Vikings were in control of
the area.
1200s -.the Earls of Ross were in control of
the land from Dingwall on the east coast to
Gairloch here on the west coast, known as
Ross-shire, with their main Castle being at
Dingwall.
The Earls of Ross used Clan MacLeod to
control the area around Gairloch with them
having fortifications at Gairloch Beach, and on
an Island in Loch Maree.
Gairloch grew around small scale farming and
fishing.
1494 - Clan Mackenzie took most of the land
here from Clan MacLeod after battles.
The Mackenzie's built a Moat House half of a
mile east of Gairloch Harbour around that
time.
1715 and 1745 - during the Jacobite Risings,
the Mackenzie's of Gairloch refused to get
involved, allowing them to keep their land.
Some other branches of the Mackenzie's did
fight with the Jacobite's, leading to them
losing their land.
1738 - Flowerdale
House was built for the Mackenzie's of
Gairloch to replace their Moat House,
Flowerdale House and Estate is still their home
today.
1792 - Gairloch Parish Church, or West Ross
Parish Church of Scotland, was built on the
south side of the Village on the site of a
Church from the 600s, said to have been funded
by the Mackenzie's of Gairloch.
1830s - the Mackenzie's of Gairloch refused
to get involved in the Highland Clearances,
preferred to have people work the land rather
than replace them with sheep.
1843 - the Free Church of Scotland was set
up so Landowners and Politicians could not
interfere in those Churches.
Many Gairloch residents then began attending
Open Air Free Church Services where the Golf
Course is today.
1846 - 1856 - the Potato famine hit the
Gairloch area hard.
1848 - the first road reached Gairloch,
known as the Destitution Road, built to help
make life easier during the potato famine.
Before this time, most travel was by sail
boats or cattle droving trails.
1863 - regular passenger steamers were
traveling between Oban and Gairloch for
tourists.
1870 - Shieldaig Lodge was built for the
Mackenzie's for hunting 4 miles south of
Gairloch.
1872 - the Gairloch Hotel was built for the
growing number of tourists arriving by
Steamers.
1880s - cheep imports of lamb and mutton
from Australia led to the large scale sheep
farmers in Scotland hitting hard times, the
Mackenzie's of Gairloch had been proven right
not to replace their farmers with sheep.
1881 - the Gairloch Free Church of Scotland
was built close to the Parish Church, ending
the Open Air Services.
1940s - much of the Gairloch area was taken
over by the Military during World War II, with
the Gairloch Hotel used as a hospital for
wounded servicemen.
The area was used as a Naval Base for Arctic
Convoys, and to protect the coastline from
German aircraft attacks, submarines, or
landings from Norway.
2015 - the North Coast 500 driving route was
established with it passing through Gairloch,
leading to large numbers of tourists.
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