Kingairloch
Principal Sources
RMS II (3284) 1508-9
RMS VII (959) 1613
ER XIII p 218, 1509
ER XVII p 747, 1537
AS I (574) 1674
AS II (137) 1622, (447) 1633
Argyll Retours (85) 1675
Inverness Retours (30) 1615
Argyll Valuation Roll, 1751
Langlands Map 1801
Dail na Cille, I Thornber (2000)
Our first detailed account of the Kingairloch estate is in RMS II (3284) of 1509 which then seems to have been copied in ER XVII (p 747) of 1537. The estate as there described consists of the Kingairloch farms plus Blaich in northern Ardgour and four properties in Morvern. The value of the Kingairloch farms was 24d. Glengalmadale (3d) and Glensanda are sometimes detailed separately and their names do not appear in the 1509 list. However several of the place-names listed in 1509 have since disappeared and I suspect that these units were then the constituent parts of Glengalmadale and Glensanda. The total for Kingairloch therefore may never have exceeded 24d. (There is also a consistency over time. The estate appears as 24d (or £8) in 1509 and still had the same value in 1751). If we view Kingairloch as an offshoot of Morvern then it probably originally consisted of one ounceland (20d) plus an extra 4d which were attached from Morvern proper.
Most of the surviving documents refer to Kingairloch properties in terms of pennylands. However, ER XIII p 218 of 1509 specifies the £8 of ‘Kengarloch’. £8 equalled 12 merks which was the total valuation given in the Argyll Valuation Roll of 1751. Since the estate was also reckoned as 24d the exchange rate between the two systems was 1d to ½m or 1 ounceland to 10 merks.
There seem to have been two principal religious sites. Kilmalieu was the original home of the owner of the Kingairloch estate in 1509 and Dail na Cille in Kingairloch was almost certainly once called Kilbedane.
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