Parish Number - 114
Births: (Film # 990671 - Item 4) 1800 to 1854.
Marriages: (Film # 990671 - Item 4 ) 1800 to 1854.
Census: 1841 (Film #101852), 1851 (Film #103690), 1861 (Film #103837)
1871 (Film #104001), 1881 (Film #203427), 1891 (Film #208643)Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, 1868
PORTREE, a parish, containing a post-town of its own name, in the Skye district of Inverness-shire. It comprehends the islands of Rasay and Rona and a large district on the east coast of Skye. Its Greatest length, measured from north-north-west to south-south-east along Skye, is nearly 18 miles. .. The coast of Skye district is bounded by the sound of Rasay and by the parishes of Strath, Bracadale and Snizort. It is a very slender oblong, quite serrated in its outline on the east by frequent indentations of the sea and possessing a mean breadth of not more than 3 miles. The principal bays are Loch Portree, 5-1/2 miles from the northern extremity, Loch Sligichan, 7 miles further south; and Loch Inord, at the southern extremity… The coast, at the head of the lochs and in a few other places, is low and terminates in a sandy, silty, or clayey beach; but, in general, it is bold and picturesque; and occasionally, it becomes soaring, stupendously mural and not a little sublime. The cliffs, towards the mouth of Loch-Portree, in particular, are singularly imposing and form the commencement of a most magnificent range of coast-scenery, which stretches along all the north of the parish… At the head of Loch Portree rises the monarch-mountain of the parish, called Ait Suidhe Thunin, or Fingal's sitting place because, according to tradition, that hero was accustomed, from a green hillock on its summit to survey and direct the chase… The only landowners are Lord Macdonald and Macleod of Rasay. Many of the inhabitants are dependent mainly on the herring-fishery … The Town of Portree is a post-town, a sea-port and the capital of the Skye group of the Hebrides. It stands at the head of Loch Portree, a little inward from the shore, on the face of a steep wooded acclivity … Its name means in Gaelic "the King's harbour," and by some is supposed to have originated so far back as the 13th century, when Haco, King of Norway, sailed into the loch with the remains of his wrecked fleet after the battle of Largs, but by others is believed to have arisen only in the reign of James V., when that monarch lay some time at anchor in the loch on his voyage round Scotland… The principal exports are cattle, sheep, wool, herrings, pickled salmon and dried cod and ling. "- Kirk Session Records
The Kirk Session of a parish consists of the the minister of the parish and the elders of the congregation. It looks after the general well-being of the congreation and, particularly in centuries past, church discipline within the parish. These records can sometimes provide invaluable information that is available nowhere else. An example would be the case of an illegitimate child. In many cases, the fornication resulting in the birth of the child would be a matter of church discipline and would thus be recorded in the minutes of the Session. It has been known ot occur that the parish register recorded the name of the mother of an illegitimate child in error, such error being brought to light by examing the Kirk Session records dealing with the birth of the child. There is also a possibility that other valuable information concerning the parents might be contained in the Kirk Session records. Kirk Session records are generally held at the Scottish Record Office in Edinburg. These records have not in most cases beeen microfilmed by the LDS Church.
Kirk Session records for this parish are available from 1854.
