The Rough Bounds in the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

, is the area of West Inverness-shire

Inverness-shire

The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...

 between Loch Hourn

Loch Hourn

Loch Hourn is a sea loch to the north of Knoydart, on the west coast of Scotland.-Geography:Loch Hourn runs inland from the Sound of Sleat, opposite the island of Skye, for 22 km to the head of the loch at Kinloch Hourn...

 and Loch Shiel

Loch Shiel

Loch Shiel is a 19.3 km2 freshwater loch, 120 m deep, situated 20 km west of Fort William in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland...

, consisting of the districts of Knoydart, North Morar

Morar

Morar is a small village on the west coast of Scotland, south of Mallaig. The name Morar is also applied to the wider district around the village....

, Arisaig

Arisaig

Arisaig is a village in Lochaber, Invernessshire, on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.-History:On 20 September 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie left Scotland for France from a place near the village following the failure of the Jacobite Rising. The site of his departure is marked by the Prince's...

 and Moidart

Moidart

Moidart is a district in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.Moidart lies to the west of Fort William and is very remote. Loch Shiel cuts off the south-east boundary of the district. Moidart includes the townships of Dorlin, Mingarry, Kinlochmoidart and Glenuig. At Dorlin is located the ancient fortress...

. The area is famous for its wildness and inaccessibility and remains very sparsely populated.

History

Historically, ownership was divided (and intermittently contested) between the Macdonalds of Clanranald and the Macdonells of Glengarry - both clans being persistent thorns in the side of central government. In particular, the Rough Bounds in the 18th century represented a hotbed of Catholicism

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 and Jacobitism

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

. A succession of flamboyant but unsuccessful chiefs (including especially Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry (1771-1828) and Ranald George Macdonald of Clanranald (1788-1873)) resulted ultimately in the area passing into other hands.