Salen

   SALEN, lately a quoad sacra parish, partly in the parish of Kilninian and Kilmore, and partly in that of Torosay, district of Mull, county of Argyll, 8 miles (S. E. by S.) from Tobermory; containing 775 inhabitants. This place, formerly only a missionary station in Torosay, was severed from that parish for ecclesiastical purposes, and, together with part of Kilninian and Kilmore, erected into a quoad sacra parish, by act of the General Assembly. A religious establishment appears to have been founded here at a very early period, which became a cell to the monastery of Iona; and St. Columba is said to have preached occasionally at this place, from which circumstance a rivulet near the ruins of the convent not far from the village, still retains the name of the Preacher's burn. The district is bounded on the north by the bay of Aros, in the sound of Mull, and on the south-west by Loch-na-Gaul; and is intersected by the road to Knock, which separates that portion of it within the parish of Kilninian and Kilmore from that which is in Torosay. The bay of Aros, though wild, is marked with features beautifully picturesque, and derives much interest from the remains of an ancient castle for many years the baronial residence of the Macdonalds, lords of the Isles, situated on the summit of a rocky eminence overlooking the bay. The small village of Salen is neatly built, and pleasantly seated on the south bank of the water of Aros, over which a bridge has been constructed on the new line of road leading from Tobermory to Knock, at the head of Loch-na-Gaul: the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified. The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Mull and synod of Argyll. The church, originally built about the year 1770, for the missionary station, was transferred on the erection of the parish to the parliamentary commissioners, by whom it was considerably enlarged: the minister has a stipend of £120 from the exchequer, with a manse built by government in 1828, and a glebe comprising two acres of land; patron, the Crown.