Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Ben Lawers

Ben Lawers (Gael. beinn-labhra, ` speaking or echoing mountain '), one of the Breadalbane mountains in Kenmore and Weem parishes, Perthshire. It flanks the NW shore of the middle waters of Loch Tay, and culminates 9 miles WSW of Kenmore village, at 3984 feet above sea-level (or 4004 if one includes a cairn, rebuilt in July 1878), being thus the loftiest mountain in the county, and the fifth loftiest in all Scotland. It does not consist of a single mass, but, rising from a broad base, in fusion with contiguous mountains, rolls upward in a series of shoulders or subordinate summits, and terminates in a noble cone that towers more than 1000 feet above all the neighbouring eminences. Its skirts, to a considerable height, are cultivated, wooded, or verdant; and its upper portions, over nearly all their extent, are either softly pastoral or heathy. The ascent is generally made from Ben Lawers Hotel, on the shore of Loch Tay; measures between 4 and 5 miles to the top; and is so easy that it can all be made on horseback. The prospect from its summit is wide and beautiful, embracing splendid combinations of valleys, lakes, and mountains, from the Ochils to Ben Nevis, and from Ben Lomond to Cairngorm, and excelled by no view in Scotland but that from the top of Ben Lomond. The mountain chiefly consists of mica slate; on its summit are found the small gentian, round-headed cotton-grass, and other alpine plants.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "one of the Breadalbane mountains"   (ADL Feature Type: "mountains")
Administrative units: Weem ScoP       Perthshire ScoCnty
Place names: BEINN LABHRA     |     BEN LAWERS

Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.