thumb|right|Map of Scotland showing the historic district of Badenoch
thumb|View of [[Creag Dhubh (Newtonmore)|Creag Dhubh from across the Spey]]
thumb|The Boar of Badenoch, a hill overlooking the [[Pass of Drumochter (which leads between Badenoch and Atholl)]]
Badenoch (; ) is a district of the Scottish Highlands centred on the upper reaches of the River Spey, above Strathspey. The name Badenoch means the drowned land, with most of the population living close to the River Spey or its tributaries.
The area is bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber. The capital of Badenoch is Kingussie, although historically Ruthven was the market town, and later site of the British Army's Ruthven Barracks.
Geography
The somewhat undefined area of Badenoch covers from northeast to southwest and from north to south, comprising . Excepting the strath of the Spey and the great glens, it consists almost entirely of wild mountainous country, many mountains exceeding in height (i.e., Munros), and contains in the deer forests of Alder, Drumochter, Gaick and Feshie, some of the best deer country in the Highlands.
The principal lochs in Badenoch are Loch Laggan, Loch Insh and Loch Ericht. The River Spey and its numerous tributaries water the district abundantly. South of Loch Insh, the Spey extends into the Insh Marshes.
Badenoch is within the Cairngorms National Park, and is part of the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of Highland Council.
Population
The population of Badenoch at the 2011 census was as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
!Parish!! Population
|-
|align="left"| Alvie
|align="right"| 564
|-
|align="left"| Kingussie and Insh
|align="right"| 3100
|-
|align="left"| Laggan
|align="right"| 266
|-
|align="left"| TOTAL
|align="right"| 3930
|}
The Picts inhabited Badenoch, as shown by the placenames, which include Pictish prefixes such as pet- (Pitowrie, Pitchurn, Pitmean) and aber- (Aberarder).
However their language was superseded by Gaelic by the 11th century at the latest, and even as late as 1881, 74% of Badenoch was Gaelic-speaking (2,685 out of the population of 3,611).
History
From 1229 to 1313 Clan Comyn held the lordship of Badenoch.
Badenoch is also the traditional homeland of the Clan Chattan Confederation, particularly Clan MacPherson, whose traditions state that in 1309 Robert the Bruce offered the lands of Badenoch to them if they destroyed the Bruce's enemies, the Clan Comyn.
In 1371 King Robert II granted Badenoch to his son Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan (1343–1405), who became known as the "Wolf of Badenoch". Reverting to the crown, the territory came in 1452 to Alexander Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly, and still gives the title of "Lord of Badenoch" to the Marquess of Huntly. However, in 1829, insupportable debts obliged George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon to advertise his remaining estates in Badenoch for sale, and by 1834 all of the Gordon lands had been sold.
Historically, the area was subsistence farmed. In the summer, cattle were grazed on high pastures, with people living in shieling huts at up to above sea level. An estimated 4500–5000 cattle were in Badenoch in the 1770s.
In the mid-1750s, the first flood banks on the River Spey in Badenoch were built at Pitmain, just southwest of the modern day edge of Kingussie.
High timber prices during the Napoleonic Wars led to substantial tree felling in Glenmore, Rothiemurchus, Inshriach and Glen Feshie, with many of the logs being floated down the Spey to the coast. Farming tenants suffered hardship again in the years 1836-39 when severe weather resulted in crop failures and substantial losses of livestock. While Badenoch was hit hard by the potato famine of 1847, it escaped the utter devastation experienced in other parts of the Highlands.
Notes and references
Bibliography
- Taylor, David (2022), The People Are Not There: The Transformation of Badenoch 1800 - 1863, John Donald, Edinburgh,
- Mackenzie, Mary, & Taylor, David (2024), Glen Banchor: A Highland Glen and its People, Badenoch Heritage,