Ardross, a hamlet and a mansion of NE Ross-shire. The hamlet, in Rosskeen parish, lies in the valley of the Alness river, 5 miles NNW of Alness, under which it has a post office. Its public school, with accommodation for 111 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 65, and a grant of £77,15s. 6d. Ardross Castle, near the hamlet, is the seat of Al. Matheson, Esq., M.P., owner of 220,433 acres in the shire, valued at £20,246 per annum. A large modern castellated edifice, it was altered and improved in 1881 at a cost of nearly £7000. The Ardross estates, purchased between 1840 and 1861, extend between Alness and Rorie Waters westward into the uplands along the sources of these streams, the former fastness of the clan Ross; at a cost to Mr Matheson of fully £150,000, they have undergone vast improvements.

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