The Parish of Assynt is on the north-western coast of Scotland. In the early nineteenth centuary most of it's 3,000 inhabitants lived on the coast, sustaining themselves with fishing and sheep farming. The main village in the parish was Loch Inver, with " a small harbour with a pier" as well as "several good houses and shops, and near it is a manufactory for preserving butcher's meat, fish, and vegetables, fresh, for the purposes of being carried out to sea". There was also a post-office and a preaching station by 1851.

In 1851, Loch Inver had a population of 75.