In the mid-18th century the area occupied by the current estate was largely in the hands of Cameron of Glendessary, with some property to the east and south the lands of Maclean of Kingairloch and the Duke of Argyll.

In 1845 MacDonald's land to the east of Loch Aline had become the 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) Achranich Estate owned by Octavius Smith, a Londoner whose father had made his money in grocery wholesaling and who was himself a successful distiller.

[2][3][4] At Whitsun 1860 Smith purchased Sellar's lands and immediately renamed the whole estate "Ardtornish",[5] the name meaning "The headland of Thorir's (or Thora's) promontory".

[6] The clearances had by this time affected Morvern – over 3,200 left the parish in the 19th century, 750 of them forcibly evicted – and the bitter memories of the actions of Sellar and his neighbours lived long in the area.

Tennyson who missed the opportunity to visit Skye whilst staying there wrote: Smith's holdings now ran to 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) and employed a staff of thirty.

[15][16] Owen and Emmeline's daughter Faith married the Cambridge don John Raven and the former eventually inherited Ardtornish from her parents.

[23]" The estate company has long been interested in hydropower, Ardtornish house for many years being lit with electricity generated by its own small-scale hydro plant.

[25] Three more hydropower plants have since been built, including a low-head Archimedes Turbine in the heart of the estate at Achranich – giving a total of 3.3 MW of installed capacity.