Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

AULDBAR CASTLE
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, was carried in a litter. Re-
stored to more than its former strength, it was occupied
by a garrison down to the Crimean War ; in 1857 it was
sold for £5000 to the late Lord Lovat, whose son, the
fifteenth lord, presented it in 1876 to the Fathers of the
English Benedictine congregation, along with 16 acres
of land, and the rental for 19 years of Borlum farm, an
adjacent holding of 200 acres. On 13 Sept. 1876 the
Marquis of Ripon laid the foundation-stone of a college,
monastery, and hospice ; the college was opened on 16
Oct. 1878, and on 24 to 26 Aug. 1880 the completed build-
ings were inaugurated by a solemn triduo. They occupy
3 sides of a quadrangle, 100 feet square — the college on
the N ; the hospice, with 30 bedrooms, on the W ; and the
monastery, for 40 monks, on the E. The S side is closed
at present merely by the magnificent cloisters, which
run right round the quadrangle, and which open here
into a fine scriptorium already furnished with a printing-
press, and hereafter to contain 12,000 volumes ; but on
this side it is intended to erect an octagonal chapter-
house and a splendid church, which will bring the present
cost (£65,000)uptoabout£100,000. A Scottish baronial
tower, with clock and 9 bells, rises from the college to a
height of 110 feet; over the monastery is another tower,
140 feet high ; and the 15 windows of the refectory are
filled with the arms of benefactors — Lords Lovat, Bute,
Norfolk, Eipon, Stafford, Hemes, Denbigh, and Beau-
mont, Mr Hunter Blair, and others. The whole is in
Early English style, from designs by Mr J. Hansom and
Messrs Pugin & Pugin ; and, girt by terraced pleasure-
grounds, and set among wooded mountains, lake, and
streams, St Benedict's may vie with the grandest religious
foundations of pre-Eeformation days. Its college, as-
sociated with Glasgow University, is designed to provide
a liberal education for 100 sons of Catholic gentlemen ;
is divided into a preparatory, an intermediate, and a
high school ; and is furnished with halls, dormitories,
library, billiard room, etc. Besides the usual course in
classics and science, instruction is given in land-survey-
ing, geology, agricultural chemistry, and other branches.
It remains to be noticed that St Benedict's site was for-
merly Benedictine property, given in 1232 by Sir John
Bisset of Lovat to Beattly priory, granted by the last
prior in 1558 to the sixth Lord Lovat, and forfeited by
Alexander MacKenzie of Fraserdale for his part in the
'15. The present monastery is an incorporation and a
resuscitation of an ancient English and of a still more
ancient Scottish Benedictine abbey, both situate on the
Continent. The latter was the Scots abbey of St James
at Eatisbon, dating from the 11th century ; the former
was the famous abbey of Lamspring or Lansperg in
Hanover, founded as a Benedictine nunnery in the 9th
century, and converted into an abbey of English Bene-
dictine monks in 1643. — Ord. Sur., sh. 73, 1878.
Auldbar Castle, the seat of Patrick Chalmers, Esq. ,
in the NE angle of Aberlemno parish, Forfarshire, 1\
miles SW of Brechin. A modernised baronial fortalice,
it has a good library, and stands in a finely-planted park.
In the extreme S of the parish, some 5 \ miles to the SSE,
and 5 miles E of Forfar, is Auldbar Road station, on the
Arbroath and Forfar section of the Caledonian.
Auldcambus. See Aldoambtjs.
Auldcathie. See Aldcathie.
Auldclune, a hamlet in the extreme "W of Moulin parish,
Perthshire, on the left bank of the Garry, and on the
Highland railway, 2 miles ESE of Blair Athole village.
Auldearn (Gael, allt-fearn, ' stream of the alder tree '),
a post office village and a coast parish of NE Nairnshire.
The village stands 1 f mile inland at 69 feet above sea-
level, and is 2J miles ESE of its post-town and railway
station, Nairn. A burgh of barony, it holds a cattle and
horse fair on 20 June if a Wednesday or Thursday,
otherwise on the Wednesday after, and a produce fair on
the Tuesday of November after Inverness. Pop. (1841)
351, (1871) 350.
The parish is hounded NW, for 4J miles, by the
Moray Firth ; E by Dyke, in Morayshire; S by Ardclach ;
W by Nairn and the Eaitknock portion of Cawdor. It
has a length from N to S of from 3J to 6J miles, a
AULDEARN
breadth from E to W of from 3^- to 5| miles, and a land
area of 14,035 acres. The Mtjckle Burn here winds
about 6 miles, first on the southern border of the parish,
next across its south-eastern corner, and then on the
eastern border ; the western interior is traversed by the
Auldearn Burn, which, rising in the north-western angle
of Ardclach, and joining the Nairn 1 mile below its
mouth, has a total northward and westward course of
some 5 miles, and just below Auldearn village itself re-
ceives a burn from the SE. Within 3 furlongs of the
coast-line Loch Loy (9 x lj fur.) lies at an altitude of 12
feet ; J mile E of it is Cran Loch (3 J x 1 J fur. ). With
a foreshore that widens north-eastward from 1 furlong
to 2 miles, and is fringed by the Maviston Sandhills, the
northern portion of Auldearn is generally low, and the
highest gradient on the 3| miles of the Highland railway
within its bounds is only 129 feet. Further inland the sur-
face becomes more undulating, and rises to 305 feet near
Blackhills, 379 near Easter Arr, 423 near Lethen House,
473 near Easter Clune, and 600 in the south-eastern
angle of the parish ; hut nowhere are the hills too steep
to plough. The rocks belong chiefly to the strip of Old
Red sandstone that borders the Moray Firth, and have
been extensively quarried. Marl also abounds ; and fir
roots and entire trees are found in great quantities in
Inshoch Moss. For a distance from the shore of J mile
on the W and of 1 mile on the E, the soil is sheer sand,
covered with bent ; elsewhere it is various, but for the
most part fertile, about one-third of the entire area being
arable, one-fourth under woods and plantations, and
four-elevenths pasture or waste. Antiquities are two
stone circles, the ruins of Inshoch Castle, and vestiges of
that of Moyness. According to later chronicles it was
in Auldearn that Donald, King of Alban, fell in battle
with the Danes (900), and that Malcolm his son was
slain by the men of Moray (954) ; but Skene, out of
of older records, proves these events to have taken place
at Dunnottar and Fetteresso (Celt Scot., i. 338, 364).
Of one engagement at least this parish certainly has
been the scene, since just to the S of the village was
fought, on 9 May 1645, the battle of Auldearn, Mon-
trose's fourth victory over the Covenanters. The
general of the latter, John Hurry or Urry, surprised and
pursued to Inverness, had there obtained reinforcements
that, swelling his army to 400 horse and 3500 foot, em-
boldened him to offer battle to the Marquis's 1700, 250
of whom were cavalry. Lured from its strong position,
the Royalist right under Kolkitto was retiring from the
charge in great disorder, when Drummond, who com-
manded Hurry's horse, by wheeling unskilfully, broke
the ranks of his own infantry. Montrose at this crisis
charged with his whole force, and the Highland rush
proved irresistible. The veterans only (some 1200
strong) attempted to withstand it manfully, while the
new levies fled in consternation, and were chased several
miles by Lord Gordon's cavalry. The losses on both
sides were variously estimated — the Royalists' at from
15 to 200 men, of whom Captain Macdonald and William
Macpherson of Invereschie were the only persons of
mark ; the Covenanters' at from 1000 to 3000, including
Col. Campbell of Lawers, Sir John and Sir Gideon
Murray, Col. James Campbell, and 87 married Frasers.
Drummond for his blunder or his treachery was tried by
court-martial and shot ; Hurry drew off his shattered
army, and joining Bailiie, shared with him eight weeks
later in the defeat of Alford (See vol. i., pp. 209-212 of
Keltie's Hist, of the Scottish Highlands, Edinb. 1875).
The principal residences are Boath House, 3 furlongs N of
the village, and Lethen House, near the southern boun-
dary ; and 6 proprietors hold each an annual value of
£500 and upwards, 4 of from £20 to £50. Auldearn
is in the presbytery of Nairn and synod of Moray. Its
parish church is situated at the village, and was built in
1757 in place of an older structure, dedicated to St
Colm, and anciently held by the sub-dean of Elgin
cathedral. This is an ill-proportioned, oblong edifice,
with 477 sittings, and a graveyard containing several
interesting monuments of Hurry's followers, of the
Hays of Lochloy and Moyness, and of Nairn townsfolk,
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