Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

CRAIGMORE
CRAIGNISH
the kitchen, with mighty oven ; Queen Mary's hower,
with two or three dubious relics ; her bedchamber,
measuring but 7 by 5 feet, yet having two windows and
a fireplace ; and the great banqueting hall, 36 feet long,
and 22 feet broad, with walls 10 feet in thickness,
chimney 11 feet wide, a barrel-vaulted roof, and deep
embrasured windows, on the stone seat of one of which
may be faintly traced a diagram of the old game of the
' Walls of Troy. ' The name of this place occurs pretty
early in the national records, in a charter of mortifica-
tion granted in 1212 by William, son of Henry de
Craigmillar, whereby he gives, ' in pure and perpetual
alms,' to the church and monastery of Dunfermline, a
certain toft of land in Craigmillar, in the southern part
leading from the town of Nidreif to the church of
Liberton, which Henry de Edmonton holds of him.
Later, Craigmillar belonged to one John de Capella, and
from him it was purchased in 1374 by Sir Simon
Preston, whose descendants retained it for nearly three
centuries, and, during that period held the highest
offices in the magistracy of Edinburgh. In 147S John,
Earl of Mar, 'ane fair and lustie man,' was here im-
prisoned by James III. , his brother, and only removed
to meet his doom by treacherous lancet in the Canon-
gate ; and James V., with Gawin Douglas, his tutor,
was sent here during his minority, when the pest was
raging in Edinburgh. Queen Mary, after her return
in 1561, made Craigmillar so frequent a residence,
that a neighbouring hamlet, where her French retinue
lodged, retains to this day the name of Little France ;
in December 1566 we read of her lying here sick,
and ever repeating these words, ' I could wish to be
dead. ' Here, too, in the same month, her divorce from
Darnley was mooted by Bothwell, Murray, Lething-
ton, Argyll, and Huntly, in the so-called ' Conference
of Craigmillar,' and propounded to Mary herself; and
to Craigmillar it was at first proposed to have Darnley
conveyed, instead of to Kirk of Field. Mary's son,
James VI. , is said to have planned at Craigmillar his
matrimonial excursion to Denmark; and Mary's de-
scendant, Queen Victoria, in 1842 drove by its ruins,
which have been sketched and written of by ' fat, fodgel '
Grose, Sir Walter Scott, Thomson of Duddingston,"Sir
Thomas Dick Lauder, Hill Burton, and many others. —
Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857. See vol. i. of Billings' Baronial
Antiquities (1845), and Historical Sketches of Craigmillar
Castle (Edinb. 1875).
Craigmore, a precipitous hill, 1271 feet high, in Aber-
foyle parish, Perthshire, flanking the Laggan's northern
bank, and culminating 1 mile NWof Aberfoyle hamlet.
Craigmore. See Bex-an-Aemuinn.
Craigna-Ban, a rounded, granitic, fir-clad hill (1736
feet) in Crathie and Braemar parish, SW Aberdeenshire,
1J mile SE of Abergeldie. On it, to save his own life,
a wizard is said to have hunted down a witch and handed
her over to justice ; and on it Prince Frederick William
of Prussia gave the piece of white heather (emblem of
good luck) to the Princess Eoyal on the day of their
betrothal, 29 Sept. 1855.
Craig-na-Faoilinn, a stupendous crag, 934 feet high,
in Durness parish, Sutherland, overhanging the public
road at the head of Loch Eriboll, near the mouth of
Strath Beg.
Craignafeile, a stack or rocky tower-like islet off the
NE coast of the Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire, near a
cascade falling to the sea, in the vicinity of Loch Staffin.
It presents some resemblance to a statue in Highland
costume ; hence the name creag-na-fheilidh, ' the rock of
the kilt.'
Craignaiolar or Creag na h-Iolaire (Gael, 'eagle's
crag '), a rocky hill (1750 feet) projecting from a moun-
tain range, in Duthil parish, Elginshire, 3J miles NNW
of the parish church. It has several fissures, one of
which, near the western extremity, cuts it sharply from
top to bottom. See also Ben-an-Armuinu'.
Craignair. See Buittle.
Craigneil, an ancient fortalice in Colmonell parish,
SW Ayrshire, near the left bank of the Stinchar, 7 fur-
longs S of Colmonell village. Built in the 13th century,
it was a hiding-place of Robert Bruce ; was afterwards
a feudal prison and place of execution ; and is now a
picturesque ruin, crowning a rocky mount, and com-
manding a view of the Stinchar's valley from Penmore
to Knockdolian.
Craignethan, a ruined castle or, rather, fortified
manor-house, in Lesmahagow parish, Lanarkshire, \
mile ENE of Tillietudlem station on the Lesmahagow
branch of the Caledonian, and 5i miles WNW of Lanark.
It stands on the left bank of the river Nethan, \\ mile
above its influx near Crossford village to the Clyde ; and
is said to have been rebuilt by the celebrated architect,
Sir James Hamilton of Fynnart, commonly known as
the Bastard of Arran. He was beheaded in 1540, but
three years later the family estates were restored to his
son, Sir James Hamilton of Evandale. Popularly iden-
fied with the ' Tillietudlem ' of Old Mortality, Craig-
nethan, to quote James Hunnewell's Lands of Scott
(1871), 'is a mere shell and wreck of its former self;
yet, like most ruined castles, it is not wanting in
picturesqueness and romance. It is approached by a
road like that described in the novel — steep, winding,
and stony, and leading through a ford of the Nethan.
This is a shallow stream, flowing over a rocky bed, and
bending around a point that rises, with grey crags and
steep, grass or tree clad banks, to a commanding eleva-
tion, on which is the castle, built of sandstone, now
faded and weather-worn. The extent of Craignethan
once was great ; even now there is a large garden within
its walls. The keep, at the outer or river side, is very
ruinous ; and indeed the whole structure is much dila-
pidated, large quantities of materials having been taken
from it for the construction of ignoble buildings. But
there can still be found in it many picturesque combina-
tions of wall and tower, of stone-arched ceiling, or of
broken vaulting, streaming with graceful ivy-sprays, or
of shattered battlements, garlanded with shrubbery.
A story told of many old residences is told of this :
Queen Mary is said to have occupied, during several
days before the battle of Langside, a large hall, yet
partly existing, and called the Queen's Room. Craig-
nethan has been an important fortress, held by Haniil-
tons, by Hays, and by Douglases. The scenery around
it has some degree of grandeur as well as beauty ; and
Sir Walter, on his visit in 1799, was so much pleased
with the place, that the proprietor offered him use for
life of a small house within the walls. I was told that
the novel is commemorated here by quite a large periodi-
cal festivity, held by the families of farmers and others,
and called the Tillietudlem Ball.' — Ord. Sur., sh. 23,
1865. See also J. B. Greenshield's Annals of the Parish
of Lesmahagow (Edinb. 1S64).
Craigneuk, a mining village in Dalziel parish, Lanark-
shire, 1J mile WNW of "Wishaw, and If ESE of
Motherwell. Forming since 1874 part of Wishaw police
burgh, it has a Primitive Methodist chapel, a small
Roman Catholic school, and a public school. Pop.
(1S61) 716, (1871) 1377, (1881) 2330.
Craignish, a South Argyll parish on the W coast of
Argyllshire, adjoining the steamboat route from Glas-
gow, via the Crinan Canal, to Oban, and containing the
hamlet of Ardfern, with a post office under Lochgilp-
head, 18 miles to the SE. It anciently was called
indiscriminately Kilmorie and Craignish, and it retains
a burial-ground and a ruined chapel, still bearing the
name of Kilmhori. Its south-south-western half is pen-
insular, and its entire outline approaches that of a
scalene triangle, with south-south-westward vertex. Its
peninsula is bounded E by Loch Craignish and W by
the Atlantic Ocean ; on its other sides the parish bor-
ders on Kilninver, Eilchrenan, and Kilmartin. Its
greatest length, from NNE to SSW, is 11 miles, and
its average breadth is about 2 miles. The extent of
coast is fully 16 miles. Loch Craignish, opening from
the lower part of the NE side of Loch Crinan, pene-
trates 6 miles to the NNE, and diminishes in width from
3 miles at the mouth to 7 furlongs near the head, where
it forms a commodious harbour, with good anchorage.
Craignish Point flanks the W side of the loch's mouth,
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