Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

ELLON
redemption in a speculation from which all had augured
happiness.' Yet was the EUisland life a fruitful one,
for the world, if not for the poet, since here were written
To Mary m Heaven and Taw. o' Shanter. — Ord. Sut.,
sh. 9, 1863. See "WUliam M'Dowall's Burns m Dum-
fnessUre (Edinb. 1870).
Ellon, a village and a parish of E Aberdeenshire. The
village stands, 40 feet above sea-level, on the left bank
of the Ythan, 5 furlongs ESE of Ellon station on the
Formartine and Buohan section of the Great North of
Scotland, this being 19J mUes N by E of Aberdeen, and
llj S by E of Maud Junction. The ancient seat of
jurisdiction for the earldom of Buchan, it belonged, in
pre -Reformation times, to Kinloss Abbey in Elginshire,
and thence was often called Kinloss-EUon. It now is a
thriving centre of local trade, under the superiority ef
Mr Gordon of EUon, and retains the site of its ancient
■open-air courts in the Mote or Earl's HUl, a small
mound which long was occupied by the stables of the
New Inn, but which now is railed in and cleared of dis-
.figuring buildings. The Ythan is spanned here by a
handsome three-arch bridge ; and the newer part of the
village, to the W of this bridge, comprises a number of
well-built houses, in rows or detached, ivith pretty
gardens, fringing the water-side ; the older portion, to
the E, is much less regular. Its salubrious climate and
the Ythan's good trout-iishing attract a fair number of
summer visitors to Ellon, which possesses a post office,
■with money order, savings' bank, insurance, and railway
lelegraph departments, branches of the Aberdeen Town
and Count}', North of Scotland, and Union Banks, a local
savings' bank, 12 insurance agencies, 3 chief inns, gas-
works (1827), a neat town-hall in connection with the
New Inn, a brewery, and a horticultui'al society. Cattle
and grain markets are held on the first and third Mon-
days of every month ; hiring markets on the Tuesday
after 11 April and the Wednesday after 12 November.
The ancient cruciform church of St Mary, bestowed on
Kinloss in 1310, was superseded in 1777 by the present
;plain parish church, which, renovated and decorated in
1876, contains 1200 sittings. The Free church, built in
1825 as an Independent chapel, contains 350 sittings ;
a U.P. church of 1827 contains 340 ; and a fine Epis-
copal church, St Mary of the Rock, was rebuilt (1870)
in the Early English style from designs by the late Mr
G. E. Street, R.A., and consists of narthex, nave, ante-
choir, and apsidal chancel. Mass, too, is celebrated
every alternate Sunday by a priest from Strichen. Pop.
of village (1861) 823, (1871) 811, (1881) 964.
The parish is bounded N by Old Deer, NE by Cruden,
E, SE, and S by Logie-Buchan, SW by Udny, W by
Tarves and the Inverebrie section of Methlick, and NW
by New Deer. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 8|
miles ; its breadth, from E to W, varies between 3§ and
■6 J miles ; and its area is 22, 339 J acres, of which 77
are water. The Ythan has here an east-south-easterly
course of 6J miles, partly along the Methlick and Logie-
Buchan borders, but mainly across the southern in-
terior ; in the W it is joined by Ebrib Burn, and in the
W by the Burn of Auchmacoy. Coal lighters ascend
-to within a mile of the village, and spring-tides are
-perceptible as high as the Bridge of Ellon. S of the
Ythan the surface attains its highest point above sea-
level at CairnhUl (256 feet), whilst northwards it rises
gently to 229 feet near Colehill, 317 near Mossnook, 403
at Hillhead of Argrain, 321 at Braehead, 496 at Ardarg,
572 at the HiU of Dudwick, and 530 at Whitestone
HOI — petty enough hillocks, that yet command far-away
views to Bennochie and the Grampians. Gneiss and
.granite are the prevailing rocks, and the soil of the valley
ds mainly fertile alluvium ; elsewhere it is generally
poor, either black and moorish or a very retentive clay.
Thorough draining, however, and artificial manures
have done much to increase its productiveness ; and
more than three-fourths of the entire area is now ,in
tiUage. Woods and plantations cover a small extent,
the northern and eastern districts of the parish being
bleak and bare. In the wall of the old church is a
monument to the Annands of Auchterellon, with their
672
ELFHINSTOHE
arms and the date 1601 ; of Waterton, a stately seat of
Bannermans and Forbeses between 1560 and 1770, and
a haunt of ' Jamie Fleeman's, ' slight vestiges remain ;
but the girls' school stands on the site of the house in
which the Rev. John Skinner wrote Tullochgorum —
' the best Scotch song, ' said Burns, ' that ever Scotland
saw." Of the Ellon Castle of 1780, built by the fom-th
Earl of Aberdeen, only one tower remains ; its successor
of 1851, with noble avenue and tasteful grounds, is the
seat now of George John Robert Gordon, Esq. (b. 1812 ;
sue. 1873), who holds 5556 acres in the shire, valued at
£6195 per annum. Other mansions or estates, sepa-
rately noticed, are Arnage, Dudmck, Esslemont, and
Turnerhall ; and, in all, 8 proprietors hold each an
annual value of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100
and £500, 1 of from £50 to £100, and 23 of from £20
to £50. The seat of a presbytery in the synod of Aber-
deen, EUon gives off portions to the quoad sacra parishes
of Ardallie and Savoch ; the living is worth £423.
Barfold public, Drumwhindle public, Ellon public, and
EUon girls' schools, with respective accommodation for
120, 100, 350, and 47 chUdi-en, had (1880) an average
attendance of 61, 45, 270, and 50, and grants of £27, 8s.,
£14, 15s. 6d., £221, 3s. 6d., and £43, 12s. Valuation
(1860) £15,183, (1881) £23,775, 18s. 9d. Pop. of civil
parish (1801) 2022, (1831) 2304, (1861) 3913, (1871)
3698 ; of registration district (1871) 3036, (1881) 3057.
— Ord. Sur., sh. 87, 1876. See Thomas Muir's Records
oftlie Parish of Ellon (Aber. 1876).
The presbytery of EUon comprises the parishes of
EUon, Cruden, Foveran, Logie-Buchan, Methlick,
Slains, Tarves and Udny, and the chapelry of Barthol.
Pop. (1871) 15,516, (1881) 16,062, of whom 5282 were
communicants of the Church of Scotland in 1878. — The
Free Chm'ch also has a presbytery of EUon, with
churches at EUon, Cruden, Foveran, MethUck, New
Machar, Old Meldrum, Slains, and Udny, which to-
gether had 1971 communicants in ISSl.
Ellon, Port. See Poet Ellon.
EUridgehill or Elsrickle, a vUlage near the southern
border of Walston parish, E Lanarkshire, 4J mUes NNE
of Biggar. It is a pleasant place, in a picturesque situa-
tion, and decidedly superior to most smaU Scottish
viUages. It has a Free church and a schooL Some
stone coffins, a number of years ago, were exhumed at
the E end of the village.
Ellrig, a lake in the NE of Slamannan parish, Stir-
lingshire, 3J mUes S of Falkh-k. Measuring 5\ by IJ
fuliongs, it sends off a smaU burn, of some water power,
9 furlongs south-westward to the Avon.
EUrig, the highest part of the ridge of upland on the
mutual border of East Kilbride parish, Lanarkshire, and
Eaglesham parish, Renfrewshire. It culminates, 4 mUes
SSE of Eaglesham vUlage, at 1230 and 1215 feet above
sea-level, and it cradles both the White Cart and head-
streams of Calder Water.
Ellwand. See Allen.
EUwick or Elswick, a fine bay in the SW of Shapin-
shay island, Orkney. It opens towards Kirkwall ; is
sheltered, across the entrance, by the green islet of
EUer-Holm ; has from 4 to 6 fathoms of water, over
a bottom of hard clay covered with sand ; is skirted, on
the W side, by a fine beach, with abundance of excellent
fresh water ; forms almost as good a natural harbour as
any in Orkney ; and is overlooked by a pleasant modem
viUage.
Elphine. See Assynt.
Elphinstone, a collier vUlage in Tranent parish, W
Haddingtonshire, 2 miles S by W of Tranent town. It
has a public school and a Primitive Methodist chapel
(1867). Elphinstone Tower, 5 furlongs WSW, is a square
three-storied pile of the 14th or 15th century, a ruin,
but well preserved, the two lower stories retaining their
stone vaulting, and the uppermost having been re-roofed
with slate. In the hall, on the second story, eight
carved escutcheons are over the fireplace. A mansion,
built on to the tower in 1600, was demolished in 1865.
The lands of Elphinstone were held in the 13th and
14th centuries by Lord Elphinstone's ancestors, and