Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

HARDGATE
(£1760), 4714 in Berwickshire (£6843, 16s.), and 1848
in Haddingtonshire (£2361, 6s.).— Ord Sitr., sh. 17,
1864. See Mertoun, Humbie, and vol. i., pp. Ixvi.-
Ixxviii. of Dr William Fraser's Scotts of Buccleitch
(Edinb. 1878).
Hardgate, a small village, with a public school, in Urr
parish, Kirkcudbrightshire, 4 miles NNW of Dalbeattie.
Hardgate. See Clatt and Duntocher.
Hardington House, a mansion in Wiston and Eober-
ton parish, Lanarkshire, near the left bank of the Clyde,
5 mUe SSW of Lamington station. Its owner, Mrs
M'Queen Mackintosh (sue. 1879), holds 1216 acres in
Lanarkshire and 4093 in Peeblesshire, valued at £1089
and £2016 per annum. See Bkoughton. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. 23, 1865.
Hardmuir. See Dyke.
Harefaulds. See GtfXHRiE.
Harelaw, a quondam peel tower on the eastern verge
of Canonbie parish, SE Dumfriesshire, near the right
bank of Liddel Water, 2^ miles NE by E of Canonbie
station. It was the residence of the famous freebooter.
Hector Armstrong, who in 1569 betrayed the Earl of
Northumberland into the hands of the Regent Moray.
Limestone of excellent quality and in great abundance
exists at Harelawhill, near the site of the tower, and
has long been largely quarried. — Ord. Sur., sh. 11, 1863.
Harelaw, an upland farm in Gurrie parish, Edinburgh-
shire, among the north-western declivities of the Pent-
lands, li mile ESE of Balerno. A reservoir is on it at
an elevation of 802 feet above sea-level ; and a cairn, com-
prising about 2500 cart-loads of stones, and containing
many human bones, was formerly near the farmhouse.
Harestane or Hearthstane Burn, a rivulet of Tweeds-
muir parish, SW Peeblesshire, rising on Cairn Law at an
altitude of 2000 feet above sea-level, and running 4J
mUes north-north-westward, tUl, after a descent of 1250
feet, it falls into the Tweed at a point IJ mile NNE of
Tweedsmuir church.— Ord Sur., sh. 16, 1864.
Harlaw, a farm in the parish of Chapel of Garioch,
Aberdeenshire, near the left bank of the Urie, 2J miles
NNW of Inverurie. It is noted for a battle fought on it,
24 July 1411 (St James's Eve), between the rebel High-
land army of Donald, Lord of the Isles, and the royal
forces under the Earl of Mar. Donald, at the head of
10,000 men, overran Ross-shire, marched through In-
verness-shire and Moray, acquired accessions to his
strength in those districts and in Banffshire, and re-
solved now to carry into execution a threat he had often
made, to bm-n the town of Aberdeen. He committed
great excesses in Strathbogie and in the district of
Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of Mar. The in-
habitants of Aberdeen were in dreadful alarm at the
near approach of this marauder and his savage hordes ;
but their fears were allayed by the speedy appearance
of a well-equipped army, commanded by the Earl of
Mar, who bore a high military character, assisted by
many brave knights and gentlemen of Angus and
the Mearns. Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched
by Inverurie, and descried the Highlanders stationed at
Harlaw. He saw that he had to contend with tre-
mendous odds ; but though his forces were, it is said,
as one to ten to those opposed to him, he resolved, from
the confidence he had in his steel-clad knights, to risk
a battle. Having placed a small but select body of
knights and men-at-arms in front, under the command of
the Constable of Dundee and the Sheriff of Angus, the
Earl drew up the main strength of his army in the rear,
including the Murrays, the Straitens, the Maules, the
Irvings, the Leslies, the Lovels, and the Stirlings,
headed by their respective chiefs. The Earl then placed
himself at the head of this body. On the other side,
under the Lord of the Isles, were Mackintosh and Mac-
lean and other Highland chiefs, all bearing the deadliest
hatred to their Southron foes.
On a given signal, the Highlanders and Islesmen,
setting up those terrific shouts and yells which they
were wont to raise on entering into battle, rushed for-
ward on the foe ; but they were received with great
firmness and bravery by the men-at-arms, who, with
HAKRIS
spears levelled and battle-axes raised, cut down many of
their impetuous but badly armed opponents. After the
Lowlanders had recovered themselves from the shock of
this furious onset. Sir James Scrymgeour, at the head
of the knights and bannerets under him, cut his way
through the thick columns of the Islesmen, everywhere
carrying death ; but the slaughter of hundreds by this
brave party did not intimidate the Highlanders, who
kept pouring in by thousands to supply the place of
those who had fallen. Surrounded on all sides. Sir
James and his valiant companions had no alternative
but death or victory, and death indeed was their lot.
First fell the Constable of Dundee, and his fall so en-
couraged the Highlanders, that, seizing and stabbing
the horses, they dismounted the riders, whom they
despatched with their daggers. In the meantime the
Earl of Mar, who had penetrated with his main army
into the very heart of the enemy, kept up the unequal
contest with great bravery, and, though the action cost
him almost the whole of his army, he continued the
fatal struggle with a handful of men till nightfall. The
disastrous result of this battle was one of the greatest
misfortunes that ever befell the families of Angus and
the Mearns. Many of them lost not only their head,
but every male in the house. Leslie of Balquhain is
said to have fallen with six of his sons ; and there were
also slain Sir James Scrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy,
the Sheriff of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy,
Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir
Alexander Irving of Drum, Sir William Abernethy of
Salton, Sir Alexander Straiten of Lauriston, James
Level, Alexander Stirling, and Sir Robert Davidson,
Provost of Aberdeen, with 500 men-at-arms, including
the principal gentry of Buchan and the greater part of
the burgesses of Aberdeen who followed their provost.
The Highlanders left 900 men dead on the field of
battle, among them the chiefs Maclean and Mackintosh.
Their defeat was far from signal, but their career was
stayed, and that was everything.
'So,' says Dr Hill Burton, 'ended one of Scotland's
most memorable battles. On the face of ordinary his-
tory it looks like an aflfair of civU war. But this ex-
pression is properly used towards those who have com-
mon interests and sympathies, who should naturally be
friends and may be friends again, but for a time are,
from incidental causes of dispute and quarrel, made
enemies. The contest between the Lowlanders and
Donald's host was none of this ; it was a contest between
foes, of whom their contemporaries would have said
that their ever being in harmony with each other, or
having a feeling of common interest and nationality,
was not within the range of rational expectation ' {Hist.
Scotl, ii. 392-394, ed. 1876). The battle is celebrated
in a long ballad, supposed by some to date from the 15th
century, but closely following Boece's narrative. — Ord.
Sur., sh. 76, 1874.
Harlosh, a hamlet in the Isle of Skye, Inverness-shire,
with a post office under Portree.
Harold's Tower, a monumental structure near the
coast of Thurso parish, Caithness, IJ mile ENE of
Thui'so town. It was erected in the latter part of last
century, by Sir John Sinclair, over the grave of an Earl
of Caithness, who was slain in battle about the close of
the 12th century ; and it presents a striking appearance.
Haroldswick, a hamlet and a bay in the N of Unst
island, Shetland. The hamlet stands on the bay, and
has a post office under Lerwick.
Harperfield, an estate, with a mansion, in Lesmaha-
gow parish, Lanarkshire, on the left bank of the Clyde,
4| miles S by E of Lanark.
Harport, a ramification of Loch Bracadale on the SW
side of the Isle of Skye, in Inverness-shire. It deflects
to the SE ; extends to a length of about 6 miles ;
separates the lower part of Minginish district from the
main body of Skye ; aflFords safe harbourage to vessels ;
and receives at its head a torrent of about 4 miles in
length, descending from the Cuchullin Mountains.
Harray. See Birsat.
Harris, a parish in the Outer Hebrides, Inverness-
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