Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

UERTOUN
■wooded park, in Penningliame parish, Wigtownshire, 3
miles WSW of Newton-Stewart. Its owner, Campbell
Boyd, Esq. (b. 1S42 ; sue. 1882), holds 1524 acres in the
shire, valued at £814 per annum. His uncle, Mark
Boyd, Esq. (1805-79), was author of two amusingautobio-
graphical works. An ancient military road traverses
the estate ; and a ' Roman ' spear-head, 9 inches long,
was exhumed on it in 1813. — Ord. Sur., sh. 4, 1857.
Mertoun, a Tweedside parish in the e.xtreme SW of
Berwickshire, containing Clintmains hamlet, li mile E
by N of St Boswells, under which it has a post office.
It is bounded N b}' Earlston, and on all other sides by
Roxburghshire, viz., NE by Smailholm, E by Maker-
stoun, S by Maxwell, SW by St Boswells, and W by
Melrose. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 4f miles ;
its breadth varies between lOJ furlongs and 4J miles ;
and its area is 6536i acres, of which 16]f are water.
The Tweed — from the influx of Leader Water to Dal-
cove Ferry — meanders 10| miles south-south-eastward
and eastward along all the boundary with Melrose, St
Boswells, and Maxton, though the point where it first
touches and that where it quits the parish are only 5J
miles distant as the crow flies. This part of its course
is very winding, the river making several large sweeps,
especially at Old Melrose, at Dryburgh, and between
Mertoun Mill and the new Suspension Bridge (erected
by Lord Polwarth in 1880). The Mertoun bank, which
is generally high, steep, and well wooded, furnishes some
fine bits of clitf sceneiy. Along the Tweed the surface
declines to 190 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to
425 feet near Dalcove Mains, 542 near Clinthill, 588
near Bejiersyde House, 747 near Gladswood, and 871
near Brotherstone. Bemersyde Loch, situated in the N W
part of Mertoun, is almost dry in summer, but in winter
it affords fair wild-fowl shooting. The soil is mainly a
stiff, reddish clay, and, although difficult to work, is
productive and highly cultivated. Eed sandstone
abounds along the Tweed, and was formerly quarried.
Mertoun is a well-wooded parish, especially in the S
part, which contains the Hexsides beech-wood and Mer-
toun woods. Dktburgh Abbey and Bemersy'DE have
been noticed separately. Mertoun House, a seat of
Lord Polwarth, stands close to the Tweed's left hank, 2
miles E of St Boswells. It was built in 1702 from
designs by the celebrated architect. Sir William Bruce.
(See Harden.) Gladswood, in the NW of the parish,
3 miles E of Melrose, is the seat of Miss Meiklam (sue.
1882), who holds 258 acres in the shire, valued at £426
per annum. The Queen stopped here on 22d August
1867 as she was driving from Melrose to Floors Castle.
In all, there are five landowners. Mertoun is in the
presbytery of Earlston and the synod of Merse and
Teviotdale ; the living is worth £377. Its church,
built in 1658 and restored in 1820, stands in a wood
near Mertoun House, J mile SSE of Clintmains. It has
accommodation for 200 people ; and a pair of ' jougs '
hang beside the main entrance. The public school, built
in 1839, and enlarged in 1872, with accommodation for
121 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 64, and
a grant of £69, Is. Valuation (1860) £8768, 5s. 8d.,
(1884)£10,200,Ss. 6d. Pop.(1801) 535,(1831) 664, (1861)
729, (1871) 734, (1881) 682.— Ord Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
Meshie Water. See Mashie.
Methil, a seaport village in Wemyss parish, Fife, on
the Firth of Forth, 1 mile SW of Leven, and IJ NE
of Buekhaven. Constituted a burgh of barony in 1662
by the Bishop of St Andrews, it has long possessed
commercial importance, in consequence of its harbour
being one of the best on the S coast of Fife. The E
pier was gi-eatly injured by a storm in 1803, with the
effect of choking the entrance to the harbour, but was
restored in 1838 at a cost of more than £6100 ; and anew
wet dock, principally for facilitating the shipping of
«oals, was constructed in 1875. An Established church,
built in 1837-38 at a cost of £1030, and containing up-
wards of 800 sittings, in 1875 was raised to quoad sacra
status. Pop. of village (1836) 508, (1861)522, (1871)
€48, (1881) 754; of q. s. parish (1881) 2342, of whom
501 were in Markinch.— Or^?. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
METHVEN
MetMl Hill, a village in AVemyss parish, Fife, 1 mile
WNW of Methil. Pop. (1871) 480, (1881) 466.
Methlick, a village and a parish of Aberdeenshire.
The village stands, 87 feet above sea-level, on the right
bank of the river Ythan, 5 miles W by N of Arnage
station, 6| E by S of Fyvie, and 84 NW of Ellon. It
has a post and telegraph office under Aberdeen, branches
of the North of Scotland and the Aberdeen To\vn and
County Banks, a Temperance Institute, with reading
and recreation rooms, and fairs on the Thursday after
11 May and the Wednesday after 18 Nov.
The parish is bounded N and NE by New Deer, E and
S by Tarves, and W by Fyvie and Monquhitter. Its
utmost length, from N to S, is 7J miles ; its utmost
breadth, from E to W, is 4f miles ; and its area is
14,912J acres, of which 704 are water, and 881J
belong to a small triangular detached portion sur-
rounded by Ellon and Tarves. In the main body of
the parish the Ythan flows 2-| miles east-north-east-
ward along the Fyvie boundary, 3J miles south-east-
ward through the interior, and l| mile south-east-
ward along the Tarves boundary ; 1 4 furlong lower
down it continues 2 miles south-eastward along all the
south-western border of the detached portion, whose
eastern boundary is traced by Ebrie Burn. At the
Ebrie's and Ythan's confluence the surface declines to 38
feet above sea-level, and thence it rises gently to 409
near Cairn in the south-western division of the main body,
and in the north-eastern to 485 at Skillmanae HOI and
579 at Belnagoak. The tract along the Ythan is mostly
clothed with wood ; the south-eastern corner of the main
body is occupied by the extensive and beautiful policies
of Haddo House ; other portions are low country finely
diversified with undulations ; but much of the north-
eastern division is reclaimed moor. Gneiss and syenite
are the predominant rocks, and limestone occurs in
the detached portion, and was formerly worked. The
soil on the lands within IJ mile of either bank of the
\''than is a yellow loam incumbent on gravel or rock ; but
further back becomes poorer, being chiefly a light black
mould or moorband pan ; and over a considerable aggre-
gate area is peat moss. About 2500 acres, formerly waste,
have been brought into cultivation since the commence-
ment of the present century ; and nearly as many acres
have been planted with Scotch fir and larch. A pre-
Reformation chapel stood at a place still known as
Chapelton ; and another at Andet, dedicated to St Ninian,
has bequeathed the name of Chapel Park to a neighbour-
ing farmhouse. Dr George Cheyne (1671-1742), author
of a treatise on the Philosophical Prinaplcs of Natural
Religion, and Dr Charles Maitland (1668-1748), the intro-
ducer of vaccine innoculation into Britain, were natives
of Methlick. Haddo House, noticed separately, is the
only mansion ; and the Earl of Aberdeen is sole pro-
prietor. In 1875 a small portion was given off to the quoad
sacra parish of Barthol Chapel, Methlick is in the pres-
bytery of Ellon and the synod of Aberdeen ; the living is
worth £342. The parish church at Methlick village was
originally dedicated to St Devenick, and, as last rebuilt
in 1866, is a handsome Gothic edifice, containing 894
sittings. There is also a Free church ; and three public
schools — Cairnorrie, Inverebrie, and Methlick — with
respective accommodation for 129, 68, and 210 children,
had (1883) an average attendance of 120, 66, and 157,
and grants of £99, "7s., £53, 15s., and £144, Is. 6d.
Valuation (1860) £5818, (1884) £10,759, 7s. 4d. Pop.
(1801) 1215, (1831) 1439, (1861) 2157, (1871) 2084,
(1881) 2162, of whom 2127 were in the ecclesiastical
parish.— Orrf. Sur., shs. 87, 86, 1876.
Methven, a village and parish of Perthshire. The
village, standing 300 feet above sea-level, has a station
on the Almond Valley section (1858) of the Caledonian,
IJ mile N by W of Methven Junction, this being 6J
miles WNW of Perth and llj ENE of Crieff. A pleasant,
neatly built place, it consists of houses held partly on
feus, partly on long leases from the lordship of Methven,
and has a post office under Perth, with money order,
savings' bank, and jrailway telegraph departments, a
local savings' bank (1815), a gas company, a subscription
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