Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

PONFEIGH
Several fresh-water lakes — Stenness, Kirbister, Skaill,
Boardhouse, Hundland, Swannay, and others — lie in the
interior; abound in various kinds of trout; and emit
considerable water power ; but there are no streams
larger or longer than mere burns ; and salmon waters of
any kind are entirely wanting. No spot is further than
4J miles from the sea ; and by far the larger part of the
area is not more than 2 miles. The western coasts, in
general, are bold and precipitous, and often rise in mural
cliffs, pierced with caves and natural arches, or torn and
shattered into detached masses and isolated pinnacles ;
the western district, though nowhere mountainous or
wildly upland, comprises a considerable extent of hill
and moor ; and the other districts, though all compara-
tively low, likewise include many breadths and patches
of moorish land ; but some large fertile valleys, possess-
ing the double advantage of a sheltered position and a
loamy soil, lie among the hills ; and an extensive
aggregate of good arable land lies round the moors or
along the shores. The parishes into which Pomona is
divided are Birsay, Sandwick, Stromness, Evie, Ken-
dall, Harray, Firth, Stenness, Orphir, Kirkwall, St
Andrews, Deerness, and Holm ; but Birsay and Harray,
Evie and Eendall, Firth and Stenness, and St Andrews
and Deerness, are each pair mutually united. Pop.
(1801) 13,929, (1831) 15,787, (1861) 17,240, (1871)
16,541, (1881) 17,165. See Orkney.
Ponfeigh, a collier village in Carmichael parish,
Lanarkshire, with a station on the Lanark and Douglas
branch of the Caledonian railway, near the right bank of
Douglas Water, 4J miles S of Lanark.
Poniel Water. See Douglas.
Pool. See Muckhart.
Poolewe, a village and a quoad sacra parish in Gair-
loch parish, Ross-shire. The village stands at the
head of Loch Ewe, and at one of the western ter-
minations of the military road from Dingwall through
the centre of Ross-shire, 2 miles NNW of the foot
of Loch Maree, 6 NNW of Gairloch village, 7 S by
W of Aultbea, 27J AYNW of Auchnasheen station,
and 55J W by N of Dingwall. A chief point of com-
munication across the Minch with the Outer Hebrides,
it serves as a conjoint centre with Gairloch village and
Kinlochewe for visiting the superb scenery of Loch
Maree ; and has a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, and telegraph departments, an inn, an
Established church, a Free church, and a public school.
The Established church was built in 182S, and contains
350 sittings. The quoad sacra parish, constituted by
ecclesiastical authority in 1838, and reconstituted by
civil authority in 1851, is in the presbytery of Loch -
carron and synod of Glenelg. The minister's stipend
is £138. Pop. of q. s. parish (1871) 2623, (1881) 2317,
of whom 2198 were Gaelic-speaking. — Ord. Sur., sh. 91,
1882.
Port. See Monteith, Port of.
Port-Appin, a village in Lismore and Appin parish,
Argyllshire, on the E shore of Loch Linnhe, opposite the
NE end of Lismore island, and 3J miles SSW of Appin
village. It has a temperance hotel, and is a ferry
station.
Port-Askaig. See Askaig, Port.
Port-Bannatyne. See Kamesburgh.
Portcarren, a village on the SE shore of Lismore
island, Argyllshire, 5J miles NNW of Oban.
Port-Charlotte, a village in Kilchoman parish, Islay
island, Argyllshire, on the W coast of Loch Indal,
opposite Laggan Point, 7J miles SW of Bridgend, and
16 SW of Port-Askaig. It has a post office under
Greenock, an inn, a distillery, and a public school.
Pop. (1861) 562, (1871) 484, (1881) 502.
Port-Crinan. See Crinan.
Porteasie. See Portessie.
Port-Edgar. See Queensferry.
Port-Ellen, a seaport village in Kildalton parish,
Islay island, Argyllshire, at the head of a small bay, 6
miles NNE of the Mull of Oa, llf SSE of Bowmore, and
17 W by S of Gigha. Founded in 1824, and named
in compliment to Lady Ellinor Campbell of Islay,
PORT-GLASGOW
it rose rapidly into importance as a place of local com-
merce ; and on a rocky promontory near the middle of
its bay is a commodious quay, constructed in 1826 and
improved in 1832. It has also safe anchorage ground,
and a lighthouse ; is visited by the steamers which ply
between Islay and Glasgow ; carries on a considerable
amount of fishing ; and has a post office under
Greenock, with money order, savings' bank, and tele-
graph departments, a branch of the Royal Bank, two
inns, and a public school. Pop. (1841) 904, (1861)
1007, (1871) 979, (1881) 989.
Port-Elphinstone, a southern suburb of Inverurie,
in Kintore parish, Aberdeenshire, on the right bank of
the river Don. It took its name, and during 1807-54
derived its importance, from being situated at the NW
end of the quondam Aberdeen Canal ; it now contains an
extensive goods station of the Great North of Scotland
railway, and is still a convenient centre of trade ; and
it has a post office under Inverurie, extensive grain
mills, paper-mills, two saw-mills, a brewery, a nursery,
a public school, and a public library. Pop. (1861) 421,
(1871) 435, (1881) 473, of whom 356 were within Inver-
urie burgh. — Ord. Sur., sh. 76, 1874.
Port-Errol or Ward-of-Cruden, a coast village in
Cruden parish, Aberdeenshire, at the mouth of the
Water of Cruden, 11J miles NE of Ellon, under which
it has a post and telegraph office. A promising station
of the herring fishing, it has a lifeboat and rocket
apparatus, an hotel, 68 boats, and a recent harbour,,
whose inner basin is 300 feet long and 150 to 175 feet
wide. The Aberdeen Lime Co. here ships corn, and im-
ports coal, manures, etc. , doing a large business. Pop.
(1881) 493.— Ord. Sur., sh. 87, 1876.
Portessie, a fishing village in Rathven parish, Banff-
shire, 1J mile ENE of Buckie. In 1727 it consisted of
only five houses, but it has made such progress as now to
possess 145 fishing boats, employing 290 men and boys ;
and it has a Wesleyan Methodist chapel. Pop. (1793)
178, (1841) 411, (1861) 575, (1871) 877, (1881) 1061.—
Ord. Sur., shs. 95, 96, 1876.
Port-Float. See Float Bay.
Port-Gill. See Gill.
Port-Glasgow, a parish, with a parliamentary burgh of
the same name, on the N coast of the Lower Ward of Ren-
frewshire. It is bounded-N by the Clyde, E arid S by
Kilmalcolm, and W by Greenock. The boundary on
the E and S is artificial, but on the N it is formed by
the Clyde, and on the W by Devol Burn to a point
about ^ mile above Wallace's Loup. The greatest length
of the parish, from the corner of the West Harbour on
the N to the extreme southern point, is fully 1J mile ;
the greatest width, from Laigh Auchinleck on the E to
Wallace's Loup on the W, is barely 1J mile ; and the
area is 1031772 acres, of which 39 - 381 are foreshore
and 48 - 524 water. There is a flat strip along the Clyde
on the N side from 13 to 20 feet above sea-level, and
from this the ground slopes rapidly up to the 200-feet
line which lies immediately to the S of the burgh, and
still more rapidly to the 500-feet line farther to the S.
From this the rise to 600 feet is more gradual, and the
highest points are 700 feet on the SW and 656 near the
extreme S. The soil of the fiat tract along the Clyde is
a very fertile loam, but that along the higher ground is
cold and poor. The underlying rocks are mostly vol-
canic. The drainage of the parish is effected by Devol
Burn on the W — along the course of which there are
several small waterfalls — and some smaller burns all flow-
ing to the Clyde. In the SW is Douglehill Dam or
Reservoir (2x1 furl.). The only object of interest
beyond the town is Newark Castle in the NE, which is
separately noticed. A line across the Clyde from
Newark Castle to Cardross is the lower limit of the
jurisdiction of the Clyde Trustees ; while below this the
care of the channel and estuary is under the Clyde
Lighthouse Trusti The parish is traversed from E to
W by the main line of road from Glasgow along the
edge of the river and Firth, and by the Glasgow,
Paisley, and Greenock branches of both the Caledonian
and Glasgow and South-Western railways. From the
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