Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ABBOTSHATJGH
valued at £13,919 (minerals, £15S2) per annum; and Mr
Davidson of Bogie House, a castellated mansion 2 J miles
WNW of the town, owns 398 acres, valued at£817. Five
other proprietors hold each an annual value of £500
and upwards, 15 of between £100 and £500, 12 of from
£50 to £100, and 65 of from £20 to £50. In the pres-
bytery of Kirkcaldy and synod of Fife, Abbotshall was
disjoined from Kirkcaldy in 1620, but has itself given
off a southern portion to the quoad sacra pariuh of
Inyebtiex; its minister's income is £313. The parish
church (rebuilt 1788; 825 sittings) stands J mile W of
Kirkcaldy, and there is also a Free church, whilst a
public school at Chapel village, 2J miles NW, with
accommodation for 149 children, had (1891) an average
attendance of Sti, and a grant of £67, 13s. Valuation
(1891) £5794, 19s. 5d., (1892) £5706, 19s. 8d. Total
pop. (1821) 3267, (1851) 5030, (1S71) 5785, 674 of them
in landward portion, (1881) 6435; for 1891 see Kikk-
calut. — Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
Abbotshaugh, a quondam abbey, now quite obliterated,
near Grangemouth, in Falkirk parish, Stirlingshire. The
grange or home farm of it gave name to the Grange Burn,
and through that to Grangemouth.
Abbot's Isle, a small green island in the bay of Stone-
field, on the S side, and towards the foot, of Loch Etive,
Muckairn parish, Argyllshire.
Abbotsrule. See Abbotrule.
Abbot's Tower, an ancient ivy -clad square ruin, over
40 feet high, stands about J mile ENE of Sweetheart
Abbey in Newabbey parish, Kii-kcudbrightshire.
Abbot's Walls, the ruins of a summer residence of the
abbots of Arbroath, in Nigg parish, Kincardineshire,
i :.- haugh opposite Aberdeen.
Abb's Head, St, a bold rocky promontory in Colding-
ham parish, Berwickshire, 4 '-'Lies NNW of Eyemouth.
It presents a wall-like front t ' -German Ocean nearly
200 feet high ; rises to as e e height of 310 feet ;
has tlm • aits — Kirkhill le E, Harelaw in the
middle, Fowlia on the W ; a) i separated from the
mahdaad by i vaie or gully, .iently spanned by a
bridge. The neighbc oring rock* -e Silurian, strangely
contorted ; but St Abb's itself is perphyritic trap, a
portion of which, smoothed, grooved, and. serrated by
glacial action, wa lara for the inspection of the
Berwickshire Naturalists' Club in 1866, and has been
loft exposed. On Harelaw is a lighthouse, erected iu
1861 , ana showing a flashing light every 10 seconds,
visible for 21 mil u d a log signal; while at Petti-
cowick, its landing-place, where the precipice is 300 feet
high, occurs a beautiful example of the junction of the
trap and Silurian roei;s. Numerous caves pierce the
cliffs, are inaccessible by land, and can be approached
a only at low water and in the calmest weather,
iud were formerly haunts of smugglers. This headland
was named after St ELba, daughter of King Ethelfrid,
and half-sister of Oswald ami Oswy, kings of Nortkuin-
bria, who about the middle of the 7th century founded
upon its 'nabs' the monastery of Urbs Oolvdi (Sax.
Coldmgaham), and as its abbess ruled until her death,
25 Aug. 683. It was a double monastery, containing
distinct CO! > ' I u and women, who lived
under her single government ; and the neck of land on
which it stood was cut oil i udered impregnable by
a high wall and a deep trench ; but the building itself
was probably very huml.i. , with walls of wood and clay,
and thatch of straw. Hither St Cuthbert came in 601
on a v, ,i i'i Kbba, i ' i ti liest part of the night
iu prayer and vigils entering the sea till the water
reached to his arms a:> lile seals came nestling
■Ids Here, too, in 871, Etholreda, foundress of
Ely, received the veil from St Wilfrid ; and here the
monk Adamuau foretold ti ling doom of 'lire
from heaven ' that burned the house for its sins in 679.
Rebuilt for women only, it was sacked by the Danes in
870, when the nuns, to preserve their honour, cut oil'
their noses arul lips. Tho trench and some grassy mounds
are all that now mark its site, a ruined chapel on the Kirk-
bill dating only from tho 14th century. See art. Ebba
in vol. ii. of 3mitb'n Did. Christ. Biog. (Lend. 1880).
A
Iiorn
Grovi
were
oppos.
rocks also occur, and a
building and paving !
water is Lindores Loci
which, nearly 4 miles
Priest's Burn, and sends
ABER
estate, with a plain old mansion, in Kin<».
-Fife. It long was the property of tne
ad a royal residence, the remains of which
' only in the present century. A rock
mansion exhibits rapid gradual transition
from s; udstono to quartz,
Abdi* (13th c. Ebedyn—i.e. abthen or abden, 'abbey
lands') a parish of NE Fife, on the Firth of Tay con-
tains tfefl Mount Pleasant suburb of Newbot-qh, its
post-town find, station, and also the villages of Lin-
dores and G'lvnge of Lindores. Till 1633 it included the
present pari 1 ! of Newburgh, by which and by Dunbog
it was, untk 1891, cut into three distinct portions
The middle a v d largest of these was 4 miles long by 3
and now formrt-he complete parish of Abdie; the smallest!
3furlongsto tf> W, andonthePerthshireborder, measured
1J by J mile, ud was transferred by the Boundary Com-
missioners in f 91 to Newburgh parish ; and the third,
1 mile to the >, had an equal length and breadth of
1^ mile, and ws transferred to Dunbog parish. The
chief elevations from W to E are Lumbenny (889 feet)
Golden Hill (600. Braeside (563), Woodmill Mains (666))
the Mains of Lirioies (580), and Norman's Law (558).
Some of these artcrowned with plantations, but much
of the highest grand is mere hill -pasture, dotted with
heath and gorse. *0n their ascents, a deep black soil
alternates with a liht and gravelly one of very inferior
quality; along the '.iy lies a rich alluvium, like that of
the Carse of Gowrie.Hnd fields have been here reclaimed
from the Firth wit in the last 60 years. Devonian
rocks form part of the anient, and include a limestone
and red sandstone, wb formerly were worked. Trap
iarried at several points for
oses. The largest sheet of
ar the centre of the parish,
ircumference, is fed by the
■ the Den rivulet to the Tay.
The pike and perch, ws .1 which this loch abounded,
were netted out in Augus i 30, with a view to stocking
it with trout. At its foot : the site of a castle, called
Macduff; and 'Wallace's Ci p,' % mile from the Firth,
preserves the memory of thirictory of Black Irnsyde,
said to have been gained ovo Ayraer de Valence, Earl
of Pembroke, in 1298. EurLr antiquities than these
are a barrow known as Watchia^ J Tower, the hill-fort
of Dunmore on Norman's Law ana & fcj-onghold on ths
picturesque craig of Clachar whose ».. 'westward ram-
parts are from 5 to 6 feet hio. The roofless church of
St Magridin, on the loch's w/.ern margin, was conse-
crated in 1242, and contains a 14th-century foliated
tombstone ; a female reeuiubeiitiUigy ; and, in the Den-
miln Aisle (1661), some monunuiL of the Balfuiirs of
Denmiln Castle, Which, new i» ruins, was the seat of
that family from 1452 to 11V. As sucll-u-ye Actio
birthplace of Sir James Balfou (1603-57) House; 4 '
nalist, and antiquary, ::ud of 1 1 , | U| > ol £1000 and
(1630-94), physician and foun' tween £200 and
botanical garden. Modern u«»ns. die had, previous
bey, a castellated building, and Uol, anr 1 registra-
propiietors holding each ar annuai or constitutes an
upwards, 1 of £500, 2 of £t00, 2 , of Cupar and
£300, etc. The eastern portion of .• etnee, soatiii;.'
to 1891, been annexed /or church, s, 0; the minis-
tion purposes to Dun>o£; the rcmai . ^ church for
ecclesiastical parish ■" the prcsbyl^ .^! c f Lii Ion
synod of Fife. T'e church 1 .a pi J ufci a graV
660, and erected & 1827 at a cost of 1 . Pop. of -uvil
ter's income is £?2<- Thero is also a ); of q.s. pansl:
Abdie and Newbigb jointly; undatGi ing, Lindoret
is a school, which with accommodation 1868.
had (18911 an a* ra g e attendance of 06 ' Dumbarton!
£59. Valuation (1892) £0011, 0s. lld.'L r ,Ues NN T
parish (1841) J.08, (1871) 1164) (1891) 90l ,h,.'l nitt
1871) 1057, »1891) 778 See Alex. It
Abbey and Nwburgh.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48 ,
Aber a l>mlet in Kilniarouock parish |
shire, 011 tl» SE shore of Loch Lomond, '.
of Kilmarnock station. An islet in the k 1 NT
of the haHlet, bearp /.he same name.