Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

BORTHWICK-SHIELS
serves still as the principal burial-place of the parish ;
hence Borthwickbrae is sometimes called Kirk-Borth wick.
Borthwick-Shiels, an estate, with a modern mansion,
in Roberton parish, Roxburghshire, on the left side of
Borthwick Water, in the northern vicinity of Roberton
church.
Borve, an ancient castle on the W side of Benbecula
island, Outer Hebrides, Inverness-shire. Of unknown
date, it was anciently the residence of the lairds of
Benbecula.
Borve, a quondam ancient tower, on the coast of Farr
parish, Sutherland, surmounting a small rocky headland
projecting into Farr Bay, between Farr Church and
Kirktomy. It is traditionally said to have been built
by a Norse warrior, called Thorkel or Torquil; and it is
now represented by only small remains. A natural
tunnel or vaulted passage pierces the headland on which
it stands; is about 200 feet long; and can be traversed
by a rowing-boat.
Borve, a district of Snizort parish, Isle of Sky'e, In-
verness-shire, with a post office under Castlebay. An
endowed school is here, founded by Donald Macdiarmid,
and called Macdiarmid Foundation. With accommoda-
tion for 54 children, it had (1891) an average attendance
of 35, and a grant of £39, 8s. 6d.
Borve, a stream on the W side of Harris, Outer He-
brides, Inverness-shire. It is frequented by salmon; is
under close time from 10 Sept. till 24 Feb. ; and is open
to rod and line fishing from 25 Feb. till 31 Oct.
Boston Church. See Dunse.
Bothkennar, a parish of E Stirlingshire, containing,
towards its centre, the village of Skinflats, 3J miles
NNE of Falkirk, and, at its NW, SW, and SE angles
respectively, parts of the villages of Kinnaird and
Carronshore and of the seaport and police-burgh of
Grangemouth, this last with stations on the North
British and Caledonian, and with a post office having
money order, savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph
departments.
Bounded N by Airth, E by the Firth of Forth (here
from 1J to 2| miles broad), SE by Polmont, S by Fal-
kirk, and W 'by Larbert, Bothkennar has a length from
E to W of 2 miles exclusive of foreshore, a width from
N to S of If mile, and an area of 2645f acres, of which
824f are foreshore and 46| water. The Carron seems
once to have traced all the southern border ; but, hav-
ing straightened its course, has now three portions of
Falkirk and Polmont on its northern, and three of Both-
kennar on its southern, bank. The surface forms part,
and by far the richest part, of the Carse of Falkirk, and
is all a dead level, near Skinflats only 17 feet above the
sea. It is almost wholly under cultivation, and con-
sists of alluvial loam, free from the smallest stones, but
overlying fine and abundant coal, which is very ex-
tensively mined. The Earl of Zetland and 3 more pro-
prietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards,
8 hold between £100 and £500, 3 between £50 and
£100, and 13 between £20 and £50. The Rev. Wm.
Nimmo, author of the History of Stirlingshire, was
minister of Bothkennar, which is in the presbytery of
Stirling and synod of Perth and Stirling, its living
amounting to £220. The parish church, near Skinflats,
is of date 1789 (restored and enlarged 1888); and a
public school, with accommodation for 405 children, had
(1891) an average attendance of 285, and a grant of
£249, 7s. 6d. It has a post office, with money order,
savings bank, and telegraph departments. Valuation
£18,152, 16s. 6d., of which £14,364, 16s. 6d. was for
lands and houses. Pop. landward (1871) 1726, (1881)
1798, (1891) 2025.— Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Bothland, a burn in Cadder parish, Lanarkshire, run-
ning about 4 miles north-north-eastward to the Luggie.
Bothwell, a burn in Haddingtonshire and Berwick -
Bhire. It rises on Dunbar Common, 2J miles SSE of
Stenton village ; drains parts of the Haddingtonshire
parishes of Spott, Stenton, and Innerwick; and runs
altogether about 7 miles south-south-eastward to the
Whitadder, near Cranshaws.
Bothwell, a town and a parish of N Lanarkshire.
BOTHWELL
The town stands in the SW corner of the parish, near
the right bank of the Clyde, here spanned by a sus-
pension-bridge leading to Blantyre Works, and by
Bothwell Brig, leading to Hamilton ; by road it is 1\
miles NW of the latter town, 8 SE of Glasgow, and
36J WSW of Edinburgh, having stations on branches
of the Caledonian and North British, opened in 1877
and 1878. A pleasant, healthy place, commanding
charming vistas of Strathelyde, it mainly consists of
plain red sandstone houses, studded with villas and
cottages-ornees, the summer resorts of Glasgow citizens ;
is lighted by gas ; and has a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph departments, a
branch of the Clydesdale Bank, a hotel, and a public
library. The parish church here is a fine Gothic edifice
built in 1833 at a cost of £4179, and, containing 1150
sittings, uprears a massive square tower to the height of
120 feet; E of which tower is the ruined choir of the
old collegiate church, an interesting specimen of Second
Pointed architecture, measuring 531- by 21§ feet, and
retaining a N sacristy (13J by 9f feet), a piscina, 3
canopied sedilia, and monuments to the two Archibald
Douglases, Earls of Forfar, the second of whom was
mortally wounded at Sheriffmuir (1715). In this old
church, founded in 1398 by Archibald ' the Grim,'
Earl of Douglas, for a provost and S prebendaries, David,
the hapless Duke of Rothesay, wedded the founder's
daughter, Marjory, in 1400. One of its early provosts
was Thomas Barry, who celebrated the victory of Otter-
burn in Latin verse ; and in the former manse was
born the poetess, Joanna Baillie (1762-1851). The Free
church, rebuilt in 1861 at a cost of £3500, is another
good Second Pointed structure, with 890 sittings and
an octagonal spire, 125 feet high; the TJ.P. church is
seated for 360. A public school, with accommodation
for 349 children, had (1891) an average attendance of
286, and a grant of £272, lis. Id. Pop. (1861) 1057,
(1871) 1209, (1881) 1535, (1891) 2400.
The parish contains also the towns of Uddingston
(If mile NNW of Bothwell town), Bellshill (2J
NE), and Holytown (4J ENE), with portions of
Calderbank (6 NE) and Cleland (7 E), and the
villages of Nackerton (2J N by W), Carnbroe (4
NE), Mossend (2| NE), New Stevenston (4§ E by N),
Legbranock (5j ENE), Newhouse (6| ENE), Chapel-
hall (6| ENE) Carfin (5J E), and Newarthtll (5|
E by N). Bounded N by Old Monkland, NE and E by
Shotts, S by Dalziel and Hamilton, SW by Hamilton
and Blantyre, and W by Blantyre, it has a length from
E to W of from 6 J to 7f miles, a width from N to S of
from 2| to 4 miles, and an area of 13,774f acres, of
which 131 are water. The Shotts Burn flows along all
the north-eastern border to the North Calder Water,
which traces the northern, as the South Calder does the
.southern, boundary ; and both these streams fall into
the Clyde, a majestic river here, from 70 to 120 yards
in width, sweeping for 5J miles along the Hamilton and
Blantyre border, above the Brig through fiat rich haughs,
below through a steeper, narrower vale, famed for its
loveliness three centuries and more. For Verstega'n wrote
in his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (1605): 'So
fell it out of late yeers, that an English gentleman
trauelling in Palestine, not far from Ierusalem, as hee
passed through a country towne, hee heard by chance a
woman sitting at her doore dandling her childe, to sing ;
Bothwel lank thou hlumestfayre. The gentleman heereat
exceedingly wondred, and foorthwith in English saluted
the woman, who ioyfully answered him, and told him
that she was a Scottish woman,' etc. The surface pre-
sents no prominent features, but rises eastward from
about 50 feet above sea-level, where the Clyde quits the
western boundary, to 213 feet near Woodhead, 235 near
Birkenshaw, 240 near Tannochside, 268 at Mossend,
247 near Milnwood House, 395 near Holytown, 388 near
Carfin, 480 near Whitecraighead, 507 near Legbranock,
537 near Brownhill, and 577 at Newhouse — the last two
close upon the eastern border. The prevailing rocks are
Triassic in the W, and elsewhere carboniferous, red
sandstone being quarried in the western, white sand-
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