Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

BRAINSFOED
part of the ancient barony, occupies a commanding site
overhanging the Vale of Clyde, and is a handsome
modern edifice. Pop. of village, (1S91) 439.
Brainsford or Bainsford, a small suburban town in
Falkirk parish, Stirlingshire. It stands on the Forth
and Clyde Canal, about a mile N of Falkirk; forms,
with Grahamstown, a continuous street-line from Fal-
kirk; is included wi thin Falkirk parliamentary burgh ;
is near the old established iron-works of the Carron
Company on the S border of Larbert- parish; is largely
inhabited by persons employed in these works; is con-
nected with the works by a railway; and has a basin
for the use of the Carron Company's vessels on the canal,
a ropery, and a large saw-mill.
Braky, Easter and Wester, two estates in Einnell
parish, Forfarshire.
Bran or Braan (Gael, braon, ' river of drizzling rain'),
a river of Perthshire. It issues from the E end of Loch
Freuchie in Dull parish, and flows east-north-eastward
along Strathbran, past Amulree and through the parish
of Little Dunkeld, to the river Tay, a little above Dun-
keld bridge. Its length from Loch Freuchie is about
11 miles ; but, measured from the sources of the Quaich,
which falls into that lake, is fully 19 miles. A turbulent
and impetuous stream, it rushes along a bed of rocks or
large loose stones ; traverses a glen or vale of narrow and
romantic character ; and altogether presents a strong
contrast, in both its current and its flanks, to the Tay.
Numerous lakelets and tarns lie along the braes on its
flanks, some of them containing good trout, others pike
and perch. The Bran itself is a capital trouting stream,
and is celebrated for its cascades and its romantic
scenery. A fall of about 85 feet, a sheer leap at a wild
chasm into a dark caldron, occurs at the Rumbling
Bridge, 24 miles from the river's mouth ; and a catar-
act, long, tumultuous, and foaming, occurs at Ossian's
Hall, about a mile lower down. — Ord. Sur., sh. 47,
1869. See pp. 210-212 of Dorothy "Wordsworth's Tour
m Scotland (ed. by Princ. Shairp).
Branault, a hamlet in Ardnamurchan parish, Argyll-
shire.
Erander. See Awe.
Branderburgh, a small town in Drainie parish, Elgin-
shire, on the coast, conjoint with Lossiemouth. It has
a Baptist chapel ; and, prior to 1871, it adopted the
general police and improvement act. Pop. (1861) 952,
(1871) 1426, (18S1) 1888, (1891)2086.
Brandy or Branny, a loch in the Clova section of Cor-
tachy parish, Forfarshire, among the Benchinnan moun-
tains, 164 miles N by W of Kirriemuir. Lying 2000
feet above sea-level, it measures J by J mile, sometimes
yields capital trouting, and sends off a streamlet If mile
SSW to the South Esk.
Branksome. See Branxholm.
Branny, a burn in Lochlee parish, Forfarshire. It rises
among the Grampians, at 2400 feet above sea-level,
close to the Aberdeenshire boundary ; runs 4J miles
southward to the vicinity of Lochlee church ; and unites
there with the Mark and the Lee to form the North Esk.
Branteth, a place, with a sandstone quarry and a
mineral spring, in Kirkpatrick-Fleming parish, Dum-
friesshire. The sandstone of the quarry is of a white
colour, occasionally mixed with yellow. The water of
the spring is strongly sulphureous, and has been very
successfully used in scrofulous and scorbutic cases.
Branxholm, a mansion, formerly a feudal castle, in
Hawick parish, Roxburghshire, in the valley of the
Teviot, 3 miles SW of Hawick town. One-half of the.
ancient barony connected with it came into possession
of the Scotts of Buccleuch in the reign of James I., the
other half in that of James II. The feudal castle was
of various dates, underwent great vicissitudes, and figures
in traditions, tales, and ballads enough to fill a volume.
' Only a very small part of the original building remains ;
it is a large, strong house, old, but not ancient in its
appearance' — so Dorothy Wordsworth described in 1803
the present edifice, which yet retains one old square
corner tower of enormous strength — and which has for
upwards of a century been the residence of the Duke of
186
BREADALBANE
Buccleuch's chamberlain. Its site is a gentle eminence
not far from the river, at a narrow sudden curve of the
glen, in full command of all the approach above and
below. The ancient castle was burned in 1532 by the
Earl of Northumberland ; was blown up with gunpowder
in 1570, during the Earl of Surrey's invasion ; and was
rebuilt in 1571-74, partly by the Sir Walter Scott of
that period, partly by his widow. It was long the resi-
dence of the Scotts, the master-fort of a great surround-
ing district, the keep of Upper Teviotdale, the key of
the pass between the Tweed basin and Cumberland, the
centre of princely Border power, the scene of high
baronial festivity, and the focus of fierce, hereditary,
feudal warfare. Most of its proprietors, in their suc-
cessive times, till the close of the conflicts between Scot-
land and England, kept so large a body of armed re-
tainers, and rode out with them so often across the
frontier, as not only well to hold their own within Scot-
land but to enrich themselves with English spoil. How
vividly does the great modern bard of their name and
clan describe ' the nine-and-twenty knights of fame '
who ' hung their shields in Branxholm Hall, ' their
stalwart followers in the foray, their gay attendance at
the banquet, and their stern discipline and rigid ward,
in maintaining one-third of their force in constant readi-
ness to spring upon the prey —
1 Ten of them were sheathed in steel,
With belted sword and spur on heel ;
They quitted not their harness bright
Neither by day nor yet by night.
Ten squires, ten yeomen, mail-clad men.
Waited the beck of the warders ten.
Thirty steeds both fleet and wight,
Stood saddled in stable day and night,
Barbed with frontlet of steel, I trow,
And with Jedwood axe at saddle bow ;
A hundred more fed free in stall :
Such was the custom of Branxholm Hall.
Brany. See Brandy and Branny.
Brassay. See Bressay.
Brawl. See Braal.
Breacacha, a bay in the S of Coll island, Argyllshire.
It runs about a mile into the land, and affords tolerable
anchorage in summer. The small verdant islet of Soay
lies in its mouth ; and the mansion of the principal
landholder of Coll stands at its head.
Breacdearg, a dreary loch in Urquhart parish, Inver-
ness-shire. Lying on the western shoulder of Meal-
fourvounie, at 1750 feet above sea-level, If mile from
the western shore of Loch Ness, it measures 6 by 1J fur-
longs, and abounds in,trout about \ lb. each.
Breadalbane, a district of NW Perthshire. Bounded
N by Lochaber and Athole, S by Strathearn and Men-
teith, and W by Knapdale, Lorn, and Lochaber, it
measures about 33 miles in length, and 31 in breadth.
It is prevailingly mountainous, including great ranges
of the Grampians ; it is ribbed, from W to E, by Glen-
rannoch, Glenlyon, Glendochart, Upper Strathtay, aud
some minor glens ; it contains Loch Rannoch, Loch Lyon,
Loch Tay, and part of Loch Ericht ; it culminates, on
the N side of Loch Tay, in Ben Lawers ; and, in its
mountain regions, particularly on Ben Lawers, it is sur-
passingly rich in alpine flora. It gives the title of Earl
(1677) in the peerage of Scotland, and of Baron (1873)
in that of the United Kingdom, to a branch of the
ancient family of Campbell ; and it gave the title of
Marquis to the fourth and fifth Earls. Sir John Camp-
bell was created Earl of Caithness in 1677 ; but, in
1681, on that title being pronounced by parliament to
be vested in George Sinclair, Campbell was made Earl
of Breadalbane, with precedence according to the patent
of his first earldom. John, the fourth Earl, was created
Marquis of Breadalbane in 1831 ; but the marquisate be-
came extinct at the death of the second Marquis in 1862.
It was revived in 1885 in favour of the seventh Earl.
The Marquis of Breadalbane's seats are Taymouth Castle,
Glenfalloch, and Achmore House in Perthshire, Black-
mount and Ardmaddy Castle in Argyllshire; and he is
the third largest landowner in Scotland, holding 437,696
acres. From 2 miles E of Taybridge in Perthshire his
estate extends to Easdalo in Argyllshire, measuring 100