Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

CLOSEBURN
acres, of which 245| are water. The Nith flows 1 J mile
S by E through the western corner of the parish, then
5J miles SSE along the boundary with Keir ; the Water
of Ae, hurrying 8 miles southward from its source upon
Queensherry Hill on its way toward Einnel Water, and
so to the Annan, roughly traces all the eastern border ;
whilst from Morton Closeburn is parted by Cample
Water, winding southward and westward to the Nith.
A number of burns run to these streams from the
interior — Hen Grain, Clerk Grain, Pishnaek Burn, Bran
Burn, Capel Water, and Windygill Burn, south-eastward
to the Ae ; Crichope Burn, south-westward to the
Cample ; and Clauchrie Burn, southward to the Nith.
Of these the most notable is Crichope Burn, which,
rising in a moss near the northern extremity of the
parish, forms, not far from its source, a beautiful cascade,
the ' Grey Mare's Tail,' over a precipice of nearly 100
feet in sheer descent. Half a mile lower down the water
has, in the course of ages, hollowed out to itself a nar-
row passage through a mass of red freestone, where a
peculiarly romantic linn is upwards of 100 feet from
top to bottom, and, although 20 feet deep, is yet so
strait at its head that one might easily clear it, but for
the yawning gulf below and the din of the water running
its dark course. ' Inaccessible in great measure to man,
this linn, ' says the Old Statistical, ' was deemed the habi-
tation of imaginary beings, and at the entrance there
was a curious cell, the " Elf's Kirk," which, proving a
good freestone quarry, has lately been demolished, and
from the haunt of elves has been converted into abodes
for men. In the days of the Covenanters, the religious,
flying from their persecutors, found a safe hiding-place
in Crichope Linn ; and a chair, cut out by Nature in the
rock, was in later times the resort of a shoemaker, and
ever since has borne the name of the " Sutor's Seat." '
By Sir Walter Scott, in his Old Mortality, this place
was chosen for Balfour of Burley's lair. The only two
sheets of water now of any size are Loch Ettrick (2J x 1
furL) and Townhead Loch (2 J x 1 furl.), Castle Loch
having been drained in 1S59. Where the Nith quits
the parish, close to Auldgirth station, the surface sinks
to 92 feet above sea-level, thence rising northward and
north-north-eastward to 784 feet near High Auldgirth,
847 at Clauchrie Hill, 1011 at Auchencairn Height,
1006 at Glencorse Hill, 1156 at Great Hill, 1045 at
Sowens Knowe, 1431 at Queen Hill, 1675 at Wee
Queensberry, 22S5 at Queensberrt, 1989 at Garroch
Fell, and 2190 at Gana Hill, which culminates right on
the Lanarkshire border. The rocks are chiefly Silurian
and Devonian. Laminated sandstone, suitable for pav-
ing and slating, and limestone, have both been largely
worked, the latter since 1770. The only ground com-
paratively level, between the railway and the Nith, has
a fine rich loamy soil, which on the lower uplands
changes to light dry earth, and further N to desolate moss
and moor. Along the Nith the parish is finely planted,
containing 1158 acres of woodlands ; but few of the trees
are more than 80 years old. Near the Castle is a sul-
phureous, and at Town-Cleugh, a chalybeate, spring.
About a mile of the Catrail may be traced near Town-
foot farm-steading ; on Barnmuir Hill is a ' Druidical '
circle ; and at different points there are seven tumuli
and six cairns, the largest of which, Mid and Pottis
Shank Cairns, are respectively 217 and 220 feet in cir-
cumference, and 12 and 9 feet high. Bronze celts and
tripods have also been discovered, and two Roman
cinerary urns were exhumed in 1828 in the garden of
Wallace Hall. Closeburn's most interesting antiquity,
however, is Closeburn Castle, a quadrangular tower,
which, 56 feet high, has walls from 6 to 12 feet high,
and consists of a ground-floor and three vaulted apart-
ments. Hill Burton describes it as a featureless Scotch
peel, which never seems to have possessed the Norman
archway depicted in Grose's Antiquities; but, according
to Dr Ramage, the Norman mouldings have in reality
been plastered over. The barony of Kylosbern belonged
to the crown in the reign of David I. (1123-54) ; his
grandson, Alexander II., confirmed its possession, in
1232, to Ivan de Kirkpatrick, ancestor of that Roger de
CLOVENFORDS
Kirkpatrick who in 1305 ' made siccar ' of the Red
Comyn at Dumfries, and also of the Empress Eugenie.
Thomas Kirkpatrick, for loyalty to Charles I., in 1685
received a baronetcy, the eighth and present holder of
which is Sir James Kirkpatrick (b. 1841 ; sue. 1880) ;
but the estate was sold in 1783 to the Rev. Jas. Stuart-
Menteth, and in 1852 to Douglas Baird, Esq., whose twin
co-heiresses, Mrs Fred. Ern. Villiers and the Countess of
Enniskillen, togetherhold 13,550 acres in theshire, valued
at £11,219 per annum. A mansion built by the first
baronet was, through the carelessness of drunken servants,
burned to the ground on the night of 29 Aug. 1748, with
all the family papers, portraits, and plate ; the present
Closeburn Halt is a very fine Grecian edifice. Wallace
Hall School, giving education in English, mathematics,
and modern and classical languages, was founded in 1723
by Jn. Wallace, merchant in Glasgow, and a native of
Closeburn. The dwelling-house was built in 1795, and
the whole was greatly improved in 1842 ; Crauford Tait
Ramage, LL.D. (1803-81), a zealous antiquary and man
of letters, was rector from 1841. Natives of Closeburn
were Dr John Hunter (1746-1837) and the Rev. Dr
Gillespie (1778-1844), both professors of humanity at St
Andrews, and Dr Aglionby Ross Carson (1780-1850),
rector of Edinburgh High School ; Rt. Paterson ( ' Old
Mortality ') has likewise been claimed, but really was
born in Hawick. The fanatical Elspeth Buchan, with
several of her followers, lodged in the outhouses of New
Cample farm — now ' Buchan Ha' ' — from April 1784 to
March 1787 ; once she was assailed as a witch, but pro-
tected by the sheriff, who afterwards tried 42 of the
rioters. Closeburn has memories, too, of Burns, who
about 1788 paid many a visit at the old castle to Willie
Stewart, the father of ' Lovely Polly,' and factor to Mr
Menteth (W. M'Dowall's Burns in Dumfriesshire, pp.
22-25). Four proprietors hold each an annual value of
£500 and upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, and 3
of from £20 to £100. Comprising the ancient parish
of Dalgarnock since 1697, Closeburn is in the presbytery
of Penpont and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth
£344. The church (1741; 650 sittings) is rather dila-
pidated, and there is some talk of building a new one
on a different site. There is also a Free church; and
Closeburn and Lakehead (girls') public schools, and Gub-
hill and Wallace Hall Academy, with respective accom-
modation for 66, 110, 40, and 314 children, had (1891)
an average attendance of 47, 45, 18, and 185, and grants
of £30, 16s., £33, 15s., £29, 9s., and £168, 12s. 6d.
Valuation £18,333, lis. Pop. (1851) 1732, (1861) 1651,
(1871) 1612, (1881) 1512, (1891) 1333.— Ord. Sur., shs.
9, 10, 15, 16, 1863-64. See pp. 167-304 of C. T. Ram-
age's Brumlanrig Castle and Closeburn (Dumf. 1876).
Clouden. See Cltjden.
Clousta, a bay or voe in Sandsting and Aithsting
parish, Shetland, penetrating the land for 1J mile in a
southerly and south-easterly direction. It affords ex-
cellent anchorage and good shelter.
Clova, a hamlet and a quoad sacra parish of N For-
farshire, in Cortachy and Clova parish. The hamlet,
Milton of Clova, stands, at 800 feet above sea-level, on
the left bank of the South Esk, \\ mile SSW of Loch
Brandy, 15 miles N by W of Kirriemuir, and 19 S by
W of Ballater; at it are a good inn, a public school,
the church, almost rebuilt in 1730, and a Roman Cath-
olic chapel. Its padlocked jougs were presented in
1870 to the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum. On a
neighbouring knoll are the ruins of a castle, the seat
once of a branch of the Ogilvies. The parish is in the
presbytery of Forfar and synod of Angus and Mearns;
its minister's stipend is £105. Pop. (1871) 151, (1881)
105, (1891) 127.— Ord. Sur., sh. 65, 1870.
Clova House. See Auchindoie and Keaen.
Clovenfords, a small village in Caddonfoot quoad
sacra parish, and in the Selkirkshire section of Stow
parish, on the left bank of Caddon Water, 9 furlongs
N of its influx to the Tweed, and 3^ miles W of Gala-
shiels. At it are a station on the Peebles and Galashiels
section of the North British, a post office under Gala-
shiels, with monej order and savings bank departments,
267