Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

GARVEL POINT
without mortar, and measuring 25 feet by 15. NE of
this is a building resembling the cells appropriated to
the abbots of these primitive monasteries. Farther off,
on higher ground, are the remains of a kiln, and on a
slope near the shore two beehive cells resembling those
used by anchorites.' See Appendix to Dr Reeves'
Adamnan (Edinb. 1874), and vol. ii., pp. 78, 97, 128,
246, of Dr Skene's Celtic Scotland (Edinb. 1877).
Garvel Point. See Greenock.
Garvock is a parish in Kincardineshire, bounded on
the NE by the parish of Arbuthnott, on the SE by Ben-
holm and St Cyrus, on the SW by Marykirk, and on
the NW by Laurencekirk. Its extreme length, from
NE to SW, is rather more than 7 miles; its greatest
breadth, from NW to SE, about 4 miles; and its area is
7982 acres, of which 16 are water. The name is derived
from two Celtic words denoting a ' rough marsh or
meadow.' Though cultivation has done much in the
way of improvement, there are still parts of the parish
to which the original name is not inappropriate. It is
intersected, but very unequally, by what is distinctively
named the 'Hill of Garvock,' a range of high land
covered with heath. On the NW of this ridge are
Barnhill and the upper lands of several farms otherwise
lying in Laurencekirk. On its S lies much the larger
part of the parish, descending gently to form a hollow
plain, chiefly of cultivated land, and rising again to
higher ground (where it borders upon Benholm and St
Cyrus), varied by a single narrow opening, the source of
the romantic Den Finella. Bervie Water, well known
to anglers, winds 1J mile along the border of Garvock,
separating it from Arbuthnott. It receives two incon-
siderable streams in the parish, one of them flowing,
when not checked by drought, through the picturesque
Woodburnden. The surface of the parish along the
Bervie Water is 140 feet above the level of the sea. It
rises thence, and at Denhead attains a height of 462
feet, falling on the SE border to 455' feet. The three
highest points of the Hill of Garvock are cairns, situated
from the parish church respectively 7 furlongs NE, 3
furlongs NW, and 12 furlongs SW, and their various
altitudes being 854, 813, and 915 feet. On the last the
tower of Johnston is built. Those cairns and others in
different parts of the parish are supposed to be relics of
the Druids; and several have been found to contain
evidence of having been places of sepulture at a very
early period. There is one on Barnhill, which tradition
marks as the grave of two travelling merchants who,
early in the 18th century, quarrelled and fought on the
spot, and were both killed. Here it may be noted, in
the words of Mr Jervise, that 'stone cists, .flint arrow-
heads, and curious stone balls have been found in vari-
ous parts of Garvock; and in March 1875 there was
discovered, at a depth of 15 inches, in a gravel hillock
near Brownies' Leys, an oval-shaped vessel made of
burned clay, about 11 inches deep by about 8 inches
wide, and containing part of a skull and other human
remains. ' But the spot which has attained the greatest
celebrity is that known as Brownies' Kettle, or Sheriffs
Kettle, on the farm of Brownies' Leys and estate of Davo.
Here was the caldron in which John Melville of Glen-
bervie, Sheriff of the Mearns, met his cruel fate at the
hands of his brother barons, being ' sodden and suppit
in bree, ' in literal compliance with the too hasty sen-
tence of his majesty James I. The story is too well
known for a detailed account to be given here. The
unnatural deed was perpetrated about 1420 or 1421,
and on 1 Sept. of the latter year, Hugh Arbuthnott,
George Barclay, Alexander Falconer, William the Gra-
ham, Gilbert Middleton, Patrick Barclay, and Alexander
of Graham were received ' to the lawes of Clane Macduff
for the deid of quhillome John the Malaville, Laird of
Glenbervy.' The chief actor, David Barclay, preferred
to seek for safety by building the Kaim of Mathers, to
the security of which he retired for a time. The soil
has been described as 'mostly either thin or medium
loam resting on a hard subsoil, or stiff clayey loam lying
on a cold sour bottom. Considering that a large portion
of this parish consists of uncultivated hilly ground, the
642
GARVOCK
rise in rental must be regarded as very large. As already
indicated a large extent of land has been reclaimed on
the slope of Garvock Hill during the last twenty-five
years' {Trans. Eighl. and Ag. Soc, 1881, p. 112).
Tradition bears that a large part of Garvock was in
ancient times a forest, and there are traces of the deer-
dyke by which it was enclosed. It is uncertain how
much interest was held in the parish by Hugh le Blond,
who had owned the patronage, and land also in the
neighbourhood, of the church, or how long that interest
continued in the family of Arbuthnott. But in the first
quarter of the 14th century the lands of Garuocis were
among the gifts to Sir Alexander Fraser, Thane of Cowie,
brother-in-law of King Robert I. , and Great Chamberlain
of Scotland, who fell at the Battle of Dupplin in 1329.
His grand-daughter, Margaret Fraser, became the wife
of Sir William Keith, founder of the castle of Dunnottar,
and the barony of Garuoeis was for several generations in
possession of the Keiths-Marischal. It is included in
charters to the first earl and the fourth, who died in
1581. In his time a lease of the lands of Shiells was
given to James Keith, great-grandson of the second earl,
'a man of parts and merits,' devoted to Queen Mary,
a favourite of his chief, and captain of the castle of Dun-
nottar. He was head of the family of Craig, and, though
possessed of lands in several counties, including some in
Garvock, he made his residence on Shiells. There he
had virtually exercised the powers of baron, administer-
ing justice and holding councils on the Baron-hill (Barn-
hill); while the adjoining height, still known as Gallow-
bank, had been utilised by the grim ' finisher ' of the
law. The 17th century began the breaking up of the
barony into various holdings. Before 1628, Bradieston
('town of the fiat meadow land') was in possession of
Robert Keith, grandson of the above-mentioned James,
and Provost of Montrose, who subsequently acquired the
barony of Scotston and Powburn and the lands of Haddo.
He was commissioner from the burgh of Montrose in the
Scottish Parliament of 1639, and he died in 1666. His
initials, 'R. 1666 K.,' with shield and crest, are still
found on a stone which had been part of a funeral
monument, and is now built into a wall of the church.
The lands of Balhagarty ('town of the priest') are
known to have belonged in 1637 to Earl Marischal, and
they were in possession of Scott of Scotstarvet before
1672. There was a charter of the lands of Whitefield
in 1617 to Sir Robert Arbuthnott and his wife, Mary
Keith; and in 1677 the Hon. Alexander, younger son
of the first Viscount Arbuthnott, had a charter of the
lands of Tullochs ('little hills '). In the last quarter of
the 17th century three branches of a distinguished
family were conterminous proprietors. In 1672 the
lands of Barnhill and Henstown were in possession of
Lord Falconer of Haulkerton; in 1682 Smiddiehill and
adjoining parts belonged to Sir David Falconer of New-
ton; and in 1684 the lands of Shiells were disponed to
Sir Alexander Falconer of. Glenfarquhar. The eldest
branch succumbed, and the Haulkerton title and estates
passed to Glenfarquhar, who enjoyed them only for
three years, when David Falconer of Newton succeeded,
as fifth Lord Falconer; and, coming into possession of
the whole lands which had belonged to the three
families, was probably the largest heritor of Garvock for
the time. Space cannot be given for a detailed account
of the transmission of the various lands to their present
respective proprietors, but it may be stated that in
course of this transition the parish numbered among its
heritors more branches than one of the Barclays, descend-
ants of the once powerful De Berkeleys. The church
was rated in 1275 at 18 merks. In 1282 Hugh le Blond,
Lord of Arbuthenoth, granted to the monks of Arbroath
the patronage of the church of Garvock, with an ox-gang
of land and some common pasture. The earliest re-
corded vicar, was William, who did homage to King
Edward in 1296. Coming to Reformation times, the
church 'with three others was served, in 1574, by one
minister, who had the Kirklands and a money stipend
of £133, 6s. 8d. Scots. The reader had £20 Scots.
There has been no vacancy in the office of parish minis-