Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ST ANDREWS-LHANBRYD
also a Free church of St Andrews; and three public
schools — Deerness, St Andrews, and Tankerness — with
respective accommodation for 165, 55, and 83 children,
have an average attendance of about 120, 40, and 45,
and grants amounting to nearly £165, £55, and £60.
Valuation (1894) of St Andrews, £1925; of Deerness,
£1876, 17s. Pop. of entire parish (1821) 1548, (1861)
1681, (1871) 1733, (1881) 1695, (1891) 1607, of whom
763 were in St Andrews and 844 in Deerness.
St Andre ws-Lhanbry d, a parish containing the village
of Lhanbryd in the NE of the county of Elgin and im-
mediately E of the burgh of Elgin. It is bounded N
by the parish of Drainie, NE by the parish of Urquhart,
SE by the parish of Speymouth, S by the parish of
Rothes, SW by the parish of Elgin, and W by the
parishes of Elgin and Spynie. At the centre of the W
side the boundary is formed by the river Lossie for 1§
mile below the bend at Roy's Pot; at the NW corner for
| mile by the Spynie Canal; and near the SE corner for
| mile by one of the head-streams of the Red Burn; else-
where the line is artificial. The shape of the parish is
highly irregular. There is a compact northern portion
measuring fully 5J miles from the point where the
parishes of Drainie, Urquhart, and St Andrews meet on
the N to Mains of Cotts on the S, and with an average
breadth of about 2 miles. From the SE corner of this
a long straggling projection passes southward by Cran-
loch, and after narrowing to about 200 yards at Old-
shields, broadens out again into the triangular portion
of Teindland about 1 J by 2 miles. The extreme length
of the parish, from the point already mentioned on the
N, south-south-westward to the extreme southerly point
at the top of Findlay Seat (861 feet), is 8£ miles; and
the total area is 9359 "544 acres, of which 162 "983 are
water. The surface is flat in the N, undulating in the
centre — many of the hillocks being covered with thriv-
ing plantations — and the southern prolongation is a
rough moorland, the highest point of the parish being
over 1000 feet, at the SW corner of this projection.
The drainage is carried off by the river Lossie, which,
entering near the centre of the W side, flows first east-
ward and then northward through the parish in a course
of about 5 miles; by the Lhanbryd or Longhill Burn,
which flows along the centre, and by the Red Burn in
the extreme S. In the N end of the parish is all that
remains of the old Loch of Spynie, now reduced to a
portion 5 furlongs in length by 1J in breadth; and at
the point where the southern prolongation is given off
is Loch-na-bo (4 x 1 J furl. ), and two smaller lochans
beside it. The soil is a sandy loam, which is, however,
fertile. About 4000 acres are under tillage, about 700
under wood, and much of the rest is waste ground. The
underlying rock is mostly an impure limestone, and
masses of rocks of Jurassic age are found scattered
through the soil and subsoil. On the west side, N of
Elgin, at Linksfield, a curious patch of rock, supposed
to be of Rhsetic age, was once laid bare, but the section
is no longer visible. The parish is traversed across the
centre for 3$ miles by the great main road from Inver-
ness to Aberdeen, and the Forres and Keith section of
the Highland railway is a little to the S of this road.
Two sections of the Great North of Scotland railway
system also pass through the northern and western por-
tions of the parish. To the SE of Lhanbryd station are
the remains of a stone circle, and many fine flint and
stone weapons have been found at several places. The
portion of the parish to the N was the chapelry of Inch-
broom, that to the E was the chapelry of Lhanbryd
('the church of St Bridget'), and that to the W the
chapelry of Kilmalemnoc, the last two dating from
Ouldee times. On the rising ground on the centre of
the W side, on the road from Inverness to Aberdeen,
formerly stood a stone cross marking the point where
Elgin Cathedral first became visible. The adjoining
farm is still called Stonecrosshill. The old churches of
Lhanbryd and St Andrews are gone, but the church-
yards remain, the former at the village and the latter
at a bend of the Lossie near Kirkhill. The tower of
Ooxton is separately noticed. Besides the village of
1434
ST BOSWELLS
Lhanbryd, lying along the road from Inverness to Aber-
deen near the E side of the parish, St Andrews contains
also part of the burgh of Elgin. The village, which
has a station on the Highland railway, 3 J miles E of
Elgin, has a number of well-built houses, the whole
place having been re-arranged and laid out in 1854 under
the direction of the trustees of James, second Earl of
Fife. There is a post office under Elgin. The church-
yard, near the centre of the village, contains one or two
old monuments. There is a wool mill, and besides the
industries connected with the Elgin portion — comprising
an iron-foundry, large wool mills, and a saw and flour
mill — there is a distillery at Link wood on the SW, which
was greatly enlarged and extended in 1875. The resi-
dences are Pitgaveny House in the N and Dunkinty
House on the SW. The former — the locality of which
is identified by Dr Skene with the Bothgouanan where
King Duncan was killed — is a four-storey edifice, ' after
a Portuguese model;' and the latter is a good building
with Scottish baronial features, erected in 1876-78.
The principal landowner is the Duke of Fife. The
parishes of St Andrews and Lhanbryd were united in
1780, and the conjoint parish is in the presbytery of
Elgin and the synod of Moray. The church is near the
centre of the parish, and the living is worth £266 a
year. Under the school board St Andrews-Lhanbryd
and Cranloch schools, with accommodation for 217 and
100 pupils respectively, have attendances of about 130
and 50, and grants of nearly £145 and £40. The
latter is a combination school for the parishes of Elgin
and St Andrews-Lhanbryd. Pop. (1801) 799, (1831)
1087, (1861) 1402, (1871) 1346, (1881) 1396, (1891) 1299,
of whom 676 were males and 643 females. Houses (1891)
inhabited 262, uninhabited 17, and being built 1. —
Ord. Sur., shs. 95, 85, 1876.
St Boswells, a village and a parish of NW Roxburgh-
shire. The village of St Boswells or Lessuddeb stands
near the right bank of the river Tweed, If mile ESE of
St Boswells station, and 4 miles SE of Melrose, with a post
office under Newtown St Boswells. A place of high
antiquity, it is thought to have got its original name,
Lessedwin ( 'manor-place of Edwin '), either from Eadwine
of Northumbria (586-633) or from some yet earlier
prince. It contained sixteen strong bastel houses in
1544, when it was burned by the English; and now it
consists of one long street, extending north-eastward
from St Boswells Oreen. This common, about 40 acres
in extent, is the scene of a fair on 18 July, or the follow-
ing Monday if the 18th falls on a Sunday. At the close
of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, St
Boswells fair was the greatest in the South of Scotland
for lambs, cattle, horses, wool, and general business;
and from £8000 to £10,000 changed hands in the course
of the day. It was largely attended by the tinkers and
potters of the Border counties. In his History of the
Gipsies (2d ed., New York, 1878) Mr Simson describes
their encampment, and states that on one occasion
' there were upwards of 300 Gipsies in the place. Part
of them formed their carts, lad„en wijh earthenware,
into two lines, leaving a space between them like a street.
In the rear of the carts were a few tents, in which were
Gipsies, sleeping in the midst of the noise and bustle of
the market; and numbers of children, horses, asses, and
dogs, hanging around them. . . . Any one desirous
of viewing an Asiatic encampment in Scotland should
visit St Boswells Green a day or two after the fair.'
Water is brought to the village from Heckside reservoir
by a main 8 miles long, for which a new pipe was laid
in 1894 at an expense of about £500. There is one good
inn, the Buccleuch Arms, situated on the Green, and
much frequented during the hunting season ; and at the
end of the Green are the kennels of the Buccleuch fox-
hounds (56 couples), erected by the late Duke of Buo-
cleuch about 1830. In the hunt the three counties of
Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Berwick are scoured. Braeheads,
a ridge to the N of the village, commands a most ex-
quisite view of the ruins of Dryburgh, the winding
Tweed, and the triple Eildons. Pop. (1831) 433, (1861)
447, (1871) 556, (1881) 555, (1891) 564.