Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

TKEI
75
KEI
mile9 the boundary on tlio north and north-east.
The river Nith, devouring the Scaur, and strong in
the attractions of river-beauty, traces the north-
eastern boundary over 4| miles to the south-eastern
extremity. Allanton burn rises in the interior, Mows
a mile southward, traces over 2^ miles the southern
boundary, and then loses itself in the Nith. Six rills,
each about li mile in length, rise in the interior, and
flow almost in parallel lines, and nearly at regular
intervals, eastward or north-eastward, to the Nith
and the Scaur. All the rills beautify the face of the
country, and fling verdure and herbage on their
banks; and one of them traverses a romantic and
exquisitely wooded ravine, and forms, during its
frolicsome course, a remarkably beautiful cascade.
Springs are everywhere abundant; and two small
lakes, both nearly drained, and converted into luxu-
riant meadow, spread out their treasures on the
opposite side of the parish to that watered by the
Nith. Along the south-western verge of the parish
stretches, for 4 miles, a height called Keir hill, ris-
ing probably 800 or 900 feet above sea-level. A
continuation of it, called Capenoch hill, trends a little
into the interior on the north. South-east of the
southern extremity of Keir hill rise the short parallel
ridges of Kilbride and Blackwood hills. Along the
banks of the Scaur and the Nith the surface is a rich
fertile holm, and thence it ascends in a steep wooded-
bank, in a table land, and in a somewhat rapid ac-
clivity to the summit of Capenoch and Keir hills.
The table-land over most of the distance is of con-
siderable breadth; and, being all of alluvial soil,
appears to have been anciently the bed of a large
lake, formed by the Nith before the river ploughed
its way through a hilly obstruction on the south ;
and afterwards it glides up into the gentle slope of
Kilbride hill, and finally — along with the holm and
the intervening bank — becomes lost in Blackwood
hill, which presses close upon the Nith. Most of
the parish is thus a variegated and regular descent
from a hilly summit over a base of 2J miles to the
Nith ; and seen from the highway between Glasgow
and Dumfries, as the road leaves the village of
ThornhilL, and runs down the parish of Closeburn,
it presents a picture of no common beauty ; and
when the road closes in upon the river, and at last
crosses into the parish at its southern extremity along
the famed Auldgirth bridge, the scenes of pictur-
esqueness and profuse attraction presented by Black-
wood hill, and the narrowed vale of the river, and
the adornings of wood and water, are singularly
varied and delightful. But fine as the landscapes
are which the parish exhibits, they are very second-
rate both in power and in expansiveness to those
which higher grounds command. Blackwood hill,
in particular, lifts the eye along all the brilliant and
exulting valley of the Nith from Drumlanrig castle
to the Solway, giving to the view all the richest
part of both upper and lower Nithsdale, screened
at one extremity by the central mountain-chain of
the lowlands of Scotland, and, at the other by the
mountains of Cumberland. The lower grounds of
the parish are abundantly tufted both with natural
wood and with plantation. Sandstone and limestone
are abundant; and the latter is worked in two lo-
calities. Leeches are found in a lochlet near Keir-
mill, and are sometimes sold to the apothecary.
One-half of the parish is arable ; and the other
half is distributed into pasture, meadow, and wood-
lands. The mansions are Capenoch on the north ;
Blackwood on the Nith, at the base of Blackwood
hill ; and Barjary, 2.} miles above the latter, and half-
a-mile from the Nith. On the demesne of Bar-
jary are two remarkable trees, — one an oak, sup-
posed to contain upwards of 800 feet of timber,—
and the other a silver fir, 10 feet in girth, upwards
of 90 feet in height, and sending off pendulous
branches, which form a natural arbour around its
stem. Two hamlets, Keirmilland Barjary, stand in
the vicinity respectively of the parish-church, and
Barjary house. The road from Dumfries to Pen-
pont runs over the whole length of the parish near
the Nith and the Scaur ; the Glasgow and Dum-
fries turnpike runs for half-a-mile through its south-
ern extremity ; and the road from Penpont to Min-
nihive runs a mile closely within its western boun-
dary. Population, in 1801, 771; in 1831, 1,804.
Houses 183. Assessed property, in 1815, £3,075.
— Keir is in the presbytery of Penpont, and synod ot
Dumfries. Patron, the Duke of Buecleuch. Sti-
pend £233 Is. 7d. ; glebe £18. Unappropriated
teinds £87 18s. 5d. The parish-church, a neat
edifice, built in 1814, is situated on the Scaur, a
mile from the northern boundary. Sittings, about
450. There are two parochial schools, attended by
an average of 135 scholars. Salary of each school-
master £25 13s. 4d., with, in one case, £21 fees,
and £3 15s. other emoluments ; and, in the other
case, £22 fees, and £2 other emoluments. A non-
parochial school, attended by 22 scholars, is taught
in the summer months by a female. Keir church
appears anciently to have belonged to some monastery.
On Kilbride hill once stood a chapel, every vestige
of which has disappeared. A rankly luxuriant spot,
very distinguishable from the circumjacent ground,
is believed to have been tbe site of the cemetery.
KEISS, a quoad sacra parish in Caithness, com-
posed of parts of the parishes of Wick and Canisbay,
and constituted in 1833 by the General Assembly.
It is above 5k miles in length, by 5 in breadth
Population, 1,047. Church built by the Parliamen-
tary commissioners in 1827; sittings 338; cost
£1,500; stipend £120, paid by Government. There
is a small Baptist congregation in the parish.
KEITH,* a parish in the county of Banff, bounded
on the north by Rathven and Deskford ; on the east
by Grange and Cairney ; on the south by Cairney ;
and on the west by Botriphine and Boharm. The
river Isla enters the parish on the south, and runs
northwards, between the town of Keith and Fife-
Keith, to an artificial cut, through which, partly, it
is continued, in a more easterly direction, to its junc-
tion with the Altmore burn, which skirts the parish
on the east. This parish stands in the fertile district
of Strathisla, the greater part of which it compre-
hends ; and, though situated nearly in the centre of
the county, it stretches from the eastern to the west-
ern boundary, this being one of the narrowest parts
of the latter. The form of the parish is elliptical,
and its average diameter about 6 miles. It anciently
extended from Fordyce to Malloch, comprehending
all the fertile lands watered by the Isla. No parish
in the north of Scotland contains a more extensive
or fertile tract of arable land than is still comprised
in Keith. This choice district anciently belonged
to the abbots of Kinloss, to whom it was granted by
William the Lion ; and it yielded them a heavy ren-
tal, even in the 16th century, when it was very ill
cultivated. The soil is chiefly loam and clay, with
some of a lighter quality. It is almost all in a high
state of cultivation, chiefly effected since the period
of the revolutionary wars. There are fine planta-
tions on the estates of some of the principal pro-
* The rmmo nf this parish is said to be derived from tiie
Gaelic word ghailk, 'the wind,' pronounced somewhat simi-
larly to Keith. The locality ol the old village and kirk is pecu-
liarly exposed to gu*ts of wind, and is called Arkeith, "an
evident corruption ot the Gaelic words Aid Gliaitk, pronounced
Ard Gui, and signifying 'high wind.' This etymology is also
supported by the ancient manner of spelling the name, — in
some old charters it is written GiM, which still more resem-
bles the word ghait/i."