Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

ABERFELDY.
20
ABERFOYLE.
part, or estate of Auchmeddan, is elevated 200 or
300 feet above the level of the sea, and has a rugged
surface, and a large proportion of moor and bog.
Several long romantic hollows or deep ravines cleave
the high grounds upward from the beach; and
each, as they advance, branches off on both sides
into lesser ones, which lose themselves among moors
and bogs at a distance of about 3 miles from the
sea. Little wild tumbling streams descend the ra-
vines to the sea; and the mouth of one of these,
called the Dour, gives name to the parish. In the
southern district is the ravine or den of Glasby, tra-
versed by the northern head-stream of the river
Ugie. The greater part of this side of the parish
consists of moors and bogs, interspersed here and
there with corn fields. The coast, especially to the
west of the church, presents a rocky, precipitous,
and lofty front to the sea, insomuch that, in its
whole extent, are only three openings where boats
can land, — one in the north-east corner, one imme-
diately below the church, and the third at the mouth
of the burns of Troup and Auchmeddan, where a
small harbour once existed, but is now totally de-
stroyed. Numerous romantic caves pierce the cliffs
at and below the level of the sea ; and the most re-
markable of these, called Cowshaven, served as a
hiding - place to Lord Pitsligo after the battle of
Culloden, and runs up into the country " nobody
knows how far." The rooks of the parish are highly
interesting to geologists ; and are quarried in sev-
eral places for granite and sandstone, and in two
places for mSlstones. The total yearly value of
raw produce was estimated in 1840 at £13,382 10s.
6d., exclusive of stones and fish, which were esti-
mated at respectively £130 and £360. The value of
assessed property in 1843 was £4,510. The chief
antiquity is the remains of the castle of Dundargue,
a place which made some figure in the civil wars of
the 14th century, situated on a precipitous sand-
stone rock of 64 feet in height, on the beach, and
connected with the mainland only by a narrow neck
of rock and earth. The village of New Aberdour
was founded in the year 1798. Fairs are held at it
on the Tuesday after the 11th of April, on the 26th
of May, on the Tuesday after the 7th of August, and
on the 22d of November ; but they are not well at-
tended. Population of New Aberdour in 1861, 543.
A small fishing village called Pennan stands on the
Auchmeddan part of the coast, and has about half-
a-dozen boats. Population of Pennan in 1851, 168.
Population of the parish of Aberdour in 1831, 1,548;
in 1861, 1,837. Houses, 324.
This parish is in the presbyteiy of Deer and synod
of Aberdeen. Patron, Fordyce of Brucklaw. Sti-
pend, £204 7s. 10d.; glebe, £12. Schoolmaster's
salary, £42 10s.; female teachers, £15. The parish
church is at New Aberdour, and was built in 1818,
and has 800 sittings. A station of the Free Church
is also maintained there ; but the yearly sum raised
in 1865 by the people connected witli it was only
£1 1 10s. 7d. There is a parish school in Pennan.
ABERELLIOT. See Akbirlot.
ABERFELDY, a small post-town in the parishes
of Dull and Logierait, Perthshire. It stands on the
Moness burn, on the south side of the Tay, and on
the great road down Strathtay, about 5 miles from
Taymouth. It consists principally of one long
street, a short one joining that about the centre,
and a small square at their junction ; it has, of late,
been much improved; and it is connected by rail-
way with the Highland line. It contains a Free
church with 800 sittings, an Independent chapel
with 400 sittings, a Baptist chapel with 60 sittings,
branch offices of the Central and the Union Banks, a
savings bank, and a public library. Fairs are held on
the first Thursday of January old style, on the
Tuesday before Kenmore in March, on the last
Thursday of April old style, on the Saturday before.
Amulree in May, on the last Friday of July old
style, and on the last Thursday of October old style.
The scenery in the vicinity of the town, up the
Moness burn, is among the most interesting in
Scotland. See Moxess. To this the well-known
lines of Bums refer, —
" The braes ascend like lofty wa's,
The foaming stream deep roaring fa's,
O'erhung wi' fragrant spreading shaws,
The Dirks of Aberfeldy.
The hoary cliffs are crown'd wt' flowers,
White o'er the linn the burnie pours,
And, rising, weets wi' misty showers
The birks of Aberfeldy."
In a field adjacent to the town, the 42d Highlanders,
so well known by the name of the Black Watch,
and so famous for their bravery in battle, were first
embodied into a regular regiment. Over the Tay,
opposite the town, is an elegant bridge of five
arches, erected in 1733 by General Wade The
view from the centre of this bridge is magnifi-
cent. On the north are the Weem Rock and the
soaring Grampians ; on the east are the rich vale of
Appin and the turrets and woods of Castle-Menzies ;
and all round is a sublime amphitheatre, with a
foreground of objects ever beautiful and often new,
including rich verdant meadows, groves in green
array, and the broad and limpid Tay rolling in its
cradle of granite to
" The white waves of the restless main."
In 1861, the population of the Dull portion of Aber-
feldie was 634; and of the Logierait portion, 511.
ABERFOYLE, a parish, containing a small post-
office village of its own name, in the south-west
corner of Perthshire. It is bounded on the north by
Loch Katrine and Loch Achray, which separate it
from Callander parish ; on the east by the parish of
Port-of-Menteith ; and on the south and west by
Stirlingshire. Its greatest admeasurement is from
the east end of Loch Arclet, on the north-west, to the
bridge across the Forth, on the road from Gartmore,
in the south-eastern extremity, a distance of about
eleven miles ; its greatest breadth from north to
south is towards the centre of the parish, and about
6 miles. The general aspect of this district is ex-
tremely picturesque. It is a narrow tract of coun-
try, bounded on every side by lofty hills and moun-
tains. The bottom of the valley is occupied by a
series of beautiful lakes, skirted with woods of oak,
ash, and birch; and their banks are occasionally
diversified with scanty portions of cultivated ground,
the soil of which has, in the course of ages, been
washed down from the mountains and deposited by
the streams. The mountains are in some instances
clothed with oak-woods more than half-way up;
the lower eminences are, for the most part, covered
to their summits ; the higher regions are overgrown
with heath, and sometimes present only the bare
nigged rock. None of the mountains are of the
first class in height. 'Huge Benvenue 1 and Ben-
chochan, are far overtopped by Benlomond, in the
parish of Buchanan, which, with its pyramidal mass,
terminates the prospect to the west. The rocks are
chiefly micaceous granite. There is a quarry oi
excellent slates, of blue and green colour; and it
employs from 20 to 30 workmen, and produces
about 500,000 slates per annum. Many of the rarer
Alpine plants are to be found upon the mountains.
The black eagle builds in some of the more inac-
cessible rocks ; but it is now very rare. The falcon
is also found here. The most considerable lakes