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

ACHALICK.
26
ACHRAY.
stained from breaking ground in the churchyard of I
Glentanner on those days of the week, out of grati-
tude for the appearance of deliverance from such an
awful enemy to the human race. The observance,
which is still most scrupulously adhered to, has
more likely had its origin in the dark days of igno-
rance and popish superstition. The title of Earl of
Aboyne merged, in 1833, in that of Marquis of
Huntly. It was created by James VI. in 1599.
Population in 1831, 1,163; in 1861, 1,160. Houses,
211.
This parish is in the presbytery of Kincardine
O'Neill, and synod of Aberdeen. Patron, the Mar-
quis of Huntly. Stipend, £160 15s. Id., with manse
and glebe. Schoolmaster's salary of Aboyne school,
£35: of Glentanner school, £30. The parish church
is a very handsome edifice, built in 1842, and has
628 sittings. There is a Free church; attendance
at it 150 ; sum raised in 1865, £44 1 1 s. 5-i-d. There
is a female school supported bv Lady Huntly.
ABRUTHVEN. See Auchterarder.
ACH-, or Auch-, a prefix in many topographical
names of Gaelic origin. It signifies simply 'a field,'
in a loose or general sense of that word; so that very
few of the names compounded with it have a gra-
phic character, or even a very definite or well-ascer-
tained reference.
ACHAISTAL. See Latheron.
ACHALHANZIE. See Crieff.
ACHALICK, a bay on the east side of Loch
Fyne, about 3 miles south of Kilfinan church, Ar-
gyleshire.
ACHALL, a lake in the parish of Lochbroom,
Ross-shire. It is situated about 3 miles west of
Ullapool, and is skirted by the road thence to Oikel-
Bridge. It measures about 2J miles in length, and
upwards of 1 mile in breadth : and is variously embo-
somed in green hills, rugged heights, and wooded
promontories ; and, under some aspects, is one of the
prettiest pieces of water in the Highlands.
ACHALLADER, Se.j Glenorchy.
ACHALL Y. See Bexachally and Cluxie.
ACHANDRAINE, a village in the parish of In-
veraiy, Argyleshire. Population, about 80.
ACHANDUIM. See Lismore.
ACHANEILEIN, a quagmire, or quaking bog, of
unknown depth, about three - quarters of a mile
broad, and upwards of 5 miles long, in the parish of
Ardnamurchan, Argyleshire. It lies along the south
side of Lochshiel.
ACHARACLE, or Aharcle, a government church
district in the parish of Ardnamurchan, Argyleshire
and Inverness-shire. It consists chiefly of the east-
em portion of Ardnamurchan, but comprises also a
part of Sunart and a part of Moidart. Its post-town
is Strontian. The church and the manse are situ-
ated at the west end of Lochshiel. The population,
a number of years ago, amounted to 2,026, of whom
1,200 were Roman Catholics. There was a Free
church station for Acharacle and Moidart ; the yearly
sum raised in connexion with which in 1853 was £5
16s. Id.
ACHARAINEY. See Halkirk.
ACHARN, a village in the parish of Kenmore,
Perthshire. It stands on the south shore of Loch
Tay, 1| mile above the village of Kenmore. It is a
neat, snug, little place, and is famous for a pic-
turesque waterfall on a bum which rushes past it
to the lake. "The bum, precipitating its waters
over the side of a deep and wooded dell, first per-
forms a perpendicular descent of fully 50 feet, sep-
arating towards the bottom into two vertical streams,
which are caught by a small basin; whence the wa-
ter escapes by successive inclined leaps, the whole
forming a cascade apparently about 80 or 90 feet
high." [Anderson's Guide to the Highlands.! Po-
pulation of the village, 42.
ACHBRECK, a mission - station on the Royal
Bounty, in Glenlivet, in the parish of Inveraven,
Banffshire. See Glenlivet, Inveraven, and Banff-
shire Railway.
ACHENACRAIG. See Achnacratg.
ACHERUACH. See Strathdon.
ACHESON'S HAVEN, a small harbour near
Prestonpans, in the county of East Lothian. It
was constructed by the monks of Newbottle, on
their grange of Preston. It is often named Mom-
son's haven, from one of its later proprietors.
ACHILTY (Loch). See Coxa-re.
ACHINBLAE. See Adchinblae.
ACHINCASS. See Kjrkpatrick-Juxta
ACHINDAVY. See Auchendavy.
ACHINDUIN. See Lismore.
ACHLOUCHRIE. See Tannadice.
ACHMITHY. See Auchmithy.
ACHMORE. See Weem.
ACHNACARY. See Archaig (Loch).
ACHNACRAIG, or Achexacraig, a small har-
bour, with a post-office, in the parish of Toresay,
and on the east coast of the island of Mull, Argyle-
shire. It is situated at the entrance of Loch Don,
18 miles south-east of Aros, and 132 west by north
of Edinburgh. It is the principal ferry of Mull,
first to the opposite island of Kerrera, a distance of
about 4J miles, and thence to the mainland near
Oban, a distance of 4 miles. Great numbers of
black cattle are conveyed from it for the lowland
markets; and formerly those also from Coll and
Tyree were landed on the farther side of Mull and
reshipped here.
ACHNAGOL, a village in the parish of Inverary,
Argyleshire. Population, about 90.
ACHNAVARN. See Halkirk.
ACHRANNIE (Slugs of), two romantic cataracts
on the river Isla, on the boundary between the par-
ishes of Glenisla and Liutrathen, Forfarshire.' They
occur about 2 miles below the Reeky linn. See
Isla (The). " The upper one," says the new statist
of Glenisla, " is the most deserving of notice. Here
the river is suddenly contracted by stupendous cliffs
into a space scarcely exceeding 3 yards in breadth.
Through this frightful chasm the deep boiling flood
forces itself with tremendous power, and in curling
wreaths' of foam, thunders down a steep broken
channel of considerable length, into a gloomy but
spacious ravine, walled by rocks quite perpendicular
and of great altitude. These are surmounted by a
profusion of trees, exceedingly rich and varied in
their foliage, which the hand of man never planted,
and many of which he will never dare to approach."
ACHRAY (Loch), a beautiful sheet of water in
Perthshire, between Loch-Katrine and Loch-Ven-
nachar, and at a nearly equal distance from both.
With these lakes it is connected by two small
streams, — one of which flows into its western ex-
tremity from Loch-Katrine, while the other, issuing
from its eastern end, carries its waters into Loch-
Vennachar. The lake receives its name from the
farm of Achray , situated on its south-western shore ;
the term in Gaelic signifies ' the level field.' Loch-
Achray, therefore, means ' the lake of the level
field.' Compared with either of its sister-lochs,
Loch- Achray is but of small dimensions ; its utmost
length being about a mile, and its breadth scarcely
half-a-mile ; but the epithet ' lovely ' has been, with
peculiar propriety, applied to this lake by Sir Wal-
ter Scott, as it is hardly possible to conceive any
natural sceneiy more lovely than that presented by
the shores of Loch-Achray. The northern shore is
bold and rocky, but its harsher features are softened