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

BURNBANK.
208
BURNTISLAND.
day, when he would take her to a field not half-a-
mile distant from the castle, and there settle upon
her all the lands within her view. Avarice is often
credulous, and it was so in this instance. The lady
walked forth with elated expectations; but when,
from a level road, descending a gentle slope, she was
told to look round her, she beheld, with disappointed
emotion, only a verdant circle of about 50 yards in
diameter, finely horizoned with a lofty cope of azure.
Additional interest is given to this place by its wholly
consisting of arable land, and by the romantic ap-
pearance of the mountains, as they sink in the dis-
tance, while you descend the sloping sides of the
dell.
BURLY-GATE. See Largs.
BURNBANK, a fishing village in the parish of
Nigg, Kincardineshire. It has a small harbour, but
only 3 or 4 boats.
BURNBRIDGE, a village in the parish of Muir-
avonside, Stirlingshire.
BURNESS, a parish in the island of Sanda,
Orkney. It comprises the north-west limb of the
island, and is ecclesiastically united to the parish of
Cross. See Sanda and Citoss. A curious tumulus,
described in the 1st vol. of the Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal, was discovered here in 1824.
Population in 1831, 440; in 1861, 532. Houses, 83.
BURNESS (Loch), a lake of limpid water in the
north of the island of Westray, Orkney.
BURNFOOT, a small harbour in the parish of
Rerrick, Kirkcudbrightshire. See Abbey-Burn and
Rerrick.
BURNFOOT, a small harbour in the parish of
Old Luce, at the head of Luce Bay, within 2 miles
of the village of Glenluce, AVigtonshire. It accom-
modates only small vessels of less than 60 or 70 tons
burden.
BURNHAVEN, a fishing village, near the mouth
of the burn of Invernettie, on the north side of the
bay of Sandford, in the parish of Peterhead, Aber-
deenshire. It is quite modern, and was erected by
George Mudie, Esq. of Meethill, who also at the
cost of about £300 constructed a landing place for
the fishing-boats. Population, about 120.
BURNHEAD, a small village in the parish of
Penpont, Dumfries-shire. It stands within J a mile
of the Nith and about 1J mile west of Thornhill, on
the road from that town to Minihive. Here is an
United Presbyterian church, which was erected in
the year 1800, and contains 700 sittings.
BURNHOUSE, a new village in the parish of
Beith, on the road from the town of Beith to Kil-
marnock, Ayrshire.
BQRNMOUTH, a fishing village, at the bottom
of a steep ravine, in the parish of Ayton, Berwick-
shire. It has a station on the North British railway.
BURNS, a hamlet in the Milton section of the par-
ish of Markinch,Fifeshire.
BURNSIDE, a village in the parish of Kettle,
Fifeshire. It is of quite recent origin, and is situ-
ated a little south-west of the village of Kettle, and
may be regarded as a suburb of it. Population in
1851, about 200.
BURNSIDE and ROADSIDE, two mutually con-
tiguous villages, forming jointly a line of cottages
along the Montrose and Aberdeen highway, a short
distance west of the kirktown of St. Cyrus, in the
parish of St. Cyrus, Kincardineshire. Population
105.
BURNSIDE OF TORRICH, a new neat hamlet,
on the estate of Mr. Mackintosh, in the parish of
Nairn, Nairnshire.
BURNSWARK. See Beunswaek.
BURNTISLAND, a parish containing a town of
its own name on the south coast of Fifeshire. It
lies opposite Granton; and is bounded on the
south by the frith of Forth, and on other sides by
the parishes of Kinghorn and Aberdour. It waj
anciently called Western Kinghorn, but eventually
took the name of the town ; and this was anciently
called Bartland or Bertiland, — the modern name
Burntisland being a corruption. The parish is
about 2J miles long from north to south, and about
2J miles broad; and it contains about 2,900 imperial
acres, — of which 90 are under wood, and between
400 and 500 are in pasture. A plain extends in-
ward from the sea about half-a-mile, when the
ground becomes abruptly and boldly hilly, and the
soil of inferior quality. There are 'about 3 miles of
coast. To the westward of the town, the shore is
rocky; to the eastward, it is sandy. In the sands
are excellent beds of cockles and other shell-fish.
The hills on the north exhibit marks of volcanic
fire. Dunearn is very like an extinguished volcano,
the crater of which has been converted into a small
lake. This hill rises to the height of 695 feet above
sea-level, and commands an extensive and very
gorgeous prospect. On the north side of the
hills are basaltic columns; and on their tops
are cairns and tumuli of great size. The country
around Burntisland is chiefly composed of floetz
rocks and alluvial strata. There is a quarry of ex-
cellent freestone ; and a great extent of the parish
abounds in limestone of the very best quality, in
which curious fossils occur resembling those de-
scribed in our article Burdiehouse. Starlyburn, on
the western boundary, produces beautiful specimens
of stalactites, and incrustations of moss and wood;
and it falls over a high rock amid luxuriant foliage,
into the sea, making a finely picturesque cascade.
There are twelve principal landowners; three of
whom are resident in the handsome seats of Colins-
well, Newbigging, aud Grange. A sandy downs
called the links lies on the east side of the town;
and Craigholm, near the extremity of this, was for
some years the summer residence of the Rev. Dr.
Chalmers. Rossend Castle, situated on an eminence
at the west end of the town, surrounded by planta-
tions, and overhanging the harbour, was built in the
15th century by Durie of Durie, and has passed
through the hands of many different proprietors.
It was long a military strength, and belonged at
one time to Kirkcaldy of Grange, and served at
another as the head-quarters of the armed Cove-
nanters of the circumjacent country; but has been
much altered by modern additions, and now forms
a striking feature in the rich scenery of the district.
The ruins of a fortaliee, called Knockdavie, stand on
a rising-ground at Stenhouse in the north-west part
of the parish. The rains of the original parish
church, bearing marks of great antiquity, stand at
the village of Kirkton ; and around them is a small
burying-ground. There is an extensive distillery
at Grange, about half a mile north of the town,
and there are two corn-mills in the vicinity of the
town, — one of them driven by the sea. The mill-
dam, in this latter case, is a rare object of its class
in Scotland — or perhaps the only one — and might
be advantageously imitated in some low coast dis-
tricts where there is a deficiency of fresh water
power. It has been proposed also as a reservoir for
cargoes of living fish, with the view of maintaining
a regular supply of fresh fish during stress of wea-
ther. The following is a description of it: — " A
quarter of a mile west from Burntisland Harbour,
there is a creek verging inland from Rossend Point,
in an east-north-east direction. The creek is a \ of
a mile in breadth at its entrance, and § of a mile in
length. Exactly about the middle of it there is a
stone wall 12 feet in height and 9 feet broad, built