Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 2

WESTER ESKADALE.
842
WESTHEAD.
WESTER-ELCHIES. See Knockando.
WESTER ESKADALE, a hamlet in the parish
of Kiltarlity, Inverness-shire, — often called simply
Eskadale, which see.
WESTER FOWLIS. See Fowijs-Westek.
WESTER GALLATON. See Gallaton.
WESTER GARTWHINEAN. See Gaetwhi-
NEAN.
WESTERGATE, a suhurh of the town of North
Berwick, in Haddingtonshire.
WESTERHALL. See Westerkirk.
WESTER KILMUIR. See Kilmuir- Wester.
WESTERKIRK, a parish in Eskdale, Dumfries-
shire. Its post-town is Langholm, about 6 miles to
the south-east. It is bounded on the north by Rox-
burghshire, and on other sides by the parishes of
Ewes, Langholm, Tundergarth, Hut'on and Come,
and Eskdalemuir. Its length southward is 10
miles ; and its greatest breadth is 6J miles. The
Esk, just after being formed by the confluence of
the Black Esk and the White Esk, has a beautifully
sinuous and a long course through the southern
district. The Megget and the Stennis, aided by a
few independent brooks, drain the northern district
to the Esk. All the boundary-lines, except at two
gorges, or deep, large, natural cuts, where the Esk
enters and where it departs, are the watersheds of
mountainous or hilly ranges. The line along the
north-east is the summit-ridge of the Southern
Highlands, and the line of division between the
waters of the eastern and of the western seas. The
whole surface, except a narrow belt of valley-ground
along the Esk, is upland ; and a large part of it is
loftily mountainous. The heights are in a few in-
stances heathy; but, in general, they are verdant,
soft in outline, and finely pastoral. About 600 acres
are wooded; about 1,600 are tilled or productive of
meadow-grass; and all the remainder, amounting
to nearly 14-1 7ths of the whole, are grazing-ground
and sheep-walk. The soil on the low grounds along
the Esk is a light and very fertile loam; on the
rising ground, is a deep strong loam, interspersed
with stones ; and, on the tops of many of the hills,
degenerates into moss. Greywacke and grey-
wacke-slate are the prevailing rocks. Secondary
trap, generally in the form of caps, occurs on the
summit of some of the mountains. An antimony
mine occurs at Megget-water, and has been noticed
in our article on Jameston. Game abounds on the
mountains, and fish in the streams. The chief
landowners are the Duke of Buccleugh, Sir Fred-
erick J. W. Johnstone, Bart, of Westerhall, and Mr.
Malcolm of Burnfoot. The mansion of Westerhall
is a fine baronial residence, romantically embosomed
in woods, and overhung by steep, high hills, on the
left bank of the Esk. The mansion of Burnfoot,
where were born the late Admiral Sir Pulteney Mal-
colm and the late General Sir John Malcolm, both
famous men in the annals of British warfare, and
both commemorated by recently erected monuments
at the town of Langholm, is also pleasantly situated
on the Esk, about a mile below Westerhall. Dow-
glen and Hopesrigg are likewise good residences.
The mausoleum of the Johnstone family, situated
in the churchyard, presents a handsome circular
colonnade of fluted Doric pillars, surmounted by a
beautifully carved frieze and an elegant dome. The
antiquities are vestiges of old towers at Westerhall
and Glendinning; vestiges of hill-top camps, sup-
posed to have been outposts of the Roman station
of Castle-O'er in Eskdalemuir ; traces along the vale
of the Esk of a supposed chain of communication
between Castle-O'er and Netherby; a triangular
and seemingly very ancient fortification on the farm
of Enzieholm ; and remains of a Druidical circle on
the peninsula of the Esk and the Megget. Th6
road from Langholm to Ettriek and Selkirk passes
up the vale of the Esk. Population of the parish
in 1831, 642; in 1861,537. Houses, 104. Assessed
property in I860, £5,S02.
This parish is in the presbytery of Langholm, and
Synod of Dumfries. Patron, the Duke of Buccleuch.
Stipend, £153 4s. 7d. ; glebe, £30. Schoolmaster's
salary now is £60, with £20 fees, and £17 other
emoluments. The parish church was built in 1788,
and contains about 400 sittings. A public library
was instituted in 1795 by Mr. Telford, the cele-
brated civil engineer, who was a native of the parish,
and commenced active life in it as a common mason.
He bequeathed for the maintenance of this library
the sum of £1,000. The ancient church and half of
the barony of Westerkirk were given, in 1321, by
Robert I., to the monks of Melrose ; and the church
thence, till the Reformation, was a vicarage. A
chapel subordinate to the church, and dedicated to
St. Martin, stood at Boylrin, and was, in 1391, en-
dowed with some lands by Adam de Glendonyng or
Glendinning of Hawick. Another chapel subor-
dinate to the church stood at Carrick, now in Esk-
dalemuir. In 1703 the district, which now forms
Eskdalemuir, and which hitherto had belonged to
Westerkirk, was erected into a separate parish ;
and, in the same year, part of Staplegordon was an-
nexed to Westerkirk, the other part being annexed
to Langholm.
WESTER LENZIE. See Kirkintilloch.
WESTER LOCH. See Wester Burn, Caith-
ness-shire.
WESTER LOGIE. See Urquhart, Ross-shire.
AVESTER LOVAT. See Kirkhill.
WESTER MARKHOUSE. See Tannadice.
WESTER MILLERHILL. See Millerhill.
WESTERN ISLANDS. See Hebrides.
WESTER PENCAITLAND. See Pencaitlaxd.
WESTER ROSS. See Ross-shire.
WESTERWOOD. See Kilsyth.
"WEST FERRY. See Bkoughty Ferky and
Erskine.
WESTFIELD, a village in the parish and county
of Clackmannan.
WESTFIELD, a hamlet in the parish of Cath-
cart, Renfrewshire.
WESTFIELD, Elginshire. See Srynie (New).
WEST GORDON, a village in the parish of Gor-
don, Berwickshire. It stands 8 miles north-west of
Kelso, on the road thence to Edinburgh.
WESTHALL, an estate and a village in the
parish of Oyne, Aberdeenshire. The estate belongs
to G. E. Dalrymple, Esq., and has recently under-
gone great improvement. An extensive range of
buildings was erected here since 1854, by Mr. Dal-
rymple, at great cost, as a suite of flax mills; and
it is lighted with gas, and employs a great number
of hands. Mr. Dalrymple also built adjacent to
this a number of neat slated cottages for the accom-
modation of the workmen. The mills and the
dwelling-houses constitute the village ; and they
are beautifully situated, and have a pleasant, pros-
perous appearance. Adjacent to them is the Oyne
station of the Great North of Scotland railway. See
Oyne.
WESTHAVEN, a fishing village in the parish
of Panbride, Forfarshire. It stands about a mile
south-west of Easthavcn, and 6 miles south-west of
Arbroath. It is partly a fishing village, maintained
by regular engagement in the fisheries, and partly
a landward village inhabited in a good degree by
agricultural labourers. Population, 301. Houses, 69.
WESTHEAD, a headland in the parish of For-
dyee, to the west of Portsoy, in Banffshire.