Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1886 - Slater's (late Pigot and Co's) Royal national commercial directory and topography of Scotland

SLATER'S
DIRECTORY
ARBROATH,
"WITH THE PARISHES AND VILLAGES OF ST. VIGEANS, ARBIRLOT, MARY WELL, AUCHMITHIE AND COLLISION.
ARBROATH, formerly called Aberbrothoclc, is a royal burgh, a sea-
port, and the seat of a presbytery, 60 miles n.n.E; from Edin-
burgh, 17 n.e. from Dundee, 15 s.e, from Forfar, and 12 s. from
Montrose, situated on a small plain, on the coast of the German
Ocean, and surrounded on the north-west and east by cmiuences,
in an amphitheatric form. About a mile north-east, but locally
in the parish of St. Vigeans, the coast becomes very bold, rocky,
and perpendicular. In the face of these cliffs are a number of
caves and arches perforated by the action of the waves. Tbey are
a great attraction to visitors, having been rendered famous by Sir
Walter Scott in his "Antiquary." This is a town of early origin,
owing its rise to an important monastic institution, founded here
by William the Lion, about the year 1178; the remains of this
edifice are strikingly picturesque, and consist of ruinous towers .of
the most solid construction, columns overthrown and broken in
pieces, Gothic windows, cloisters, staircases, &o. t all exhibiting
the ravages of time. The church of this abbey has been a most
magnificent fabric ; a part of the abbot's lodgiugs. which stands a
little distance from the church, still remains. The monks first
came from Kelso, and Reginalius (a monk of Tyron), was its first
abbot. It was very extensively endowed with lands and other gifts
by Kings William I., Alexander II., and Robert I., and their nobility.
It possessed forty-six parish churches, and extensive lauds in
several counties, particularly in the north of Scotland, with
privileges of regality, &c. The abbots of this foundation had
privileges which others did not enjoy — they were exempt from
assisting at the yearly synods, and had the distinction of making
use of and wearing the pontifical ornaments. King John con-
ferred on the inhabitants of the place the same privileges that
his subjects enjoyed throughout all England, except in his
city of London. The town is situated on both banks of the
river Brothock, and in the parishes of Arbroath and St. Vigeans.
It contains several elegant streets, the principal business street
being the High street, with churches, flax mills, and numerous
factories. In 1812 a town house was erected, and in 1855, at the
rear of it in an open space, a very handsome and commodious
market house was built by the magistrates and town council, at an
outlay of about £7,000 ; these, together with several other buildings,
numerous new churches and places of worship, add much to the
appearance of the town ; the streets have also been greatly im-
proved, by superior paving and Bewerage, and by the addition of
elegantly fitted and well supplied shops.
At the commencement of the eighteenth century Arbroath
had but little trade, nor did it claim any notice as a place of
manufacture. Nothing was then directly imported, except a
small cargo of wood occasionally from Norway; flax, iron, and
other useful commodities were purchased from the merchants
in Dundee and Montrose. About the year 1738, the manufacture
of coarse linens was introduced by the following accident : —
A weaver in the town having a small quantity of flax, unfit
for the kind of cloth then usually brought to market, made
it into a web, and offered it to another of the inhabitants at a price
by which he was willing to be the loser; the purchaser who had
previously been in Germany, remarked a similarity between this
piece of cloth and he manufacture of Osnaburg, and prevailed
upon the weaver to make trial of other webs of the same texture;
the experiment succeeded — a company was established, and
other parts of the county soon availed themselves of the discovery.
The staple trade of Arbroath at the present day is the manufacture
of sail cloth and other coarse linens ; the preparation and spinning
of the yarns of these productions of the looom is carried on exten-
sively, and chiefly by steam power, by many firms and individuals
of the first respectability. Jute spinning has recently been intro-
duced, but as > t- 1 it is of small extent compared with flax spinning.
The staple manufacture has been much developed during the last
fifteen years. In addition to the linen trade there are various con-
cerns of magnitude, including engineering works, iron foundries, a
ship building yard (withapacent slip), extensive tanneries, roperies,
&c., and a good trade exists in the exportation of grain and
potatoes. Considerable improvements have been made on one
harbour, the principal being the conversion of the inner harbour
into a wet dock. For^these works a loan of £20,000 was obtained
from Government, but much more than that sum was expended.
As a result of this improvement a large class of vessels, including
steamers, are frequently in port. There is a neat signal tower for
communication with the Bell (or Inch Cape) Kock, rising from the
German Ocean, about twelve miles in a south easterly direction
from Arbroath. Of this rock, and the tradition attached to it, a
most entertaining account will be found in Chambers' " Gazetteer."
On " the rock " is a lighthouse, the first stone of which was laid on
July, 1808, and the beacon first loomed over the deep on the 1st of
February, 1811. At the lighthouse there are a principal light-
keeper and three assistants ; each, in his turn goes on the shore at
the expiration of every six weeks, with liberty to remain a fort-
night. In the town are buildings erected, where each keeper has
apartments for the accommodation of his family ; and connected
with the establishment is a very neat signal tower situated near
the harbour ; this structure, about eighty feet in height, is fur-
nished with an excellent telescope; and signals are arranged
with the persons at the lighthouse on the rock, by the light-
keeper on shore, daily, at nine , morning, weather permitting.
There is an attendant vessel from Arbroath engaged to and fro in
the summer time in charge of a master, but in winter it is by
steamer from Granton. The monetary transactions of the town are
facilitated by five banking establishments— branches respectivelyof
the British Linen Company, the Clydesdale riauk, Limited, the
Commercial Bank of Scotland.Limited, the Royal Hank of Scotland,
and the Bank of Scotland, all accoennodn ted in handsome buildings ;
there is a bank for savings, well sustained by many provident de-
positors. There are numerous inns, and several newsrooms and
libraries. A large public hall, with subsidiary rooms, &c, in the
High street, was erected in 1866, by au incorporated company; and
the parishes of Arbroath and Saiut Vigeans have also erected a
handsome combination poorhouse in an elevated and healthy
suburb of the town.
Arbroath is a verv ancient burgh of regality, being founded
at the same time with the abbey. It was then made a free
burgh, and ultimately a burgh royal by crown charter in 1599.
It is governed by a provost, three bailies, a dean of guild, treasurer,
and thirteen town councillors, and it has six incorporated trades,
viz., hammermen, glovers, shoemakers, weavers, tailors, and bakers,
besides two incorporations of seamen and brewers, and the Guildry
Incorporation. It unites with Forfar, Montrose, Brechin and In-
verbervie in sending one member to the Imperial Parliament.
The Right Hon. W. E. Baxter, of Kincaldrum, Forfarshire, is the
present member. Burgh, police and justice of the peace courts are
held statedly in the police court once a week, or more frequently if
necessarv, and a sheriff's court every alternate month for the re-
covery of debts not exceeding £12. There are more than twenty
places of worship in the town and suburbs of Arbroath; their
names, denominations, and respective sites, with the ministers
ofiiciating, are given at a subsequent page. Au elegant steeple, one
hundred and fifty feet in height, was a number of years since added
to the parish church. There are several excelleut public educational
establishments in Arbroath, iucluding the Arbroath High School,
and several large and elegant public schools recently erected by the
Burgh School Board. The Arbroath Guide is the principal news-
paper, and is conducted upon Liberal principles.
The local charities of the town include the Infirmary
and Dispensary, a handsome stone building situated on
the high common, and two destitute sick societies; also
nine mortifications, viz., Carmichael's, founded 1738, out
of which the widows of seven shipmasters set a division
half-yearly; Colvill's, founded 1812, out of which £60 annually ia
expended on the education of ten poor children ; £10 to the Scotch
Episcopal clergymen ; £10 to the poor of Arbroath; the like sum to
the poor of St. Vigeans, and the residue to twenty poor house-
holders ; Dove's, founded in 1841, for the education of " native born
boys," of poor parentage ; Mrs. Kenny Strachan's, which amounts
to £50 yearly, to be expended in purchasing coals and oat-meal for
distribution at Christmas amongst the most necessitous poor.
Forbes' Fund founded 1864, from which sums of not less than £8
nor more than £10 vearly, given for the relief of destitute widows
and old unmarried females in the town of Arbroath ; Gibson Fund,
founded 1868; annual produce of residue of trust estate of the late
William Gibson, applied as follows :— £100 to the rector of the High
School for the education of eight boys, and the remainder divided
yearly in sums of not less than £20 and not more than £25 among
poor householders of the town of Arbroath, preference being given
to respectable worthy people of fallen fortuues ; Gibson Christmas
Charity, 1868, annual revenue of £2,000, applied one half in purchase
of coals, other halt' in groceries, oatmeal, and clothes for distribu-
tion among the necessitous poor of the town ; Gibson mortification,
1868, annual revenue of a sum of £4,000, divided yearly among six-
teen poor householders of the town ; a fund, supposed to amount to
about £2,000, bequeathed in 1875, by Mr. William Petrie, manufac-
turer, to be distributed in £10 shares among " poor, deserving
women of respectable character, being in and belonging to, and at
the time resident in, the parish of St. Vigeans, and who have not
been in receipt of parochial relief for the preceding five years at
least;" and Duncan Charity, 1869, aunual profits of three-eighths of
residue of the estate of the late David Duncan, for behoof of poor,
aged and reduced persons, not being objects of parochial relief.
The market is held on Saturday, and the fairs ou the last Saturday
in January, for general business and hiring servants; ou the first
Saturday after Whit-Sunday for hiring; July 18th (if it fall on a
Saturday, if not, on the following Saturday) for general business
and hiring ; and the first Saturday after Martinmas for hiring. By
the census returns for 1*71 the parliamentary burgh of Arbroath
contained apopulatiouof 19,973, and in 1881, 21,753.
St. Vigeans is a parish, extending eight and a half miles from
east to west, by four and a half in breadth, aud contains the small
villages of St. Vigeans, Mauywkll, Auchmithie and Colliston,
or Gowan Bank, also a part of the town of Arbroath. The first
named contains the uarish church, situated about one mile from
Arbroath, the others varying in distance from two to three and a
half miles from the same town. The parish is bouuded on the north
and east by Iuverkeilor, ou the west by Arbroath, Arbirlot, and Car-
niylie, and on the south by the German Ocean. Originally it in-
cluded the parish of Arbroath, disjoined after the Reformation. It
was itself formerly termed Aberbrothock, and now bears the name
of a famous hermit who had his chapel and hermitage at the Grange
of Conau, near to which was a baroniaL castle, named Gory ox-
Gregory. From Whiting Ness, and as far as Auchmithie, the coast
is very rugged and precipitous (gradually rising to Diukmountlaw
Hill, 250 feet above the sea level), containing a number uf caves and
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