Scotland > 1882-1915 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland > 1903, Part 1 - Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland ... (Royal National Directory of Scotland.) With ... map, etc

DIRECTORY.]
BARRY for Barrie) is a parish, about 4
miles from north to south by 3£, in the
south-east angle of the county, and at the
mouth of the Tay, â– which bounds it on the
south, the eastern boundary being the North
Sea, and the western Monifieth ; it is in the
small debt court district of Dundee, and
contains the Tillage and kirktown of Barry
and two-thirds of the burgh of Carnoustie,
ut which town and at Barry are stations on
the Dundee and Arbroath Joint railway.
The village is 9 miles north-east from
Dundee and 8 south-west from Arbroath,
and contains an Established church, a
United Free church and a school. The soil
is sandy and the country undulating. The
trustees of the late Earl of Dalhousie,
John Miln esq. of Grange of Barry, and
the trustees of Mrs. Lingard G-uthrie, of
Carnoustie, are the principal landowners.
In 1892 the Government acquired, at a
cost of £48,000, the extensive links in this
parish as a training ground for military
purposes ; its artillery range is one of the
best, land ranges in Britain, and the ground
is otherwise very suitable for manoeuvres,
rifle practice and encamping, it being
easy of access by rail and water. At
Buddonness, on the southern extremity of
the parish, are two lighthouses, and close
by is a lightship to guide vessels on their
entrance into the Tay. The area of the
parish comprises 5,328 acres ; rateable value
of the landward portion, £6,858; the popu-
lation in 1891 was 3,787, and in 1901,
£,652, including 4,073 persons in the burgh
of Carnoustie.
Post Office (Barry Village); John Smith,
sub-postmaster. Letters through Car-
, noustie R.S.O. (Forfarshire). Deliveries,
FOEFARSHIEE.
7.25 a,m. & 5 p.m. ; dispatched, 1.30 &
5 p.m. Nearest money order & telegraph
office is at the Barry Camp office, 1
mile distant
Post & M. O. & T. O., T. M. O., E. D. &
P._ P. 0., S. B. & A. & I. O. Barry
Camp ; William Leslie, sub-postmaster.
Letters through Carnoustie B.S.O. De-
livery, -8.40 a.m. ; dispatched (winter)
8.15 a.m. & 8.15 p.m. & (summer) 7.10
a.m. & 12.5 & 5.10 p.m. There are
extra dispatches & deliveries in the sum-
mer months, when letters are forwarded
through Dundee
PARISH COUNCIL (Landward).
Chairman, William Nicoll
Cierk, Hugh Hanton
Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages &
Inspector of Poor,HughHauton, Carnoustie
Tay Lights, Buddonness, James Cockerill,
keeper
Established Church, Rev. John Heggie
United Free Church, Rev. Alex. J. Camp-
bell M.A
SCHOOL BOARD.
Chairman, Rev. Alex. J. Campbell M.A
Clerk & Treasurer, David Kidd
Board School (Village), David Bain, master
CONVEYANCE BY RAILWAY,
On the Dundee & Arbroath & North
British joint line.
Station Master, Joseph Cruden
PRIVATE RESIDENTS. •
Campbell Rev. Alexander J., M.A. (U.F.C)
Davie Peter
Don Gilbert, Ravensby
BRECHIN.
701
Heggie Rev. John (Established), Manse
ICelman Alex.Gowanlea cottage, Barry Camp
Milne John, Grange of Barry
Nicoll William, Briarlea
COMMERCIAL.
Cockerill James, keeper of Tay Lights,
Buddonness
Cruden Joseph, station master
Cruden Joseph, refreshment rooms
Ewan David, blacksmith
Findlay Robert, market gardener, Dal more
Henderson Mrs. wine & spirit dealer,Wood-
hill Arms P.H. Woodhill
Leslie Wm. sub-postmaster, Barry Camp
McDonald Jn. commercial traveller
Meek Janet (Mrs.), grocer
Smith John, grocer & sub-postmaster
FARMERS.
Anderson David, Woodhill
Boath James, Greenlaw hill & Wards of
Pitskelly
Colquhoun Dugald, Main9 of Panmuir
Donald John, Cowbyres
Findlay Robert, Dalmore & Gedhall
Gibson Andrew, Benthead
Harris John, Ravensby Mains
Leslie Arthur, West Cot side
Leslie William, Burnside
Meek James, Annfield, Barry
Nicoll Wtilliam, Carnoustie Home farm
Ogilvie John Barry, Grange of Barry
Pattullo John, Pitskelly
Small Thomas, Cotside
Whitton James, Watery Butts
Wilson Charles, Crookhall farm
* BENVIE, see LiFF.
BIKKHILL, see Liff.
BRECHIN is a royal burgh, the seat of a
presbytery and of a bishopric, and the
head of a poor combination and small debt
court district, 11 miles north-east from For
far and 70 north-by-east from Edinburgh.
eituated on the north bank of the South Esk,
with a terminal station on a branch line
from Bridge of Dun, of the north-eastern
section of the Caledonian railway. Brechin
more than once suffered by the incursions of
invaders and the broils of civil wars ; it was
burnt by the Danes in 1012, and in 1645 was
subjected to a similar calamity by the Mar-
quis of Montrose; two years afterwards it
was nearly depopulated by that dreadful
scourge, the plague. Formerly the city was
walled, but the walls and gates have been
long removed. An interesting fragment re-
mains of the hospital of Maison Dieu,
founded by William of Brechin in 1264.
Between the town and the river, and only
separated from the former by a ravine,
stands Brechin Castle, an ancient seat of the
Maules of Panmure, now represented by the
Earl of Dalhousie ; it is built on a precipi-
tous rock overhanging the stream : it sus
tained a siege of 20 days in 1303 from
the English army under Edward I. but Sir
Thomas Maute, its commander, being killed,
it surrendered : the south front, towards the
river, consists of some remains of the origi-
nal structure, with some more recent erec-
tions, including a square tower : the west
front is formed with regularity, in the style
of the 17th century, with round towers at
the angles. This town has given birth to
more men of genius and literary distinction
than any place, in proportion to its size,
in Scotland, among whom may be enume-
rated Maitland, the laborious historian of
Edinburgh and London; Dr. Gillies, the
historian of Greece ; his brother, Lord
Adam Gillies, Dr. Thomas Guthrie and
Colvin Smith, the eminent artist, to whom
Sir Walter Scott sat on five different oc-
casions, and numerous others. The an-
tiquity of Brechin as a royal burgh is of
remote date ; it is governed by a provost,
two bailies, a dean of guild, treasurer, hos-
pital master and seven councillors, who are
also police commissioners. The burgh joins
with Forfar, Montrose, Arbroath and. Inver-
bervie in returning one member to Parlia-
ment. A burgh or bailie court is held every
Wednesday, and oftener when necessary ;
the magistrates are the judges : a justice of
peace court is held on the first Wednesday
in every month, and a sheriff court on the
•third Tuesday of January, March, May,
July, September and November ; the two
last-mentioned courts are for adjudicating
small debt claims.
The cathedral of Brechin was one of the
few places of worship in which the service
of the liturgy was for some time performed
after its promulgation in 1637 : the bishop
was a man of singularly strong and daring
BRECHIN.
character, and ascended the pulpit with
a pair of pistols under his gown, deter-
mined to carry the behests of royalty into
execution at whatever risk. The see of
Brechin was founded in 1150, by David I.,
who also richly endowned it, and the cathe-
dral church of the Holy Trinity, erected in
the 13th century, originally consisted of
an aisleless choir of uncertain length and
a clerestoried nave of five bays with narrow
aisles ; the transepts, removed in 1806, do
not appear to have formed part of the
original plan, but to have been a later
addition, and were small and of no great
height : the north-west tower, with its pro-
jecting embattled parapet, turret and
octagonal spire, dates from about the middle
of the 15th century ; the height to the top of
the spire is nearly 130 feet, and there are
'3 bells : the choir, up to the date of recent
restoration, lay in ruins. A fragment of a
Celtic tomb slab, formerly on the floor of
the choir, has been removed to the in-
terior; in 1806 the church was to a large
extent rebuilt in a very debased style, and
greatly injured, the aisles being widened
and raised so as to destroy the clerestory :
galleries carried round the whole interior,
and the east and west piers much injured
by the erection of stone stairs : the west
end of the south aisle now abuts on a fine
round tower of the 11th century, 87 feet
in height, and tapering slightly towards
the top, and finished with a corbelled cor
nice and octagonal spire ; the circular
headed entrance is about 6 feet from the
ground, and has over it a figure of the
' Crucifixion," and on either side rude
carvings of bishops : the west doorway, re-
cessed in six orders, is of the same period
as the choir, the window over it displays
rich flowing Decorated tracery: the ex-
treme length of the church, excluding the
bell tower, is 94 feet; originally, with the
choir, is was about 180 feet : the commu-
nion plate is of beaten silver. The cathe-
dral was extensively restored in 1900, under
the direction of Mr. John Honeyman R.S.A.
architect, of Glasgow, at a cost of over
£13,000, mostly collected by public sub-
scription. In the course of reconstruction
traces were found of a Norman church,
probably built about 100 years after the
tower and demolished to make room for
the existing building. The work of restora-
tion included the rebuilding of (1) the
whole of the aisle, walls and gables, (2)
a new north aisle (called the Queen's), (3)
the north porch, (4) the south transept,
(5) more than half the choir, and (6) all
the east gable. The windows of the choir
are now filled with fine stained glass by
Henry Holiday, of London. There is also
an Established church for the East parish,
and the Gardner memorial church, built
in 1897-8, at a cost of £11,000, in memory
of the late Rev. Alexander Gardner M.A.
for 50 years minister of Brechin, and his
son, James Alexander Gardner, advocate
of Edinburgh; £7,000 of the total cost was
provided by the late Mrs. Milne and Miss
Milne, of Mooranbank, Brechin. There are
also United Free, Episcopal and Roman
Catholic churches, and chapels for the
Evangelical Union and Plymouth Brethren. .
The Municipal buildings, in Bank street,
include a court room, council chamber &c.
The Post Office and Parish Council cham-
bers are in Panmure street. Flax spinning
and the manufacture of linen and a paper
mill employ numerous bands ; there are
also two distilleries and a brewery.
Branches of the Royal Bank of Scotland,
British Linen Co. Bank, the Clydesdale
Bank Limited, the Union Bank of Scotland
Limited and the National Bank of Scotland,
Limited are established here. A newspaper,
entitled the " Brechin Advertiser," estab-
lished in 1848, is published on Tuesday
morning. The principal hotels are the
Commercial and the Crown. The Me-
chanics' Institution, erected at the sole
cost of the late Lord Panmure, is an
edifice in the Tudor style, and has a
castellated parapet with pinnacles ; a fine
tower rises in the centre to the height of
80 feet, from the summit of which there is
a fine prospect : it contains an excellent
library, reading room and billiard club :
Lord Panmure also presented to the insti-
tution numerous valuable paintings and
endowed it with £1,000 to be vested at
interest, which now yields about £40 a
year. The Public Library, near the Rail-
way station, was erected with a sum of
£5,000, given anonymously. The premises
of the Young Men's Christian Association.
in Bank street, were built at a cost of
£1,500, and opened in 1878. The Poor-
house, in Infirmary street, was erected in
1878, at a cost of £3,000, and is available
for 100 persons ; the Infirmary, close by,
is a substantial-looking building of stone,
erected in I860, for 33 patients. The
cemetery, approached from Panmure street,
was opened in 1857 and enlarged in 1899.
Trinity Muir, one mile north of the town,
besides being the site of a fair, is resorted
to by cricket and golf players during the
summer. A public park, off Park road,
was opened in 1887, and was enlarged to
commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her
Majesty the late Queen Victoria; in St.
Ninian's square are gardens and walks well
laid out. Fairs are held on the 3rd Thurs-
day in June for cattle and horses and on
the Tuesday after the 2nd Thursday in
July for wool; hiring market on 1st Tues-
day after 28th May and on Nov. 28th and
first Tuesday in March for married plough-
men, which is called the " Carlie Market."
The weekly market is held on Tuesday, and
a local company conducts weekly a large
sale of cattle &c. The area of the rjarish