Gazetteer of Scotland

CAR
Offian, in the opinion of Mr. M'Phet-
fon, were on its banks. Here Fingal
fought with Caracal, the fons of the
king of the world ; fuppofed to be
the fame with Caracalla, the fons of
the Roman emperor Severus. Here
the fon of Offian, the young Ofcar,
performed fome of his heroic actions ;
and tradition points out the vale where
the Scqttifh heroes affembled to at-
tack the warriors of the ftream of
Caros. About half a mile from the ri-
ver lies the field where a battle was
fought by Sir William Wallace and
the Englifh, in the beginning of the
14th century. The river Carron,
though it has long ceafed to roll its
ftream amidft the din of arms, yet pre-
ferves its fame, by lending its aid to
trade and manufactures ; (vide Car-
ron Village.) The great canal en-
ters from the Forth at this river, which
is navigable for feyeral miles near its
mouth.
CARRON; a village in Stirling;,
fhire, fituated on the banks of the ri-
ver Carron, about 3 miles from the
entry into the Forth, and 2 miles N.
of the town of Falkirk, celebrated for
the moft extenfiye iron foundery in
Europe. Thefe works employ about
1600 workmen, and, on an average,
the furnaces confume weekly 800 tons
of coals, 400 tons of ironftone and ore,
and 100 tons of limeftone. All kinds
of caft iron goods are manufactured
here ; not only the inftruments of
war, but various implements of agri-
culture, the arts, and for domeftic ufe ;
and the greater part of thefe commo-
dities, whether of ability or ornament,
can be furnifhed at one third of the
price they coft elfewhere. But labour
and workman fhip are in this place af-
fifted and haftened by fo many ma-
chines and ingenious proceffes, that
its commodities are executed both
in a fhorter time, and in greater per-
fection, than in any other eftablifh-
ment of the fame kind. To a ftranger,
the approach to the works is ftriking
and terrible. The illumination of the
atrhofphere produced by the burning
matter, the roaring blafts of the im-
rnenfe bellows, and the noife of the
weighty hammers ftriking upon re-
founding anvils, recals to the imagin-
ation the idea of Vulcan and his
cyclops occupied in preparing thunde
CAR
whether it is not a volcano in actual
irruption, ready to pour forth its melt-
ed bowels. Three kinds of ore are
employed, which are mixed together in
regular proportions. The firft is a fpe-
cies of decompofed hematites, brought
from Cumberland, which ftains the
hand of a blood-red colour; the fecond
is of a yellowifh brown colour, and of
a rocky hardnefs ; the third is the
fpecies of ironftone, called theftptariaf
or geodes of Dunbar, from being
found in the neighbourhood of that
town. From the proper proportions
of thefe ores an iron is procured,
equal, if not fuperior, to the fable iron
imported from Ruffia. The works are
carried on by a chartered company,
with a capital of 150,0001. fterling,
which is divided into 600 fhares, which
belong to a few individuals.
Carron; a fine clear rivulet in
that diftrict of Dumfriesfhire called
Nithfdale ; it rifes at the foot of the
Lowther hills, and after a courfe of
about 9 miles through the parifh of
Durifdeer, falls into the Nith at Car-
ron foot.
Carron ; afmall river in Rcfsfhire,
which falls into an arm of the fea,
called Loch Carron. Both the river
and loch abound with falmon.
Carron ; a fmall rivulet in Kin-
cardinefhire, which falls into the fea
at the town of Stonehaven or Stonehive,
forming a fine natural harbour.
CARSE 5 or CARSE OF GOWRIE,
is that diftrict of Perthfhire, extending
15 miles in length, and from 2 to 4 in
breadth, fituated on the N. bank of
the river Tay, between that river and
the foot of the Sidlaw hills. This
tract of land, which is a rich plain, "
cultivated like a garden, feems to have
been at one period covered with wa-
ter ; nay, in the remembrance of feve-
ral people ftill alive, many parts were
a morafs, which, at this day, are ex-
tenfive fields of arable ground. The
river Tay has been fuppofed to have
formed a circuit round the Carfe,
wafhing the foot of the Sidlaw hills,
and entering its prefent channel at
Invergonvrie. Staples for holding cables
have been found at the foot of the Sid-
law hills, N. of the fiat land. The pa-
rifh of St. Madois, which is now in the
Carfe of Cowrie, is faid to have been
once on the fouthern fide of the river.
bolts, or raifes doubt3 in the mind j Such parts of the Carfe as are called