Gazetteer of Scotland

INS
los. per acre. There are the remains of
a chapel near the coaft ; and feveral
military encampments and tumuli are
frequently met with in this quarter.
There is plenty of limeftone in feveral
places, and fome thin ftrata of coal,
though no pits of that mineral are
wrought at prefent : freeftone of ex-
cellent quality is abundant. Popula-
tion in 1793, 960.
INSCH, or INCH ; a parilh in the
diftrict of Garioch, in Aberdeenfhire.
J t is of a pretty regular oblong form,
5 miles in length by 3 in breadth, con-
taining nearly 7500 acres, of which
only one third, or 2500 acres, are un-
der cultivation. Towards the S. the
foil is for the moft part excellent, and
produces rich and early crops; but
on the N. towards the Hurts of the
hill of Fondland, the foil is not fo fer-
tile, and the crops are late and pre-
carious : from the marks of the fur-
rows, it would appear, that of what
is now uncultivated and covered with
heath, many hundred acres are arable,
and were formerly under cultivation.
Thefe are faid to have been deferted
by the farmers at the end of the 17th
century, when the country was almoft
depopulated by the 7 years of famine.
The hill of Fondland, which extends
into feveral parifhes of the Garioch, is
elevated 800 feet above the level of
the fea : in the moft elevated parts of
this hill, within this pariih, are exten-
live quarries of tine blue (late, of
which a considerable quantity is year-
ly dug, and manufactured for fale.
The hill of Dundore, or Dun-o-deer,
affords excellent pafture for Iheep,
though it does not now render their
teeth of a golden colour, as the credu-
lous Hedtor Boethius affirms it form-
erly did. The bale of the hill is about
.3000 yards in circumference, and rites
infulated from the level plain of the
Garioch, to the elevation of 300 feet :
on the top of it are the ruins of an old
caftle, faid to have been built more
than 900 years ago, by King Gregory
the Great : a conilderable part of the
walls are ft ill ftandine, and the mate
rials with which they are built are of
a lingular kind, that by fome it is fup-
pofed to be part of a vitrified fort,
while others fuppofe them to be vol-
canic, dug out of the hill, which has
much the appearance of an extin<ft
volcano. The town_ of bifcb, which
IN V
is fituated near the church on the
banks of a rivulet, is a burgh of ba-
rony, with a weekly market, and 3
annual fairs. It lies 26 miles from A-
berdeen, from whence it has been pro-
pofed to carry a canal ; a work which,
if executed, would be of vaft benefit
to the fertile diftrict of Garioch : near
it is the manfion-houfe of Mr. Gor-
don of Rothney. In 1795, the popu-
lation given in to Sir John Sinclair,
was 900.
Inver, or Inner ; a Gaelic word,
faid to fignify entrance or mouth,
which forms part of the names of
many towns, villages, and parifnes in
Scotland, fituated at the mouth of a
river, or the confluence of two rivers.
Some writers, however, derive it from
the Gaelic words Ion, deferving of,
and Ar, to till ; and fuppofe it means
fit for, or deferving of tillage ; a quality
generally pouefled by the grounds at
the mouths of rivers. But the former
appears the moft probable derivation,
as we find no place, however fertile,
receives that appellation, unlefs in the
Situation implied in the former figni-
fication.
INVER, or INVAR ; a village in
Perthfhire, in the parilh of Little Dun-
keld, fituated at the confluence of the
Bran with the Taj. It has a good inn
on the Highland road, and is the ferry
over the river to the town of Dunkeld.
Neil Gow, the celebrated compofer
of Scots reels, is a native of this vil-
lage.
INVERARAY, or INVERARY ;
in Gaelic, Ion-ar-ao-reidh ; a royal
borough, and county town of Argyll-
fhire. It is fituated on a fmall bay,
at the head of Loch Fyne, where the
river Aray or Aoreidb falls into that
arm of the fea ; it is a fmall tov/n,
confifling chiefly of one row of houfes
facing the lake, built with great uni-
formity ; and the houfes are commo-
dious, well built, and covered with
[late. The old town, which was a
dirty ill-built village, fituated on the
N. fide of the bay, on the lawn, be-
fore the caftle of Inveraray was re-
moved to its prefent fituation, and
the greater part rebuilt by the Duke
of Argyll, who is proprietor of the
whole town. It feerr.s probable, that,
prior, to the beginning of the 14th cen-
tury, Inveraray was hitle more than a
place for fifhermen, who lived by their