Gazetteer of Scotland

KEL
planted. There are 3 druidical tern-'
pies ; and a multitude of fmall cairns,
on the muir of Kinmuck, are faid to
point out the place of a dreadful en-
gagement between the Scots and
Danes. The hill of Benocbie, one of
the Grampian ridge, elevated nearly
■200 feet abo^e the level of the fea,
lies partly in this parilh. Johnstone,
next to Buchannan, the beft modern
Latin poet, was born at Cafkiebean,
which he celebrates; the Don, the Ury,
and the Gadle, the waters of the neigh-
bourhood, ave alio celebrated in his
poems. This parifli difputes with Gal-
Jlon the honour of the birth of " The
Lafs of Peatie's Mill" Her maiden
name is faid to have been Anderfon,
and a number of her defcendents ftill
refide in the diftrict. One of the fuit-
ers, in an attempt to carry her off,
being roughly handled by her father,
commonly called Black- John Ander-
fon, in revenge wrote an ill-natured
fong, in which he fays,
" Ye'll tell the gowk that gets her,
He gets but my auld fheen." —
Scrimgeour, the high conftable of
Dundee, r and many of the nobility
who fell in the battle of Harlaw, are
interred in the churchyard. In 1792,
the population of the united parifhes
contained 838 inhabitants.
KELLS ; a parilh in Kirkcudbright
ftewartry, and one of the four which
form the diftricl: of Glenkens. It is
nearly of the form of an ifofceles tri-
angle, the bafe of which, at the N.
end, is about 6 miles, gradually ■ di-
minifhing for 15 miles, to the point
where the rivers Dee and Ken unite.
Thefe rivers bound it on the E. and
W. fides, and one of the ftreams of
the Ken is its boundary on the N.
forming it into a fort of peninfula.
The furface is unequal and hilly : to-
wards the S. there are large rocky
hills covered with heath, and towards
the N. the hills are elevated ftill high-
er, termed Kells Range, (fee the
next article.) The hills are interfperf-
ed with patches of meadow ground,
and, along the banks of the rivers, are
many fertile fields, of which the foil
is partly a rich clay, and partly dry
and thin, but kindly, and producing
good crops of oats, barley, &c. Hus-
bandry is much improved by the ex-
ample and exertions of Mr. Gordon
KEL
of Greenlaw, in introducing marl and
limeftone as manures, and the prac-
tice of fallow and green cropping.
Along the banks of Loch Ken there
are about 200 acres of the richeft
land in Scotland, owing to the inun-
dations of the loch, which lay this
ground under water twice or thrice a
year, leaving behind it, like the Nile,
thofe principles which caufe fertility'.
Befides Loch Ken, there are about 80
acres covered with lakes, and <;oo
under natural wood and plantations.
The royal burgh of New Gallo-
way is fituated in this parifh, and
near it the caftle of Kenmure, the feat
of Mr. Gordon, the reprefentative of
the Vifcounts Kenmure. Glenlee-Park,
the feat of Lady Miller, relict of the
late Sir William Miller (Lord Glen-
lee), is alio in this parifh. There is
a fine flate quarry in the N. end,
which was formerly wrought, but has
fallen into difrepute from unfkilful
management : there is a rich lead
mine on the Glenlee eftate, and with-
in half a mile of it the appearance of
a copper mine. Near New Galloway,
2 miles farther S. there is an appear-
ance of lead, of which the vein is fo
rich, that pieces have been found on
the very furface, almoft of pure lead.
In 1791, the population of the parifh
was 869.
Kells Range, orRHYNS ; aridge
of hills in the parifh of Kells, extend-
ing in a N. and S. direction about 8
miles in length, reckoned the higheft
in Galloway, being part of that ex-
tenfive range in which the Tweed, the
Annan, the Clyde, and the other large
rivers of the S. of Scotland have their
fources, Kells Range is almoft entire *
ly compofed of granite ; but one of
the hills contains great quantities of
the nneft iron ore, which cannot be
wrought to advantage at fo great a
diftance from fuel. On one of thefe
hills is a rocking ft one of 8 or 10 tons
weight, and fo poized on its center of
gravity, that although movable by the
preffure of the finger, yet the force of
many men would be requifite to move
it from its place. The rev. Mr. Gil-
lefpie reckons it " a great natural cn-
riq/ity," and fuppofes it to have been
< : formed by nature juft as we fee it,
and lying on a ftratum of mofs two
or three inches thick ; and the rains
have walhed away this mofs, and left;