Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

L I S M
LI S M
on granite and trap ; the lands are under the best sys-
tem of cultivation, and produce all the usual kinds of
grain, of good quality, though but little wheat is grown,
on account, of the severity of the winters. Turnips,
also, and potatoes are raised to a considerable extent,
and the whole of the produce of the parish averages
annually in value £12,480. The six-shift course is
mostly followed ; wedge-draining has been successfully
practised, and, with the liberal application of lime and
bone-dust manures, has greatly increased the worth of
the land. Most of the farms are inclosed with stone
fences, and the buildings are of a superior character.
The cattle are very numerous ; they are of the black
Angus-polled breed, with a few of the Teesvvater. The
only natural wood is on the banks of the rivers ; but
l c 200 acres of plantations, consisting of larch and Scotch
fir, with sprinklings of oak, ash, beech, and plane, have
been formed within the last forty years. The rateable
annual value of the parish is £3838. The village, situ-
ated near the church, is in a ruinous state ; but the
houses are expected shortly to be rebuilt. The fuel
generally in use is peat, obtained from the mosses, which
however are nearly exhausted : coal is sometimes pro-
cured from Dundee, whither, as well as to Forfar and
Kirriemuir, the produce of the district is generally sent
for sale. The parish is in the presbytery of Meigle and
synod of Angus and Mearns, and in the patronage of
the Earl of Airiie. The minister's stipend is £159, of
which more than a third is received from the exche-
quer ; with a manse, and a glebe valued at £12 per
annum. The church is a plain structure accommo-
dating 408 persons ; it was built in 1802, and repaired
in 1829 ; but is inconveniently situated near the south-
ern boundary of the parish, eight and a half miles from
the opposite extremity. The parochial school affords
instruction in the usual branches ; the master has a
salary of £30, with a house, and £26 fees. The Earl
of Airiie takes an inferior title from this place.
LINWOOD, a village, and lately a quoad sacra
parish, in the parish of Kilbarchan, Upper ward of the
county of Renfrew, 1\ miles (W.) from Paisley; con-
taining 1126 inhabitants. This village, which has arisen
entirely since the introduction of the cotton manufac-
ture, is situated on the lands of Btackstone, and con-
sists of numerous well-built houses and neat cottages
inhabited by persons employed in the factories. The
principal factory, originally built in 1792, and burnt
down in 1802, was rebuilt by the present company in
1805. It has a central range 1*0 feet in length and
sixty-one high, with a west wing 100 feet long and forty-
one in height, and an east wing eighty feet in length and
about thirty high ; the machinery is propelled by two
water-wheels and a steam-engine, together of sixty-
eight-horse power, and the number of persons employed
is on the average 400. There is also a mill belonging
to Mr. Henderson, sixty-seven feet in length and forty-
four feet in breadth, in which are 4000 spindles, put in
motion by a steam-engine of sixteen-horse power, and
affording occupation to about forty persons. A school
has been established by the proprietors of the works,
who allow the teacher a salary of £20, with a school-
house ; his income, with the fees, amounting to about
£60 per annum.
LISMORE and APPIN, a parish, in the district of
Lorn, county of Argyll ; containing, with the late
188
quoad sacra parish of Duror, 4193 inhabitants, of whom
1399 are in Lismore, and 1102 in Appin, the former
7 miles (N. N. W.), and the latter 10 (N. by E.), from
Oban. The name of the first of these two places, in
Gaelic Lios-Mor, " a great garden," is generally consi-
dered as having been applied to the locality on account
of the unusual richness of the soil, it being situated in
the midst of a tract of country of comparative sterility.
The etymology of Appin is altogether uncertain ; but
many think it probable that it has been corrupted from
the appellation Abb-fhon, " Abbot's-land," as the upper
parts of the district anciently belonged to the parish of
Elean-Munde, so called from St. Munde, who was an
Abbot in Argyll in the 10th century. Some are of
opinion, however, that the name of Appin is derived
from the word Appenine, as descriptive of the moun-
tainous features of the surface. Lismore and Appin were
formerly called the parish of Kil-Muluag, or Kil-Maluag,
from a saint who lived in the 7 th, or as some imagine, iu
the 12th, century, and whose remains were brought to
Lismore for interment. The spot, indeed, where the de-
barkation took place is still shown, named Port-Maluag.
Lismore was once the seat of the bishopric of the Isles,
and afterwards formed part of that of Argyll, this county
being erected into a separate see upon a petition pre-
sented to the pope by John the Englishman, Bishop of
Dunkeld, on which occasion the new bishop fixed his
residence at Lismore, where the ruins of his castle are
yet to be seen.
This Highland parish is in the district of Upper
Lorn, and is of prodigious extent. It consists of the
island of Lismore, one of the Hebrides, situated in the
arm of the sea generally designated Loch Linnhe, but
sometimes Linnhe-Sheilich ; the tract of Kingerloch,
belonging to the old parish of Lismore, and on the
western side of the loch ; and the extensive tract called
Appin, stretching from the coast of Loch Linnhe, on
the west, to Perthshire on the north-east, and having
Loch Leven upon the north, by which it is separated
from Inverness-shire. Loch Creran forms the south-
eastern boundary ; the Lynn of Lorn, an arm of the sea
three leagues wide, runs on the south ; and on the
south-west is the sound of Mull. Lismore is ten miles
long, and one mile and a half in average breadth, com-
prising 9600 acres ; while Kingerloch is sixteen miles
long and four broad, and includes 40,960 acres. The
length of Appin, from south-west to north-east, is about
forty-eight miles, and the medium breadth ten miles ;
and the number of acres is computed at 307.200, making
the aggregate number in the parish 357,760, of which
4000 are cultivated, the same number under wood
and the remainder pasture and waste. The parish com-
prehends, in the most attractive combinations, every
description of Highland scenery, consisting of lofty hills
and ^mountains ; romantic glens and valleys, enlivened
and ornamented with picturesque waters and cascades ;
and several fine fertile plains. The sea-coast embraces
altogether a line of about eighty miles. That of Appin
measures forty-six miles from the extremity of Loch
Creran, on the east, to the head of Loch Leven on the
north, and is in general sandy, often bold and exceed-
ingly irregular, and marked with many curvatures and
indentations forming convenient bays and harbours.
From the port and village of Appin the line is tolerably
straight to Keill, or Cuil, where, however, it makes a