Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

ME Y
MID D
work being supplied by resident agents employed by
Perth and Glasgow houses. The north road from Perth
to Glasgow, via Crieff, passes through Methven, and,
with the numerous county roads intersecting the parish,
furnishes considerable facilities of communication ; the
mail travels daily on the great road, upon which, also,
there is a daily coach to and from Perth and Glasgow.
All the roads are kept in good order. There is a penny-
post connected with the post-office at Perth ; and
markets are held on the first Thursday in May, and
fourth Thursday in October, chiefly for the sale of cattle.
The ecclesiastical affairs are directed by the
presbytery of Perth and synod of Perth and Stirling ;
patron, Robert Smythe, Esq., of Methven Castle. The
stipend of the minister is £274, with a manse, an elegant
edifice built in 1830, and a glebe of fifteen acres of good
land, valued at £30 per annum, besides ten acres of
moor. The church, built in 1732, is a large, substantial,
and convenient edifice, containing 1100 sittings: an
aisle was built at the expense of the patron in 1S25,
when was also added a beautiful spire, nearly a hundred
feet high, with a public clock. There is a meeting-house
in connexion with the United Associate synod, as well as
one belonging to the Free Church. A parochial school
is maintained, in which Latin and practical mathematics,
with all the ordinary branches of education, are taught ;
the master has the maximum salary, with a house, and
fees amounting to about £25 or £30 a year. There is
a school at Almond-Bank, supported by Mr. Smythe ;
also a school in the village of Methven, supported by
the Secession Congregation. A public subscription
library here is in a flourishing condition. As a curiosity,
may be mentioned a noble and venerable ash known by
the name of the Bell-tree, which stands in the church-
yard, and is supposed to be coeval with the first re-
ligious establishment in the parish. It measures twenty
feet in circumference at three and a half feet from the
ground, and a few years ago exhibited much mag-
nificent foliage, which, however, latterly has manifested
symptoms of the withering hand of time. From the
estate of Lynedoch, the late General Sir Thomas Graham
took his title of Baron Lynedoch, in the peerage of the
United Kingdom, to which dignity he was raised on the
3rd of May, 1814, in reward of his eminent services in
the peninsular war, and particularly his brilliant victory
at Barrosa, March 6, 1811. His lordship died on the
18th of December, 1S43, in the 94th year of his age.
MEY, EAST and WEST, townships, in the parish
of Canisbay, county of Caithness ; the one contain-
ing '262, and the other 149, inhabitants. These places
lie in the northern part of the parish, partly on the shore
of the Pentland Frith, and derive their name from the
early and luxuriant verdure on what is called the Bank-
Head, in the spring months. The bay here abounds
with lobsters, and a few boats are engaged in that spe-
cies of fishery. On the coast are some curious rocks
known as the Men of Mey, near which is one of two
ferries in the parish to the Orkney Islands, the other
being at Huna Inn. The loch of Mey, situated a little
to the eastward of the Ratter burn, is a fine sheet of
water, about three miles in circumference. The village
lies on the main road from Huna to Castletown, and
about eighteen miles north-north-west of Wick, and has
a post-office. The population of both townships are
chiefly fishermen.
252
MID or MIDDLE CALDER.— See Calder, Mid.
— And all places having a similar distinguishing prefix,
will be found under the proper name.
MIDDLEBIE, a parish, in the district of Annan-
dale, county of Dumfries, 2§ miles (N. E. by E.) from
Ecclesfechan ; containing, with the villages of Eagles-
field, Kirtlebridge, and Waterbeck, 2150 inhabitants,
of whom 1482 are in the rural districts. This place,
which consists of the united parishes of Middlebie, Pen-
nersaughs, and Carruthers, derives its name from a
Roman station in the old parish of Middlebie, which
formed the central post between the stations of Overbie
or Upperbie, in Eskdalemuir, and Netherbie, in the
county of Cumberland. The station, situated at Birrens,
is considered one of the most, perfect and interesting
remnants of Roman antiquity in Britain, and is identified
with the Blatum Bulgium of Antonine. It occupies an
eminence on the north bank of the Mein near its con-
fluence with a smaller stream, and is of quadrilateral
form, surrounded by five ramparts of earth and four
fossse ; parts of it have been damaged by the inunda-
tions of the river, but the praetorium is still in good pre-
servation. Within the area have been found a statue of
the goddess of the Brigantes, and also of Mercury, with
a votive altar dedicated to the latter, numerous inscribed
stones, and various other relics of Roman antiquity ;
and nearly adjoining it was a less important camp, which,
being situated on the lands of a small proprietor, has
been completely destroyed.
The parish is partly bounded on the south-east by
the Kirtle water, and is about nine miles in length and
four and a half in breadth ; comprising 30,000 acres, of
which nearly 7000 are arable, 350 woodland and plan-
tations, and the remainder (of which 2000 might be made
arable) pasture, moor, and waste. The surface, though
generally level, is diversified with gently-rising hills of
moderate height, which, towards the eastern and north-
eastern boundaries, attain almost mountainous elevation,
and are finely contrasted with intervening valleys of
great fertility and in a high state of cultivation. The
Kirtle has its source among the hills near the north-
eastern boundary of Middlebie, and, flowing southward,
intersects it in part of its course for some distance, then
forms its boundary for the remainder of its progress in
the parish, and runs through much romantic scenery
into the Solway Frith at Kirtle-foot, in the parish of
Graitney. The river Mein has its source within the
parish, and, after constituting a portion of its western
boundary, joins the Annan at Meinfoot, in the adjoining
parish of Hoddam. There are also several small rivulets,
which, as well as the larger streams, abound with trout ;
and the parish contains numerous springs of excellent
water. The soil is various, though generally fertile ;
in most places, clay alternated with loam and gravel ;
and in the higher districts, of inferior quality, but well
adapted for pasture. The crops are, oats, barley, wheat,
potatoes, and turnips, with the usual variety of grasses.
The system of husbandry is in a very advanced state,
and has been greatly accelerated in its progress by the
encouragement of the landed proprietors ; much waste
land has been improved by draining, and brought into
profitable cultivation by a liberal use of lime for manure,
of which abundance is made in the parish. The lands
have been inclosed ; and the farm-buildings, formerly of
inferior order, have been generally bettered, and are now