Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ORDNANCE GAZETTEER
OF
SCOTLAND.
A AN or AVEN (Gael. abJminn, 'river'), a rivulet of
/\ the Eastern Grampians, rises on the NW side
jf"^ of Mount Battock, at an altitude of 1700 feet,
near the meeting-point of Aberdeen, Kincardine,
and Forfar shires. Thence it runs about 10 miles ENE
mostly along the boundary between Aberdeen and Kin-
cardine shires, to a confluence with the Feugh, 4 miles
SW of Banchory. It flows in a rocky bed, is subject
to great freshets, and is open to the public, but affords
no very good sport. — Ord. Sur., sh. 66, 1S71.
Abbey, a precinct in Canongate parish, Edinburgh-
shire, adjacent to the foot of the lines of street eastward
from the centre of the Old Town of Edinburgh. It
contains Holyrood Palace and Abbey, and includes the
Queen's Park. First enclosed by James V. , it has, from
ancient times, been a sanctuary for insolvent debtors, a
bailie for it being appointed by commission from the
Duke of Hamilton, and sitting in a small court-house
on the first Saturday of every month. Its population
has dwindled since the alteration of the law respecting
debtors, and it now has few inhabitants except in con-
nection with Holyrood. The objects of interest, parti-
cularly the palace, the abbey, and their adjuncts, are
described under Edinburgh.
Abbey, a quoad sacra parish, formed in 1S75 out of
South Leith and Greenside parishes, Edinburghshire.
Its church, on London Koad, close to Abbeyhill station,
and 1 mile ENE of Edinburgh Post Office, is a Gothic
structure, built (1875-76) at a cost of £8000, with 855
sittings, and tower and spire. Behind it is Abbeyhill
school (1SS1); and not far off are London Koad U.P.
church (1875 ; 950 sittings), a very good Early English
edihce, also with tower and spire, and Abbeyhill Epis-
copal mission church (1SS0 ; 300 sittings) and school.
Pop. (1881) 41.32.
Abbey, a village of Clackmannanshire, on the left
bank of the river Forth, 1J mile ENE of Stirling. It
is, in some respects, in the parish of Stirling ; in others,
in that of Logie ; and it takes its name from the neigh-
bouring abbey of Cambuskenneth. It communicates,
by ferry-boat, with the Stirling bank of the Forth, and
has a public school, which, with accommodation for 4S
children, had (1879) an average attendance of 38, and a
grant of £31, 10s. Pop. (1881) 217.
Abbey, a small village, with the site of a Cistercian
nunnery, in Haddington parish, Haddingtonshire, on
the left bank of the river Tyne, 1£ mile ENE of Had-
dington town. The nunnery, founded in 1178 by Ada,
mother of Malcolm IV., was the meeting-place, in 1548,
of the parliament that arranged Queen Mary's marriage
to the Dauphin. At the Dissolution it had 18 nuns, and
an income of £310 ; but no traces of it now remain.
Abbey, a quoad sacra parish in Arbroath and St
Vigeans parishes, Forfarshire, around the ruins of Ar-
broath Abbey, in the town of Arbroath. Constituted
in 1869, it had a population in 1871 of 2338 within
Arbroath parish, and 1742 within St Vigeans, and is in
the presbytery of Arbroath and synod of Angus and
Mearns. The church, erected in 1787 as a chapel of
ease, at a cost of about £2000, contained 1281 sittings,
but was enlarged by 80 more in 1S79. Two schools
under the Arbroath burgh school-board bear the names
of Abbey and Abbey Church. The former, in May 1SS0,
had an attendance of 230 ; the latter, closed during the
day in December 1879, had then 119 evening scholars.
Abbey, a parish of NE Renfrewshire, including part
of the town of Paisley while completely surrounding
the burgh parishes, and itself called sometimes Abbey
Paisley. It also contains the town of Johnstone, the
Dovecothall portion of Barrhead, and the villages of
Elderslie, Thorn, Quarrelton, Inkerman, Hurlet, and
Nitshill. It is bounded N by Renfrew parish, NE by
Govan in Lanarkshire, E by Eastwood, SE and S by
Neilston, W by Lochwinnoch, and NW by Kilbarchan.
Very irregular in outline, it has an extreme length from
E to W of 1\ miles ; its width varies between 3 and 4 j
miles; and its area is 16,179 acres, of which 2f are
foreshore and 252i water. The White Cart winds
about 5 miles westward, partly along the eastward
boundary, and partly through the interior, to Paisley,
thence striking 1^ mile northward into Renfrew parish
on its way to the Clyde ; at Crookston it is joined by
the Levern, which from Barrhead traces much of the
south-eastern and eastern border. The whole of the
north-western border, from Milliken Park to Blackstone
House, a distance of 4| miles, is marked by the Black
Cart ; and all three streams are fed by several burns.
NW of Paisley is a mineral spring ; and to the SW are
the Stanely and Rowbank reservoirs, large artificial sheets
of water. The northern part of the parish is almost a
perfect level, consisting chiefly of reclaimed moss, and
near Boghead being only 13 feet above the sea; but
southward one passes through ' a rough and undulating
country, with masses of grey crag interspersed with
whinny knolls,' to Stanely Moor and the Braes of
Gleniffer — the scene of Tannahill's songs, — whose highest
point within the Abbey bounds is Sergeantlaw (749 feet).
Lesser elevations, from N to S, are Mosspark (159 feet),
Carriagehill (147), Dikebarhill (168), Windyhill (312),
Bent (637), and Hartfield (723). The soil on the arable
lands has great diversity of character, being in some
places a vegetable mould derived from moss ; in others,
especially along the streams, a rich alluvial loam. Gene-
rally, however, it is shallow, either clayey or sandy, and
overlying a substratum of gravel or till, which, naturally
retentive of moisture, has been greatly improved by art.
The rocks of these low tracts belong to the Carboniferous
Limestone series ; those of the hills are various kinds of
trap. In 1879, 8 collieries and 6 ironstone mines were
in operation ; and greenstone, sandstone, limestone,
aluminous schist, fireclay, and potter's-clay are also ex-
tensively worked. The chief antiquity is Crookston
Castle, and other ruins are Stanely Castle, Stewarts
Raiss Tower, and Blackhall House. Hawkhead (Earl