Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ACHRIESGILL
Katrine, though perhaps 4 miles long, but the misty air
concealed the end of it. The transition from the solitary
wildness of Loch Katrine, and the narrow valley or pass
to this scene was very delightful ; it was a gentle place,
with lovely open hays, one small island, cornfields, woods,
and a group of cottages. This vale seemed to have been
made to be tributary to the comforts of man. Loch
Katrine for the lonely delight of nature, and kind spirits
delighting in beauty. The sky was grey and heavy —
floating mists on the hill-sides, which softened the objects ;
and where we lost sight of the lake, it appeared so near
to the sky that they almost touched one another, giving
a visionary beauty to the prospect. "While we overlooked
this quiet scene, we could hear the stream rumbling
among the rocks between the lakes, but the mists con-
cealed any glimpse of it which we might have had.'
Again, on 11 Sept., she writes : — 'We came up to that
little lake, and saw it before us in its true shape in the
cheerful sunshine. TheTrossachs, overtoppedby Ben Ledi
and other high mountains, enclose the lake at the head ;
and those houses which we had seen before, with their
cornfields sloping towards the water, stood very prettily
under low woods. The fields did not appear so rich as
when we had seen them through the vale of mist ; but yet
as in framing our expectations we had allowed for a much
greater difference, so we were even a second time sur-
prised with pleasure at the same spot. We went as far
as these houses of which I have spoken in the car, and
then walked on, intending to pursue the road upon the
side of Loch Katrine along which Coleridge had come ;
but we had resolved to spend some hours in the neigh-
bourhood of the Trossachs, and accordingly coasted the
head of Loch Achray, and pursued the brook between
the two lakes as far as there was any track. Here we
found, to our surprise — for we had expected nothing but
heath and rocks like the rest of the neighbourhood oi
the Trossachs — a secluded farm; a plot of verdant ground
with a single cottage and its company of outhouses.
We turned back, and went to the very point from which
we had first looked upon Loch Achray when we were
here with Coleridge. It was no longer a visionary scene,
the sun shone into every crevice of the hills, and the
mountain tops were clear. ' See also Alexander Smith,
A Summer in Skye, chap. ii. ; and Passages from the
English Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, vol. ii., pp.
303-308.— Orel. Sur., sh. 38, 1871.
Achriesgill, a hamlet and a rivulet in the NW of
Sutherland. The hamlet lies at the head of Loch Ineh-
ard, 13 miles SSW of Durness. The rivulet has a run
of about 7 miles north-north-westward to the head of
Loch Inchard, makes some pretty cascades over high
rocks in its channel, and traverses a little strath nearly
all heathy or pastoral.
Achtercairn, a hamlet in Gairloch parish, Ross-shire.
A public school, with accommodation for 85 children,
had (1879) an average attendance of 57, and a grant of
£51, 2s. 6d.
Achtow, a hamlet in Balquhidder parish, Perthshire,
1 J mile E of Balquhidder village.
Aehvaich, a small strath in the upper part of Dornoch
parish, Sutherland.
Achvarasdal Burn. See Reat.
Ackergill Tower, a mansion in Wick parish, Caithness,
on the coast, 2J miles N by W of Wick. It stands on a
rock close to the sea, a few feet above high water mark,
and is partly an ancient, strong, three-storied tower, 65
feet high and 45 square, partly a recent castellated man-
sion. Once the seat of the Earls Marischal, and defended
on all sides but that toward the sea by a moat 12 feet
wide and 12 deep, it now belongs to Garden Duff-Dunbar,
Esq. (b. 1838 ; sue. 1875), owner of 22,880 acres in the
shire, valued at £11,046 per annum.
Ackemess, a headland on the 1ST of Westray island, in
Orkney.
Adam. See Aldham.
Add (Gael. Avon-Flmda, 'long river,' Ptolemy's
Longus Fluvius), a river of W Argyllshire, which, rising
in marshes at the NW extremity of Glassary parish, runs
along the valley of Glassary, and through the moss of
34
AFFRIC
Crinan, and falls into the sea at Inner Loch Crinan. It
occasionally in heavy rains overflows its banks, and does
much injury to adjacent fields. It abounds with trout,
and there is a salmon fishery at its mouth.
Adderlaw, a hill summit, 822 feet high, in the E of
Applegarth parish, Dumfriesshire.
AdcQewell, a manufacturing village in West Calder
parish, Edinburghshire, on the verge of the county, near
the Cleland branch of the Caledonian railway, 1J mile
WSW of West Calder. It has a post office under Mid-
calder, railway connection with the Caledonian, and a
Church of Scotland mission station. Pounded about 1866
in connection with great chemical works, it comprises
a great number of factory buildings, retort sheds, etc. ;
and it looks like an assemblage of numerous factories
and their appurtenances for a diversity of purposes. The
works cover 70 acres, produce vast quantities of paraffin
oil, naphtha, paraffin candles, and ammonia, and serve
also as auxiliaries to the great chemical works in the
vicinity of Bathgate. A public school, with accommoda-
tion for 327 children, had (1879) an average attendance
of 274, and a grant of £251, 6s. Pop. (1881) 1819.
Addiston, an adjunct of the Dalmahoy estate, in Ratho
parish, Edinburghshire, 2 miles NW of Currie.
Adie or Addie, a heathy hill, 893 feet high, in the SE
of Rathven parish, Banffshire.
Adigo, a lake in Uig parish, Lewis, Outer Hebrides,
Ross-shire.
Advie, a barony in Cromdale parish, Elginshire, on
the right bank of the river Spey, and on the Strathspey
branch of the Great North of Scotland railway, 8 miles
NE of Grantown. It has a post office of Advie Station,
under Ballindalloeh, an Established mission church, and
a public school, which, with accommodation for 90 chil-
dren, had (1879) an average attendance of 37, and a grant
of £32, 3s. The barony of Advie, on the right side of
the Spey, and the barony Tulchen on the left side, an-
ciently were a parish, now united with Cromdale, and
they belonged to the Earl of Pife, passed in the 15th
century to the Ballindalloeh family, and were eventu-
ally sold to Brigadier Alexander Grant.
Ae, an impetuous river of Dumfriesshire, rises upon
the eastern skirts of Queensberry Hill (2285 feet), 6J
miles WSW of Moffat. Thence it runs S, SE, and NE,
chiefly along the boundary between Closeburn, Kirkma-
hoe, Tinwald, and Lochmaben parishes on the right, and
Kirkpatrick juxta and Kirkmickael parishes on the left,
and falls into the Kinnel at a point 2J miles N of Loch-
maben. Its length is some 16 miles ; and its affluents
are the Deer, Bran, Capel, WTndyhill, Goukstane, Black
Linn, and Garrel burns.
Aebercurnig. See Abeecoen.
Aen. See Aan.
Affleck, an ancient castle in Monikie parish, Forfar-
shire. It is a fine specimen of the old feudal keep ;
and, though long uninhabited, is still almost entire.
It stands about 5 miles from the coast, yet serves as a
landmark to sailors.
Affleck, Ayrshire. See Attchinxeck.
Afforsk, a picturesque ravine in Gamrie parish, Banff-
shire. It is deep and winding ; has precipitous, diversi-
fied, luxuriantly plant-clad sides ; is split into two,
about half-way down, by a steeply acclivitous ledge of
rock, called the Ruin of Afforsk ; and descends, past the
old church, to the sea. The view of it from the Ruin,
both upward and downward, is strongly romantic.
Affric (Gael, abh-riach, ' greyish water '), a lake and a
river in Kilmorack parish, NW Inverness-shire. The
lake lies 14 miles NW of Fort Augustus, at an altitude
of 744 feet above sea-level, and, extending in a north-
easterly direction, is 3| miles long and from 1J to 4
furlongs wide. Of great depth, it abounds in trout,
running 3 to the lb. ; receives some 18 streams and
brooklets ; and is flanked NW by Mam Sodhail (3862
feet) and Cam Eige (3877), N by Sgurr na Lapaich
(3401), and NE by Am Meallan (2136), SW by Cam a'
Choire Chairbh (2827), Tigh Mor (3222), and Sgurr nan
Conbhairean (3634), S by Cam Glas Lochdarach (2330),
and Aonach Shasuiim (2901), and SE by Creag nan