Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

ARBROATH
for otage. Ee speedy, or I shoot your town away directly, and I
set fire to it. I am, gentlemen, your servant. I sent some of my
crew to you ; but if some harm 'happens to them, you'll be sure
will hang up the main-yard all the preseners we have aboard.
4 To Mousieurs the chiefs men of 1
Arbrought in Scotland.' j"
The magistrates having now got some of the inhabitants
armed, and their courage further supported by the arrival
of some military from Montrose, set Fall at defiance, and
' ordered him to do his worst, for they would not give
him a farthing.' "Whereupon, says the worthy historian
of this memorable transaction in the annals of Arbroath,
terribly enraged, and no doubt greatly disappointed, he
began a heavy fire upon the town, and continued it for
a long time ; but happily it did no harm, except knock-
ing down some chimney-tops, and burning the fingers of
those who took up his balls, which were heated.
Arbroath is the 'Fairport' of Scott's Antiquary; and
both in itself and in its surroundings, it can easily be
identified with his descriptions. Among its illustrious
natives are David Pierson (flo. 1628), author of the rare
Varieties; David Carey (1782-1824), jxiet and novelist ;
Neil Arnott, M.D. (1788-1874), scientific inventor ; and
Win. Sharpey, M.D. (b. 1S02): it was also the residence,
from 1793 to 1814, of Alex. Balfour, poet and novelist.
The parish of Arbroath is bounded N and NE by St
Vigeans, SE by the German Ocean, SW by a detached
portion of St Vigeans and by Arbirlot. Its outline
roughly resembles that of a boot, with the sole resting on
the shore. Its length from NV to SE is about 3 miles ;
its breadth varies from 1 to 10 furlongs ; and its land
area is 943 acres. The coast extends about 1 J mile ;
has a fiat surface, with a rocky bottom ; forms the ter-
minal portion of the level seaboard extending from the
mouth of the Tay ; and adjoins a high mural reach of
rock-coast, pierced with' caves, and torn with fissures, in
the parish of St Vigeans. The land rises gradually be-
hind the town, onward to the north-western boundary,
and attains there an elevation of more than 200 feet
above sea-level. The Brothock Burn comes in from St
Vigeans, and has a course of only about J mile within
Arbroath parish to the sea. A small lake called Bishop's
Loch lay about 2 miles from the town, but has long
been drained. The rocks are chiefly Devonian. The
soil along the coast is light and sandy, behind the town
is black loam, and in the NW is reclaimed moor on a
clay bottom. Two landowners hold each an annual value
of £500 and upwards, 36 of between £100 and £500, 70
of from £50 to £100, and 197 of from £20 to £50.
Arbroath is seat of a presbytery in the synod of Angus
and Mearns ; its living is worth £42S. Valuation of
landward portion (1881) £1419, 14s. Pop. of entire
parish (1831) 6660, (1861) 9847, (1871) 9877, (1SS1)
9900.— Orel. Sur., shs. 49, 57, 1865-67.
The presbytary of Arbroath comprises the old parishes
of Arbroath, Arbirlot, Barry, Carmylie, Guthrie, Inver-
keilor, Kinnell, Kirkden, Lunan, Panbride, and St
Vigeans, the quoad sacra parishes of Abbey, Carnoustie,
Colliston, Friockheim, Inverbrothock, and Ladyloan,
and the chapelries of St Margaret's and Auchmithie.
Pop. (1871) 33,811, of whom 8702 were communicants of
the Church of Scotland in 1878, when the above-named
congregations raised £4074 in Christian liberality. — A
Free Church presbytery of Arbroath has churches at
Arbirlot, Barry, Carmylie, Carnoustie, Colliston, Friock-
heim, Inverkeilor, and Panbride, besides the 5 at the
town itself, these 13 congregations numbering 4456
communicants in 1880.— A U.P. presbytery of Arbroath
has 3 churches there, 3 at Brechin, 3 at Montrose, and
others at Carnoustie, Forfar, Johnshaven, and Muirton,
the 13 numbering 3977 members in 1879.
See Liber S. Thomas de Abcrbrothoc 1178-1329, edited
for the Bannatyne Club by Cosmo Innes and P. Chalmers
(1848); Billing's Antiquities (1852); D. Miller's Ar-
broath and its Abbey (1860) ; C. Innes' Sketches of Early
Scotch History (1861) ; and Geo. Hay's History of Ar-
broath (1876).
Arbroath and Forfar Railway, a railway of Forfar-
shire, from the E side of Arbroath harbour, 15i miles
60
ARBUTHNOTT
west-north-westward to a junction with the Scottish
Midland section of the Caledonian at Forfar. Incorpo-
rated 17 May 1836, it was formed at a cost of £131,644,
and was opened partially in Sept. 1838, wholly in
Jan. 1839. It is leased new in perpetuity to the Cale-
donian, at a yearly rental of £13,500.
Arbruehill. See Abeetjchill.
Arbuckle, a village of NE Lanarkshire, 2£ miles from
Airdrie.
Arbuthnott (12th c. Abirbothennothe = Gael. abhir-
bothan-neithe, ' confluence at the booth of Neithe's
stream'), a parish of E Kincardineshire, whose SE angle
is J mile distant from Bervie terminus, and whose W and
NW borders are respectively f and J mile from Fordoun
and Drumlithie stations on the main Caledonian line.
It is bounded NW and N by Glenbervie, E by Einneff,
S by Bervie, SW by Garvock, and W by Fordoun. Its
length from N to S by W is 6 miles ; its breadth varies
from 1 to 5 mil es ; and its land area is 9585 acres. The
river Bervie, after following at intervals the boundary
with Fordoun and Garvock, winds lij mile through the
interior, past Arbuthnott Church, and traces next the
boundary with Bervie ; and the boundary with Glenber-
vie is formed by its affluent, the Forthie Water. The
surface rises everywhere from the vale of the Bervie, is
much diversified with hill and dale, and attains at
Bruxie Hill, on the NE border, an extreme altitude of
710 feet — other summits being Water Hill (460 feet),
Gallow Hill (465), Hillhead (571), and Birnie Hill (482).
The vale of the Bervie has many curves and windings,
abounds in large haughs and steep wooded banks, and
at many points presents scenes of great beauty. The
rocks are chiefly trap and Devonian, but include de-
tached masses of gneiss and granite. Very fine pebbles,
suitable for gems, have been found in trap-rock, a little
below Arbuthnott House ; calcareous spar is not uncom-
mon ; and, in Hare's Den, a deep ravine nearly oppo-
site the parish church, are tiny veins of manganese.
About two-thirds of the land are under the plough, and
some 300 acres under wood. The knightly family of
Arbuthnott obtained the greater portion of this parish in
1105 ; and Sir Robert, the fourteenth in descent, was
created Viscount Arbuthnott and Baron Inverbervie in
1644. Arbuthnott House, the family seat, stands amid
beautiful grounds near the left bank of the Bervie, which,
spanned by a handsome bridge (1821), is joined here by
a rapid rivulet (? anc. Neithe). Kair House, a neat
modern mansion, succeeded the seat of a branch of the
Sibbalds, extinct in the 17th century ; and Allardice,
now a ruin, belonged in the 12th century to a family that
has also become extinct in Captain Robert Barclay-
Allardice (1799-1854), the famous pedestrian. Alex-
ander Arbuthnott (1538-83), the first Protestant princi-
pal of King's College, Aberdeen, was minister, and pro-
bably a native of this parish, as certainly was Dr John
Arbuthnot (1667-1735), most learned of the wits of Queen
Anne's reign. Arbuthnott is in the presbytery of Fordoun
and synod of Angus and Mearns ; the minister's income is
£269. Its church, St Ternan's, stands near Arbuthnott
House, 2} 2 miles WNW of Bervie, contains 440 sittings,
and is an ancient structure apparently of Romanesque
date. On the SW of the chancel is the Second Pointed
chapel of St Mary, built by Sir Robert Arbuthnott in
1505, and consisting of two stories, the lower of which,
vaulted and open to the church by a large semicircular
arch, was the Arbuthnotts' former burial-place. The upper
chamber, which is reached by a stair in a picturesque
turret with a conical stone roof at the NW angle of the
chapel, once held the theological library bequeathed to
his successors by the Rev. John Sihbald ; and in both
chambers are piscinas, besides a stoup at the entrance of
the upper one (Muir's Old Cliurch Arch., p. 75). The
public school, with accommodation for 107 children,
had (1879) an average attendance of 45, and a grant of
£46, 16s. ; and Arbuthnott has also a share in Laur-
encekirk school. Valuation (1881) £9766, 17s. 5d.,
the property being divided among five. Pop. (1831)
944, (1871) 924, (1881) 809.— Ord. Sur., shs. 66, 67,
1871.