Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

AERAN
shore ; has a sharp, jagged, irregular summit-line, no-
where much lower than 1600 feet above sea-level ;
and lifts at least 3 peaks to altitudes of 2000 feet and
upwards, these being Castell-Avael, 2735 feet high,
with Cir Vohr proper (2618 feet) and Ben Tarsuinn
(2706) to the SE and S. The Ben Varen group is situated
to the W of Cir Vohr ; extends parallel with it, or about 7
miles northward'and southward ; has greater breadth but
less height and less sublimity than either the Goatfell or
the Cir Vohr group, culminating at 2345 feet ; is longi-
tudinally split by the upper part of Glen Iorsa, so as to
flank both sides of that glen ; and, as seen from the
mouth of Glen Catacol, presents an outline like that of
a long house with rounded roof, and shows on its summit
two great mural reaches of granite blocks meeting each
other at right angles. The southern half of the island
consists of a rolling plateau, fronted round the coast with
declivities, breaks, and cliffs of much romantic beauty,
but characterised through the interior by tameness and
bleakness. The plateau has a general elevation of from
500 to 800 feet above sea-level ; and is traversed by irre-
gular ridges, generally in a direction nearly E and W,
and rising to elevations of from 1100 to 1600 feet above
sea-level. Glens and vales descend to the E, S, and W ;
have mostly a mountainous or loftily upland character
round their head ; decline to a comparatively lowland
character in their progress ; and, in many instances,
are so interlaced that the upper parts of westward ones
are nearer the E coast than the upper parts of eastward
ones, and the upper parts of eastward ones nearer the W
coast than the upper parts of westward ones. The close
views throughout the S aggregately are very far inferior
to those throughout the N, but the more distant views
there, especially the views thence of the northern
mountains, are very grand.
The rocks of Arran, both igneous and sedimentary,
are exceedingly diversified ; they also, in their relations
to one another, and in their mutual contacts, present
very interesting phenomena ; and at once by their
geological ages, by their inter-connectional character,
and by their lithological constitution, they are unparal-
leled by the rocks of any equal extent of territory in
almost any part of the globe, and form, in a main degree,
an epitome of the geology of Britain. ' The variety, in-
deed, ' says Dr Bryce, ' is so great, and the interest so
lively and pleasing, which an examination of the struc-
ture of the island and its charming scenery excites, that,
as Professor Phillips has remarked, every geologist who
visits Arran is tempted to write about it, and finds
something to add to what has already been put on
record. For the student there cannot be a finer field.
The primary azoic rocks, the metamorphic slates, the
lower palaeozoic strata, the newer erupted rocks, and
phenomena of glacial action, may all be examined by
him in easy excursions of a few days ; and the exposi-
tion of the strata is so complete in the rugged moun-
tains, deep precipitous glens, and unbroken sea- coast
sections, that the island may truly be called a grand
museum arranged for his instruction by the hand of
nature. ' Granite forms all the northern region to within
from 1 mile to 1J mile from the shore, but is of coarse
grain in the coastward parts, of fine grain in the interior
parts, and has been the subject of much recent discus-
sion among geologists as to its age. Metamorphic
slates form a belt round all the granitic region, extend-
ing quite to the shore in all the NW and W, and
measuring averagely about 1 mile in breadth along the
S, but separated by other rocks from the shore on the E
and NE. Devonian rocks form a belt exterior to the
slate belt, along all the E, SW, and S, from the Fallen
Eocks on the N to Machrie Bay on the W ; about 1 mile
wide at Glen Sannox, very much narrower further S
and onward to the SW, but widening to about 2f miles
in the extreme W. Carboniferous rocks form a
narrow belt along the NE coast, from beyond the
Scriden Rocks to the Fallen Rocks ; form again a
broader belt on the E seaboard, from a point N of Corrie
down to Brodick Bay ; expand there into a belt from
3J to 4J miles broad, southward to Lamlash Bay, and
76
AREAN
eastward and westward across the whole width of the
island ; are interrupted throughout a considerable
aggregate of that broad belt by regions and patches of
other rocks ; send ramifications from around Lamlash
Bay southward and south-westward along the E coast
and along Monamore Glen and Glen Scorsdale ; ramify
thence again into narrow belts along most of the S coast
and through four parts of the interior ; and finally form a
very narrow belt along the N end and W side of Holy
Isle. Porphyritic rocks form two patches 2 miles SE
and 1J mile SW of Brodick ; form another patch on the
W coast at Drumadoon Point ; form another region
about 2J miles by 1J on the coast immediately SSE of
Drumadoon Bay ; form also a patch on the S coast at
the E side of the Struey Eocks ; and finally form the
greater portion of Holy Isle. Trap rocks, variously
greenstone, basalt, and of other kinds, form three con-
siderable isolated patches at the E coast, the E centre,
and the W central parts of the great Carboniferous belt
which extends across the island, and form all the region
between that great belt and the S coast, except the por-
tions occupied by the Carboniferous ramifications and by
the porphyritic rocks. Beautiful crystals of amethyst
are found in quartzose sandstone on the S side of Glen
Cloy ; smoke quartz crystals are found in coarse-grained
and rapidly disintegrating granite on the great northern
mountain ridge ; sulphate ofbarytes is found and worked
in Glen Sannox ; and numerous other interesting
minerals are found in other places.
The chief streams are the rivulets or torrents rush-
ing down the great glens in the NE, the N, and the
NW ; the Iorsa, traversing Glen Iorsa down to the N of
Machrie Bay ; the Machrie, running about 6 miles
south-westward to the southern part of Machrie Bay ;
the Black Water, running about 6 miles west-south-
westward and southward to Drumadoon Bay ; the Slid-
dery, running about 6 miles south-south-westward to a
point 4J miles SSE of the mouth of the Black Water ;
the Torrylin, running about 5 miles south-westward
to a point 2 miles W of the Struey Eocks ; the Ash-
dale, running 4 miles south-eastward and eastward to
Whiting Bay ; and the Monamore and the Benlister,
running respectively about 3f and 3 miles eastward to
Lamlash Bay. The rarer plants of the island, or those
which either are nearly peculiar to it or can seldom be
found in other parts of Scotland than the W coast,
amount to no fewer than about 320 species ; and the
marine animals amount to about 283 species. Adders
exist, contrary to a statement in Farrar's St Paul, three
having been killed here in the summer of 1880. The
agricultural statistics are included in those of Bute-
shire, but only about S000 acres are arable ; about 613
acres are under wood ; and a considerable aggregate of
ground on the NE and the NW coast is under coppice.
The island is divided, territorially, into the districts of
Lamlash, Brodick, Lochranza, Shiskine, and Southend ;
politically, into the parish of Kilmorie in the W, and
the parish of Kilbride in the E ; ecclesiastically, into
the old parishes of Kilmorie and Kilbride, and the quoad
sacra parish of Brodick ; registrationally, into the dis-
tricts of Kilbride, Brodick, Kilmorie, and Lochranza.
The chief villages are Brodick, Lamlash, Whiting Bay,
Lochranza, and Corrie — all of them lying on the coast.
The chief residences are Brodick Castle, Kilmichael,
Corriegills, and numerous villas. The whole, with the
exception of the estate of Kirkmichael (3632 acres), be-
longs to the Duke of Hamilton. Valuation (1881)
£20,157. Pop. (1801) 5179, (1821) 6541, (1841) 6241,
(1861) 5574, (1871) 5234, (1881) 4673, of whom 2854 were
Gaelic-speaking.
The Monarina of Ptolemy, Arran is associated in
legendary story with Fingal and his heroes ; and it
may really have been the scene of unrecorded events
to which those legends owe their origin. The Norse-
men are known to the Irish annalists as Fiongall, or
'white foreigners ;' and early Norsemen not improbably
made descents on the coasts of Arran ; while later
Norsemen are certainly known to have held posses-
sion of its territory. Somerled, ruler of Argyll in the