Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

EALNAKIEL
one slate quarry. Pop. (1861) 142, (1871) 146, (1881)
108.
Balnakiel, a small bay in Durness parish, Sutherland.
Balnakiel House, in its vicinity, was built about 1744 ;
was an occasional residence of the Lords Reay ; and
occupies the site of a summer residence of the Bishops of
Sutherland and Caithness.
Balnakyle, a picturesque cascade on the Black Water
rivulet, in Clyne parish, Sutherland.
Balnamoon, an estate, with a modern mansion, in Men-
muir parish, Forfarshire, 4J miles WNW of Brechin.
Balnellan, a ferry on the river Spey, between Elgin-
shire and Banffshire, immediately above the mouth of
the river Aven.
Balone, a hamlet in St Andrews parish, Fife, If
mile SW of St Andrews city.
Balone, a large old castellated building in Tarbat
parish, Ross-shire, said to have been erected by the
Earls of Ross. It was inhabited by the Earls of Cro-
marty, and by the Mackenzies of Ardloch-Assynt ; but,
though still almost entire, it has been deserted since
about 1640.
Balquhain Castle, a ruin in Chapel-of-Garioch parish,
Aberdeenshire, about £ mUe SE of the parish church.
The seat from 1340 of the Leslies of Balquhain, it gave
lodging to Queen Mary on the eve of the battle of Cor-
richie in 1562, and was burned by the Duke of Cumber-
land in 1746. Here was born John Leslie, Bishop of
Raphoe (d. 1671).
Balquhapple, an ancient chapelry within the quondam
parish of Lang, now annexed to Kincardine, in Perth-
shire.
Balquhatston, an estate, with a mansion, in Slaman-
nan parish, Stirlingshire, adjacent to the Slamannan
station and Slamannan village. Coal of excellent
quality is largely mined on the estate, and sent to Edin-
burgh and other places.
Balquhidder (Gael, baile-chul-tir, ' town of the back-
lying country'), a Highland parish of W Perthshire,
whose eastern portion is traversed by 114 miles of the
Callander and Oban railway, with Strathyre and Loch
earnhead stations thereupon, the latter being 3 miles
NNE of the former, 12 NNW of Callander, and 28 Nff
of Stirling. It contains four villages — Kirkton of Bal-
quhidder, at the foot of Loch Voil, 3 miles W by S of
Lochearnhead station, with a post office under Stirling ;
Achtow, 1 J mile to the E, near King's House Inn ; Loch-
earnhead, 2 miles NNE of its station, with a post
office, having money order, savings' bank, and telegraph
departments ; and Strathyre, with another post office
under Stirling, and with two inns, at one of which
Wordsworth and his sister lodged 13 Sept. 1803.
In shape resembling a triangle with vertex to the W,
the parish is bounded NW by Dumbartonshire (for |
mile) and Killin, E by Comrie, SE and S by Callander ;
and has an extreme length from E to W of 15J miles, an
extreme width from N to S of 10 miles, and an area of
56,149:| acres, of which 1474§ are water. The drainage
belongs in part to the basin of the Tay, but chiefly to
that of the Forth. To the Tay, since the NE corner of
the parish includes the head of Loch Earn, which from
Balquhidder receives the Ogle (flowing 4 miles SSE),
the Oleann Ceann Droma (4£ miles SE and NE), and
the Ample, with a fine waterfall (5 miles N). To the
Forth, since the central Lochs Doine and Voil are fed
and connected with one another and Loch Lubnato by
the river Balvag, a head-stream of the Teith. Rising
close to the border of Dumbartonshire, this head-stream
has a course (ENE and SSE) through the parish of 21
miles or so — 8 J miles to Loch Doine, 7 J furlongs through
that lake (itself 2 furlongs wide), 1$ furlong to Loch
Voil (1 to 3 furlongs wide, and 3J miles long), 6 miles
from Loch Voil to Loch Lubnaig, and 2 miles through
the upper waters of that lake, which fall within the SE
angle of Balquhidder. Loch Voil has an altitude above
sea-level of some 414, Loch Earn of 306, and Loch Lub-
naig of 405 feet ; and from the shores of these three
lakes the surface rises everywhere into steep craggy
mountains. That portion of the parish to the N of the
118
BALQUHIDDER
Balvag and the W of the railway is occupied by the
Braes of Balquhidder, celebrated by Tannahill ; and" here
the chief elevations from W to E are *Beinn a Chroin
(3101 feet), *Stob Glas (2673), Beinn Tulachan (3099),
*Stob Garbh (3148), *Am Binnein (3827), *Stob Coire
an Lochan (3497), Meall Monachyle (2123), *Stob
Creagach (2966), Stob Luib (1579), *Stob Meall naFrean
(2457), *Meall na Lochain (2010), and Meall an t'Seal-
laidh (2792), where the asterisks mark those summits
that culminate on the boundary. In the southern
division rise *Meall Mor (2451), *Stob a Choin (2839),
*Taobh na Coille (2250), *Lag a Phuill (1649), Beinn
an t'Shithein (1871), and *Benvane (2685) ; and to the
E of the railway, from N to S, are Ben Our (2250), Meall
nan Oighreag (1899), *Stuc a Chroin (3189), and *Beinn
Each (2660). The scenery from Loch Katrine to Loch
Voil and thence to Loch Lubnaig is thus described by
Dorothy Wordsworth, whose brother's ' Highland Lass '
was here suggested: — ' We waded the river and crossed
the vale, perhaps half a mile or more. The mountains
all round are very high ; the vale pastoral and unen-
closed, not many dwellings, and but very few trees ; the
mountains in general smooth near the bottom. They
are in large unbroken masses, combining with the vale
to give an impression of bold simplicity. ... At
the foot of Loch Voil the vale is wide and populous —
large pastures with many cattle, large tracts of corn.
Walked down Strathyre, and saw in clear air and sun-
shine what had been concealed from us when we travelled
before in the mist and rain. We found it less woody
and rich than it had appeared to be, but, with all
deductions, a very sweet valley. ' The prevailing rocks
are mica and clay slate, quartz, greenstone, and por-
phyry ; and veins of galena traverse some parts of the
mica slate, but have not been worked for their ore.
Heath, till about the beginning of this century, dotted
most of the uplands, but almost everywhere has given
place to grass of soft and silky texture, while natural
woods and plantations cover a considerable extent. The
Maclaurins are said to have acquired from Kenneth Mac-
alpin(844-60) the districts of Balquhidder and Strathearn;
and they were once so numerous that none durst enter
Balquhidder Church till they had taken their seats — a
right that gave rise to many brawls, in one of which the
vicar, Sir John Maclaurin, was slain (1532). In 1869 a
handsome granite monument was erected in the church-
yard to the memory of ' the Clan Laurin, the chief of
whom, in the decrepitude of old age, together with his
aged and infirm adherents, their wives and children, the
widows of their departed kindred — all were destroyed in
the silent midnight hour by fire and sword, by the
hands of a banditti of incendiarists from Glendochart,
a.d. 1558.' The said banditti of incendiarists were the
Macgregors of Rob Roy's tribe ; and Rob himself died in
his house at Balquhidder, 28 Dec. 1734. Near the
old kirk he had fought his last fight with Stewart of In-
vernahyle, the Maclaurins' champion ; and in its grave-
yard his tombstone is pointed out, lying flat on the
ground to the E of the chancel gable, along with two
others assigned by tradition to Helen his wife and to one
of their sons. Tradition maybe right enough, but all
three stones are shown by their carvings, of sword and
knot and suchlike emblems of Celtic art, to be centuries
older than the outlaw's day, to belong, in fact, to the
so-called ' sculptured stones ; ' a fourth ' represents an
ecclesiastic with a chalice in his hands, and formerly
stood within the church, in front of the Altar, but was
removed in order to destroy a superstitious desire that
existed among the parishioners to stand or kneel on it
during a marriage or baptism. The stone is still called
Clach Aenais (the stone of Angus), who, according to
tradition, was a disciple of Columba, and the first Chris-
tian missionary in the district ' {Sculptured Stones of
Scotland, 1867). On 6 Sept. 1869 Queen Victoria visited
Rob Roy's grave, which Wordsworth has sung in a well-
known poem, though he never stood beside the grave
itself, wrongly supposing it to be near the head of Loch
Katrine. As to the ivy-mantled ruined church, with
its primitive font, it is said in the New Statistical to