Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BELIVAT
breadth from E to W of from 2f to 5| miles, and a land
area of 12,184 acres. The coast, for 5J miles, is all a
beach of fine sand, backed by low bent-clad sandhills,
beyond which lies a narrow alluvial belt of greensward,
so nearly level that in 1817 the Ordnance Surveyors
chose it for measuring their base-line of 5 miles 100 feet,
the southern extremity of that line being 168 and the
northern 120 feet above the sea. Further inland the
surface is very undulating, and rises westward to 191
feet near Wester Hatton, 255 near the hamlet, 321 at
Moss-side, 245 at Hill of Ardo, 455 at Overhill, and 548
at Beauty Hill, whose summit, however, lies just outside
the bounds. Seven burns flow eastward to the sea, the
Newtyle and Blackdog on the northern and southern
boundaries, with the Menie, Orrock, Hopeshill, Eggie,
and Pottertown between ; and some of the numerous
springs are strong chalybeates, others impregnated with
sulphuret of iron. A dyke of trap, from 4 to 6 furlongs
broad, starts from the Blackdog's mouth to run north-
westward through the entire parish, and at one point is
flanked by serpentine. Granite is almost the only rock
SW of this dyke, but does not occur to the NE, where
peat-moss underlies the sandy links. At least one-half
of the arable lands of S and W has been reclaimed from
moss or moor within the past 50 years ; the loams and
clays of the central, northern, and eastern divisions have
been longer cultivated, and are much more fertile. Plan-
tations of larch and Scotch firs, with clumps of hardwood
trees, cover a considerable area, but all are stunted by
their eastward exposure. The Hare Cairn is sole sur-
vivor out of several tumuli, stone circles, and suchlike
prehistoric monuments ; but a gold tore armlet or neck-
ring, discovered in this parish, has found a resting-place
in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum, and is figured
on p. 105 of its Catalogue (1876). The chief mansions
are Menie Houses (Misses Turner) in the NE, Balmedie
House (W. H. Lumsden) in the E, and Belhelvie Lodge
(Major-Gen. Sir H. Burnett Lumsden) near the hamlet ;
10 proprietors holding each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 4 of between £100 and £500, and 1 of from
£20 to £50. Belhelvie is in the presbytery and synod
of Aberdeen ; its minister's income is £256. The new
parish church, at Drumhead, 1 mile NE of the hamlet,
was erected in 1878 at a cost of £3150. A handsome
Gothic structure of grey granite, it is seated for 540, and
is surmounted by a belfry, which rises to 70 feet. Its
predecessor stood 1J mile further NNE, and, partly
dating from pre-Reformation days, is now represented
only by the W gable, a Caroline monument to one of the
Inneses of Blairton, and a beautiful kirkyard. There
are also a Free church (1843) at Pottertown, If mile S
by Wof the hamlet, and a U.P. church (1791) at Shiels,
1 j mile NNW. The public schools of Balmedie (in the
E), Craigie (NW), Menie (NE), and Wester Hatton (SE),
with respective accommodation for 133, 80, SO, and 80
children, had in 1879 an average attendance of 69, 62,
46, and 64, and grants of £30, 10s., £50, 6s., £33, 16s.,
and £49, 6s. Valuation (1881) £13,622, 8s. 9d. Pop.
(1801) 1428, (1841) 1594, (1871) 1833, (1881) 1S50.— Ord.
Sur., sh. 77, 1873.
Belivat. See Ardclach.
Bella, a rivulet of E Ayrshire, rising near the meeting
point with Lanark and Dumfries shires, running about
8 miles westward to a confluence with Glenmore Water,
2J miles ENE of Cumnock, and there combining with
Glenmore Water to form the river Lugar.
Belladrum, an estate in Kiltarlity parish, Inverness-
shire. Its mansion, 4 miles S by W of Beauly, is a
splendid modern edifice, and has, connected with it, a
farm-steading in a style of architecture corresponding
with its own. It is the seat of Arch. Wm. Merry, Esq.
(b. 1851 ; sue. 1877), owner of 5466 acres in the shire,
valued at £1976 per annum.
Bellahouston, a quoad sacra parish in Govan parish,
Lanarkshire, on the north-western verge of the county,
near Govan town, 3 miles NW of Glasgow. It was con-
stituted in 1869, and it had in 1871 a population of 2424.
Its post-town is Govan under Glasgow. It contains
Bellahouston House, Bellahouston villa, and Bellahous-
BELLIE
ton farm ; and it has a coal-pit, 19 J fathoms deep, yield-
ing high-priced cannel coal. It is in the presbytery of
Glasgow and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Stipend, £120,
with a manse.
Bellanoch, a village, with a public school, in North
Knapdale parish, Argyllshire, near the W end of the
Crinan Canal.
Bell-Craig. See Beld Craig.
Belleville. See Alvie.
Bellfield, a suburban village on the N border of St
Ninians parish, Stirlingshire, immediately N of St Nin-
ians town, and in the southern outskirts of Stirling.
Bellfield, a hamlet in Strathmiglo parish, Fife, in the
eastern vicinity of Strathmiglo village.
Bellfield, an estate, with a mansion, in Cupar parish,
Fife.
Bellfield, an estate, with a mansion, in Eiccarton
parish, Ayrshire.
Bellfield, an estate, with a mansion, on the NW bor-
der of Kirkintilloch parish, Dumbartonshire.
Bellie, a parish partly in Elginshire, partly in Banff-
shire, and in its Elginshire or SW section containing
the town of Fochabers, 3 miles E by N of Fochabers
station in Speymouth parish, this being 64; miles ESE of
Elgin, and 34, N by W of Orton Junction. In it are also
the villages of Auchenhalrig, 3 miles NNE of Fochabers,
Upper and Nether Dallachy and Bogmuir, 3, 4, and 3f
miles N by E ; Tynet, at the mouth of the Spey, 4|
miles N ; and Enzie, 34, miles ENE. Bounded N by
the Moray Firth, E by Eathven and Keith, S by Keith
and Boharm, and W by Speymouth and Urquhart, it
has an extreme length from N to S of 7 J miles, a breadth
from E to W of from 2J to 4-J miles, and a land area of
13,212 acres. The Spey, through a network of channels,
flows 6 miles along all the western, and the Burn of Tynet
5 J miles alongthe eastern, border, while the Burn of Focha-
bers runs 3i miles north-westward through the S of the
parish, and falls into the Spey at Fochabers. The coast-
line, 2 J miles long, is raised only 15 and 22 feet above
sea-ievel ; and the surface is low for 2 miles inland, as
also along the strath of the Spey, which has wandered
some 2 miles westward from its original mouth ; but it
rises S and E to 109 feet near Upper Dallachy, 158 near
Auchenhalrig, 210 at Ordiga, 657 at Braes Cairn, 866 at
Whiteash Hill, 401 at Ordiequish Hill, 624 on Dougglas-
shiel Moss, and 819 on Thiefs Hill, which culminates
just within the Boharm boundary. Prevailing rocks are
a dark red sandstone and a conglomerate of the Devonian
formation, the former of which has been quarried for
building, whilst a plentiful debris of both in loose de-
composed strata has been much used for roads and gar-
den walks. The soil of the low lands, though light and
sandy, is fairly productive, but that along all the coast
to the breadth of J mile is utterly barren, and that of
the SE uplands mainly moorish, about a third of the
whole area being arable, a third under wood, an eigh-
teenth pasture, and the rest mostly moor. The antiqui-
ties include a stone circle at Cowiemuir, an artificial
' Court Hillock,' some tumuli, and a military work, once
thought to be Danish, and next identified with Ptolemy's
Tuessis, which Skene, however, places in Boharm parish ;
to these must be added the Bog-of-Gight portions of
Gordon Castle. On April 12, 1746, four days before
the battle of Culloden, part of Cumberland's army forded
the Spey above the old church of St Ninian, 1£ mile N
by E of Fochabers. Anciently held by Urquhart Priory,
this was the parish church till 1797, when it was trans-
lated to the town, where are also Free, Episcopal, and
Roman Catholic churches and Milne's Free School. The
Duke of Richmond and Gordon is chief proprietor, but
one other holds an annual value of between £100 and
£500. Bellie is in the presbytery of Strathbogie and
synod of Moray, its minister's income being £240 ; but
a south-eastern portion of the civil parish is included in
the quoad sacra parish of Enzie. A public school at
Bogmuir, with accommodation for 203 children, had
(1879) an average attendance of 111, and a grant of £94,
4s. 6d. Pop. of civil parish (1791) 1919, (1841) 2433,
(1861) 2292, (1871) 2317, (1881) 2370, of whom 1093
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