Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BENEVEIAN
border of Inverness and Ross shires, 10 miles W by S
of Beauly.
Beneveian (Gael, tsinn a mlieadhoin, ' middle moun-
tain '), a loch and a mountain of Glenaffric in Kilmorack
parish, KW Inverness-shire. An expansion of the river
Affric, the lake lies 22 miles SW of Beauly, and 6 of
Glenaffric Hotel, at an altitude of some 700 feet ; is 2|
miles long and from 1 to 3 J furlongs wide ; receives the
Fiadhaeh and 8 or 9 smaller streams and brooks ; and
opens at its head into Loch an Laghair (§ x J mile).
It belongs to The Chisholm, who has boats upon its
waters, which abound in trout, running 3 to the lb.
The mountain culminates f mile from the loch's north-
western shore at 2003 feet above sea-level. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. 72, 1880.
Ben Fhada. See Ben Attow and Benveetjan.
Benfile, a mountain in Gairloch parish, Ross-shire,
at the SE extremity of the southern screen of Loch
Maree. It has a stately base and a lofty altitude ; it
terminates in two sharp lofty peaks of snow-white quartz ;
and it makes a dazzling appearance under a play of
sunshine.
Ben Fin, a mountain in the central part of Ross-shire,
overhanging the S side of the head of Loch Fannich.
Ben Freiceadain, a steep rocky hill (700 feet) in Reay
parish, Caithness, 8 miles SE of Reay village. It is
crowned with an ancient fort nearly a mile in circum-
ference.
Bengaillan, a bill in Campbeltown parish, Kintyre,
Argyllshire, If mile SSE of Campbeltown town. Rising
1154 feet above sea-level, it commands a splendid pano-
ramic view over Kintyre, the southern Hebrides, the
north of Ireland, and the Firth of Clyde.
Bengairn. See Bencairn.
Bengali, a hamlet in Dryfesdale parish, Dumfriesshire,
3 miles SW of Lockerbie. It stands at the W base of
two hills, separated from each other by a narrow morass,
and crowned by respectively a Caledonian and a Roman
camp ; and from these two camps it takes its name,
signifying ' the hill of the Gael. '
Bengharbhlagain. See Ben Pharlagain.
Ben Ghulbhuinn (Gael. ' mountain of the little beak'),
a mountain (2641 feet) at the head of Glenshee, Kirk-
michael parish, NE Perthshire, near the meeting-point
with Forfar and Aberdeen shires. It is held by tradition
to have been the scene of a hunting-match which proved
fatal to Diarmid, one of the Fingalian heroes ; and on
itself, or on spots adjacent to it, are the alleged grave of
Diarmid, the den of the wild boar which was hunted,
a spring called Tober-nam-Fiann ( ' the fountain of the
Fingalians '), and a small lake, Loch-an-Tuirc ('the
boar's loch ').
Benglass, a mountain in the N of Luss parish, Dum-
bartonshire, overhanging the S side of Glendouglas, If
mile W of Loch Lomond, and 3J NW of Luss village.
It has a romantic outline, and rises 2149 feet above
sea-level.
Benglo (Gael, beinn a'ghlo, ' the hazy mountain '), a
mountain range in Blair Athole parish, Perthshire, flank-
ing the greater part of the south-eastern side of Glen
Tilt, and culminating 8 miles NE of Blair Athole. It
rises from a vast base to a group of five summits, the
highest of which has an altitude of 3671 feet above
sea-level.
Bengnuis, a central summit (2597 feet) of the moun-
tains of Arran, abutting from the S end of the great
middle northern range of Arran, overhanging the head of
Glen Rosie on the E, flanking the middle part of Glen
Iorsa on the W, and culminating about midway between
the E coast N of Brodick and the W coast N of Dugarry.
A wild burn, called Garavalt, drains all its E side, makes
a fine cascade, traverses a granitic gorge, and plunges
headlong into Glen Rosie.
Ben Goleach, a mountain of NW Ross-shire, between
Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom, 5 miles W of Ulla-
pool. It rises 2074 feet above the neighbouring sea.
Ben Griam Bheag and Ben Griam Mnor (Gael, 'small
and large mountains of the sun'), two mountains in the
N of Kildonan parish, E Sutherland, with summits (2J
144
BENHOLM
miles asunder) 1903 and 1936 feet high above sea-level.
The north eastern of the two, Ben Griam Bheag, extends
into Reay parish, its summit rising just upon the border,
3| miles WSW of Forsinard station.
Ben Gualann, a mountain on the mutual border of
Drymen and Buchanan parishes, Stirlingshire, 3J miles
Nfi of Loch Lomond at Balmaha. It has an altitude ot
1514 feet above sea-level.
Ben Gulabin. See Ben Ghitlbhuinn.
Bengullion. See Bengaillan.
Benhar, a village in Whitburn parish, Linlithgowshire,
adjacent to the boundary with Lanarkshire, 1J mile
NNW of Fauldhouse station. A mission station of the
Church of Scotland, conjoint with one at Harthill, is
here ; and a coalfield is adjacent, lying under an alluvial
bed 7 fathoms and 3 feet thick, and containing a seam
of eoal 18 inches thick, and a seam of splint coal 3 feet
8 inches thick. Pop. (1871) 417.
Benhee, a mountain on the south-eastern border of
Eddrachillis parish, Sutherland, culminating 5 miles E
by S of the head of Loch More, at an altitude of 2864
feet above sea-level.
Benheinish, a hill in Tiree island, Argyllshire. It is
the highest ground in the island, and has an altitude of
about 450 feet above sea-level.
Benhiand, a mountain summit in Ardnamurchan
parish, Argyllshire. It is the highest ground in the
range of hills traversing Ardnamurchan proper, and it
has an altitude of 1271 feet above sea-level.
Benhiel, a mountain in the N of Sutherland, forming
part of the grand alpine screens of Loch Loyal.
Benholm, a coast parish of Kincardineshire, traversed
by the Montrose and Bervie section of the North British
railway, and containing the fishing village of Johns-
haven, with postal, money order, savings' bank, and
telegraph office under Fordoun, and with a station 9
miles NNE of Montrose and 4J SSE of Bervie. Bounded
NW by Garvock, N and NE by Bervie, SE by the Ger-
man Ocean, and SW by St Cjths, it has an extreme
length from N to S of 3f miles, a width from E to W ot
3J miles, and a land area of 4891 acres. The shore,
about 1 J mile long, is low but rocky ; has been the scene
of many shipwrecks ; and seems to be touched by a north-
ward ocean current, the bodies of persons drowned in the
Firth of Forth having been cast up here. Along it runs
a former sea-bottom, 300 yards broad on an average and
almost level with the sea, which, partly consisting of
shingle but chiefly of sea sand mixed with pebbles or
small boulders, has all, except at Johnshaven, been arti-
ficially covered, with soil, and made either arable or
pastoral, one portion of it having been thus reclaimed as
late as 1863. Beyond, the ancient sea margin, steep in
some places, in others sloping, is very distinctly marked ;
and thence the ground inland ascends unequally towards
the NW. A chain of little heather-capped hills rise to
452, 495, and 415 feet on the SW border, and to 563 feet
in the westermost corner of the parish ; on the Bervie
boundary are Gourdon Hill (436 feet), Knox Hill (523),
and Kenshot Hill (618). The rocks are Devonian and
eruptive — sandstone, conglomerate, and trap ; and wher-
ever exposed, their surfaces are found to be grooved and
striated by glacial action towards the SW by W. Sand-
stone is worked on the Brotherton and Benholm estates,
and that on the former is the best building stone in the
county. The soil for li mile from the shore is early,
productive, and well adapted for all sorts of crops ; but
in the upper district is later and less fertile, and much
here that formerly was moor and waste has been re-
claimed only within the last half century. Antiquities
are an oblong beacon cairn on Gourdon HOI, Kenshot
and Philla Cairns in the NW, and the square Tower of
Benholm to the N of the church, supposed to have been
founded early in the 15th century, and still entire,
though uninhabited. A seat of the Keiths, Earls Mari-
schal, this was the scene in 1623 of a theft by the fifth
earl's widowed countess of money and jewels to a great
amount (Chambers's Dom. Ann., i. 530). Brotherton
House, a fine mansion rebuilt in the Baronial style in
1866, stands near the shore a little above Johnshaven,