Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BIRSE
birds ; and the great E limb of Loch Stenness lies along
i miles of the western boundary of Harray. Several
burns run through Birsay, and contain fine trout and
sometimes salmon ; and numerous small burns traverse
Harray. The entire district comprising both parishes
was known to the Norsemen as Bergishcrad or ' the hunt-
ing territory,' and it answered so well their beau-ideal of a
hunting ground, that the Norwegian jarls were induced
to fix their chief residence in Birsay. The rocks include
limestone, an excellent flag claystone, and abundance of
building materials, but no sandstone. The soil in what
is called the barony of Birsay is a rich loam, perhaps
the most fertile in Orkney, admitting comparison with
much good land in the best agricultural districts of Scot-
land ; but it is said that in Birsay there still are from
10,000 to 12,000 acres lying waste, though highly sus-
ceptible of improvement. The hills are covered with
coarse herbage locally called lubha, a mixture of carices
and moor grasses, serviceable for the browsing of cattle
in summer. Birsay Palace, the residence of the Earls of
Orkney, stood on a romantic site, on the coast, at the
NW extremity of Birsay ; dates from remote times and
successive periods ; was rebuilt or greatly enlarged by
Earl Robert Stewart, the natural brother of Queen Mary,
and by his son, Earl Patrick ; was then modelled after
Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh ; formed a hollow quad-
rangle 158 feet by 100; fell into a state of neglect and
ruin ; and, in February 1868, was struck by a terrific
gale, throwing down about 30 feet of its strong western
facade, and leaving only about 4 feet of that side of the
wall standing. The Brough of Birsay, on Brough Head,
A mile WNW of the palace, appears to have been a rock
fortification, and shows vestiges of an ancient chapel.
The coast scenery around the Brough is the finest on the
AV side of Pomona. Ancient standing stones are in seve-
ral parts of Birsay, and Picts' houses are numerous.
Eleven skeletons, enclosed in rough flagstones, were dis-
covered in 1862, in the Knowe of Saverough, where, too,
a square-shaped iron bell was found, now in the Edin-
burgh Antiquarian Museum. Fairs for cattle and horses
are held thrice a year in Birsay and thrice a year in Har-
ray. The Earl of Zetland is chief proprietor, two others
holding an annual value of between £100 and £500, 16
of from £20 to £50. The two parishes, both in the pres-
bytery of Cairston and synod of Orkney, were disjoined
quoad sacra in 1S76 ; the living of Birsay is worth £366,
of Harray £120. Birsay Church, with 565 sittings, was
built in 1664, enlarged in 1760, and renovated in 1S67 ;
Harray Church was built in 1836, and contains 450 sit-
tings. One Free church is in Harray, and another in
Birsay, which also has a United Original Secession church
(1829 ; 470 sittings). Three public schools — Birsay,
Above the Hill, and Harray — with respective accommoda-
tion for 120, 60, and 108 children, had (1S79) an average
attendance of 69, 32, and 46, and grants of £63, 8s. 6d.,
£42, and £54, 5s. Pop. of united parish (1S01) 2176,
(1831) 2387, (1861) 2593, (1871) 2324, (1881) 2326, of
whom 1581 were in Birsay, and 745 in Harray.
Birse, a hamlet and a Deeside parish of S Aberdeen-
shire. The hamlet stands towards the NW corner of the
parish, on the left bank of the Burn of Birse, 2| miles
ESE of Aboyne station ; at it are a post office under
Aberdeen, a school, the manse, and the parish church
(1799 ; 550 sittings).
The parish contains also the hamlet of Marywell, 1 f
mile further ESE, and is bounded N by Aboyne, NE by
Kincardine O'Neil and Banchory -Ternan, E and SE by
Strachan in Kincardineshire, S by Lochlee in Forfarshire,
and W by the Glentanner portion of Aboyne. It has a
length from N to S of from 3g to S miles, a width from
E to W of from 2-| to 8J miles, and a land area of 31,219
acres, exclusive of the Percie portion of Aboyne. The
Dee traces 4| miles of the northern, next 2J of the
north-eastern, boundary, being spanned by the bridges of
Aboyne and Potarch ; and the interior is drained by five
of its main affluents and sub-affluents — Auld-dinnie Burn
(running 4 miles N along the Glentanner border), the
Burn of Birse (54 miles NE), the Burn of Cattie (8| miles
ENE), the Feugh (13 miles E by N, into Strachan), and
BISHOPBRIGGS
the Aan (9 miles ENE along the Kincardineshire frontier,
to the Feugh). The Dee at the Auld-dinnie's influx
has an altitude above sea-level of 410, below Woodend
Cottage of 232, feet ; and from it the surface has a general
west-south-westward rise, to Brackloch Craig (1034 feet)
in the NW corner between the Auld-dinnie and the Burn
of Birse ; to Torquhandallachy (715), Brown Hill (900),
Lamawhillis (1173), and Carmaferg (1724), between the
Burns of Birse and Cattie ; to Muckle Ord (724), Toms
Cairn (1016), Arntilly Craig (1052), Lamahip (1325),
Brackenstake (1555), *Hill of Duchery (1824), *Craigma-
handle (1878), and *Gannoch (2396), between the Cattie
and the Feugh ; and to Creaganducy (1347), Peter Hill
(2023), Glaspits (1758), AVhite Hill (1840), Cock Hill
(1960), tHill of Cammie (2028), and -fMudlee Bracks
(2259), between the Feugh and the Aan, where the
asterisks mark summits culminating on the western, and
the daggers on the southern, border. Granite, inferior
limestone, and gneiss are the prevailing rocks, with fine
red porphyry at Potarch ; the soil is sandy in the Mid-
strath or Glen-cat valley, yellow loam in lower and
black in upper Feughside, and sandy loam along the
Burn of Birse and the Dee. Good crops are grown of oats
and barley ; and the plantations of Finzean, Ballogie,
and Balfour, chiefly consisting of Scotch firs and larch,
cover between 4000 and 5000 acres, but the old ' Forest
of Birse,' to the S of the Feugh, is almost treeless now,
and most of the marketable timber elsewhere has been
felled. Fairs are held at the Bridge of Potarch on the
second Thursday after the May, October, and November
Aboyne fairs. Two ruined castles stand upon the Feugh,
one (towards its source) ascribed to a Bishop Gordon of
Aberdeen or to Gordon of Clune, the other (at Easter
Clune) to 'Archbishop Ross,' by whom perhaps Arch-
bishop James Stewart, Duke of Ross, who died in 1503,
is meant ; and there are also two gallow-hills, a good
many cairns, a sculptured stone 6 feet high in the church-
yard, and a long granite stone 'set up on Corse-dardar to
mark the spot where King Dardanus was slain by his
rebellious subjects.' Natives were Dr Alexander Garden
(1730-91), botanist and zoologist of Charlestown, South
Carolina, and the Rev. John Skinner (1721-1S07), eccle-
siastical historian and author of Tullochgorum, ' the best
song,' said Burns, 'that Scotland ever saw.' Finzean
House, Ballogie House, and Balfour House lie about 7,
5, and 3 miles ESE of Aboyne, the first being a fine old
building forming three sides of a quadrangle, the other
two modern mansions ; and their respective owners, Rt.
Farquharson, Esq., Win. Edw. Nicol, Esq., and Alex.
Cochran, Esq., hold 16,S09, 7219, and 1259 acres in the
shire,. of an annual value of £6167, £2558, and £339,
whilst a fourth proprietor is the Marquis of Huntly.
Birse is in the presbytery of Kincardine O'Neil and synod
of Aberdeen ; its minister's income is £190. St Michael's
Roman Catholic chapel of Ballogie (1858 ; 70 sittings)
stands near the Cattie's confluence with the Dee, 2J miles
E of Marywell, 1 mile SE of the Bridge of Potarch ; and
there are four board schools — Ballogie (girls), Birse, Fin-
zean, and Forest. With respective accommodation for
51, 71, 80, and 37 children, these had (1879) an average
attendance of 55, 49, 64, and 7, and grants of £48, 4s. 6d. ,
£44, 6s. 6d., £52, Is., and £19, 18s. Valuation (1881)
£7005, 3s. Pop. (1801) 1266, (1821) 1506, (1841) 1295,
(1851) 1533, (1861) 1284, (1871) 1198, (1881) 1093.—
Ord. Sur., sh. 66, 1871.
Birsley, a place in Tranent parish, Haddingtonshire,
f mile SW of Tranent town, and 1 J mile S of Preston-
pans battle-field. An extensive colliery is at it, and a
rising ground here, Birsley Brae, was the spot whence
Prince Charles Edward's troops marched into the conflict
of Prestonpans.
Birthwood, an estate, with the seat of Rt. Paterson,
Esq. , in Culter parish, SE Lanarkshire, 6 miles S by W
of Biggar.
Bishopbriggs.'a village in Cadder parish, Lanarkshire,
on the Edinburgh and Glasgow section of the North
British railway, 3J miles N by E of Glasgow. It was
originally called Bishops' Riggs, and took that name
from lands around it belonging to the Bishops of Glas-
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