Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BISHOP ISLAND
BLACK CAIRN
gow ; it presents a somewhat unprepossessing appear-
ance, and is inhabited chiefly by poor Irish families ; and
it has a station on the railway, a post office with tele-
graph department under Glasgow, a Church of Scotland
mission station, a Free church, and a public school,
which, with accommodation for 74 children, had (1879)
an average attendance of 75, and a grant of £68, 3s.
Pop. (1861) 658, (1871) 782.
Bishop Island. See Bernera.
Bishopmill, a suburban village in New Spynie parish,
Elginshire, on the left bank of the river Lossie, adjacent
to Elgin, and within its parliamentary boundaries. A
handsome iron bridge connects it with Elgin, and occupies
the site of a stone bridge which was swept away by the
great flood of 1829. A public school here, with accom-
modation for 178 children, had (1879) an average attend-
ance of 137, and a grant of £111, 19s. 6d. Pop. (1861)
1041, (1881) 1076.
Bishop's Burn, a rivulet of NE Wigtownshire, rising
2f miles SW of Newton-Stewart, and running 6 j miles
south-eastward, partly in Penninghame parish, partly
along the boundary with Wigtown parish, to the upper
part of Wigtown Bay.
Bishop's Forest, a height in the NW of Kirkpatrick-
Irongray parish, Kirkcudbrightshire. Rising from a
very broad irregular base it attains an altitude of 1285
feet above sea-level ; is fringed all round with woods or
arable grounds, and ploughed in some parts almost to
the summit ; and, on the side next Cairn Water, is
clothed with plantation for J mile from the base ; yet,
seen from a distance, appears patched with heath and
warted with naked rock, and presents a pastoral but
commanding appearance.
Bishop's Hill, a hill on the mutual border of Kinross-
shire and Fife, but mainly within Kinross-shire. It
occupies the NE quarter of Portrnoak parish ; rises in the
eastern vicinity of Belgedie and Kinnesswood villages ;
culminates 2J miles NE of the north-eastern shore of
Loch Leven ; attains there an altitude of 1292 feet above
sea-level ; projects a spur into Fife, with a summit alti-
tude of 1060 feet ; and is adjoined, on the N, by West
Lomond Hill.
Bishop's Loch, a beautiful lake in the SE of New
Machar parish, Aberdeenshire, between Loch-hills and
Fowlershill. Measuring 2 by f furlongs, it was anciently
called Loch Goul, and got its present name from having
on its islet a residence of the Bishops of Aberdeen.
That residence was the death-place, in 12S2, of Bishop
Hugh de Benham ; appears to have been of small
extent, and is still traceable in its foundations and draw-
bridge ditch.
Bishop's Loch, a lake on the mutual border of Cadder
and Old Monkland parishes, Lanarkshire, 2f -miles WNW
of Coatbridge. Measuring nearly 1 mile in length and
from 1 to 2 furlongs in width, it is one of the chief reser-
voirs for the Forth and Clyde Canal.
Bishop's Loch. See Arbroath.
Bishop's Seat, a summit, 1651 feet above sea-level, in
Dunoon parish, Argyllshire, 2§ miles W by N of Dunoon
town.
Bishopton, a village, an estate, and a range of hills,
in Erskine parish, Renfrewshire. The village stands 1
mile S of the Clyde, and has a station on the Glasgow
and Greenock section of the Caledonian railway, 5
miles NNW of Paisley ; at it are a Free church, 2 inns,
and a post office, with money order, savings' hank,
and telegraph departments. Pop. (1861) 341, (1S71)
323, (1881) 303.— The estate belonged, from 1332 and
earlier, till about 1671, to the family of Brisbane,
passed through a number of hands, and is now the
property of Lord Blantyre. — The hill range divides the
banks of the Clyde from the lowlands of Gryfesdale ;
consists of compact trap rock, and is pierced by a tunnel
of the Glasgow and Greenock railway. The tunnel is
approached, at the two ends, by deep rock cuttings, re-
spectively 748 and 946 yards long ; consists of two
reaches, respectively 320 and 340 yards long ; and has,
between these reaches, an open part 100 yards long, and
70 feet deep. The formation of this subterranean pas-
160
sage was a long and difficult process, engaging hundreds
of workmen for years, and costing for gunpowder alone no
less than about £12,000.
Bixter, a voe or bay in Sandsting parish, Shetland.
Blabheim or Blaven (Gael, flath-blieinn, ' heroes'
mountain '), a mountain in the S of Skye, occupying the
upper part of the peninsula between Lochs Slapin and
Scavaig. Its eastern cliffs are torn with fissures and
honeycombed with caves ; its massive shoulders and sharp
peaks of granite, abound with crags and corries ; and its
general mass is a stern fantastic ridge. The usual line
of ascent goes for about 6 feet along a summit edge of
rocks scarcely more than a foot in width, and its summit
has an altitude of 3019 feet above sea-level, and com-
mands a most impressive view.
Blackadder, an estate and a river in Berwickshire.
The estate is in Edrom parish, and belongs to Sir George
A. F. Houston-Boswall, second Bart, since 1836 (b.
1809 ; sue. 1S42). The mansion on it stands on the
right bank of the river, 2 miles SSW of Chirnside, and
has a cast-iron conservatory, in the form of a Gothic
chapel, erected at a cost of several thousand pounds. A
mineral well is on the estate, in a ravine near the river,
not far from its influx into the Whitadder. — The river
Blackadder rises in several head-streams among the Lam-
mermuirs, in Westruther parish, at altitudes of from
1000 to 1200 feet above sea-level. Making a confluence
of its head-streams in the NW of Greenlaw parish, it
thence runs 6 miles south-eastward to Greenlaw town,
thence north-eastward through Greenlaw, Fogo, and
Edrom parishes to the Whitadder in the vicinity of
Allanton, 1^ mile SW of Chirnside. Its length of course
is some 20 miles ; and its velocity, from the confluence of
its two head-streams onward, has numerous alternations
of calm pool and rapid current. Its waters contain
good trout, but in some parts are strictly preserved.
The name Blackadder is probably a corruption of Black-
water ; seems to have been derived from a darkish tinge
of the river, occasioned by peatiness of the soil in the
upper reaches ; and is usually pronounced and sometimes
written Blackwater.— Ord. Sur., shs. 25, 26, 34, 1863-64.
Blackbraes, a village in the W of Muiravonside
parish, Stirlingshire, 3 1 miles SSW of Falkirk. At it
are a public school and a chapel of ease, which, built at
a cost of £860, serves also for Shielhill in Polmont
parish. Pop. (1S61) 507, (1871) 47S.
Blackburn, a village in Whitburn and Livingstone
parishes, Linlithgowshire, on the river Almond, 1 j mile
E of Whitburn station and 2J miles S of Bathgate. It
has a post office under Bathgate, a cotton mill employ-
ing some 120 hands, a mission station of the Church of
Scotland, an Independent chapel (1820), and a public
school. Pop. ■ (1861) 758, (1871) 954, of whom 850
were in the Livingstone section.
Blackburn, a village near the meeting-point of New-
hills, Dyce, and Kinnellar parishes, Aberdeenshire, 9
miles NW of Aberdeen. It has a post office under Aber-
deen, a Free church, and a public school, which, with
accommodation for S7 children, had (1879) an average
attendance of 80, and a grant of £65, 8s.
Black Burn, a mountain rivulet in Castleton parish,
S Roxburghshire, running to the Liddel, f mile above
New Castleton. In its short easterly course of 4J miles
it makes a descent of 1300 feet, and forms a series of
romantic falls, one of them 27 feet in leap, another 31J,
and a third 37J. A natural bridge across it, consisting
of one solid rock and 31 feet in span, fell in April 1810.
A so-called ' Picts' Work,' a circular structure of large
stones, strongly fortified by a wall, stands on its left bank.
Black Burn, a rivulet in Dallas parish, Elginshire,
running to the Lossie.
Black Burn, a rivulet in Marykirk parish, Kincardine-
shire, running to the North Esk.
Black Burn, a rivulet of Kincardineshire and Aber-
deenshire, formed by the confluence of Cluny and Cor-
richie burns in Banchory-Ternan parish, and running 2
miles eastward to the Loch of Drum.
Black Cairn, a hill surmounted by a large cairn in
Rayne parish, Aberdeenshire.