Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BLAICH
about 20 miles S, SSE, and E, between Kirkcowan and
Kirkinner parishes on its right bank, and Penninghame
and Wigtown parishes on its left bank ; passes into Wig-
town Bay in the southern vicinity of Wigtown town ; and
traverses about 2 miles of foreshore eastward to a junc-
tion with the Wigtown Bay channel of the river Cree.
Here, from the Wigtown Sands, about 500 acres have been
reclaimed since 1839, at a cost of nearly £40,000. The
Bladenoch waters contain trout and salmon, but yield no
very great sport ; the Tarff is chief of several tributaries.
Blaich, a village near the mutual boundary of Inver-
ness-shire and Argyllshire, 4 miles from its post-town
Fort William.
Blainslee, a village in the NE extremity of Melrose
parish, Roxburghshire, on the right bank of the river
Leader, 3 miles SSE of Lauder. A public school at it,
with accommodation for 110 children, had (1879) an
average attendance of CO, and a grant of £56, 9s.
Blair, an estate and iron-works in Dairy parish, Ayr-
shire. The estate is rich in minerals, and has, since the
Beginning of the present century, undergone vast im-
provement. A great extent of land in it, with steep
rocky banks, formerly of little value, is now covered
with thriving mixed plantations. A romantic reach of
glen here traversed by the river Dusk has, within a
precipitous mass of limestone rock, a stalactite cave, the
Elf House, 183 feet long, and from 5 to 12 feet wide,
arched like Gothic work, and expanding near the middle
into a chamber 35 feet long and 12 feet high. The
mansion on the estate stands 1J mile SE of Dairy town,
is partly of great antiquity, and has highly picturesque
grounds ; its owner, Capt. Wrn. Fordyce Blair, R. N. ,
holds 6680 acres in the shire, valued at £8031 per
annum, including £2203 for minerals. The iron-works
adjoin the Glasgow and South-Westem railway, in the
near vicinity of Dairy town, and were started about
1845. Here is a mission station of the Church of Scot-
land ; and a public school, Blairmains, with accommoda-
tion for 100 children, had (1S79) an average attendance
of 53, and a grant of £36, 17s. Pop. of Blair Works
village (1861) 916, (1S71) 1081.
Blair, an estate, with a mansion, in Carnock parish,
Fife, 4J miles WNW of Dunfermline.
Blair, a mountain of Forfarshire, on the mutual border
of Alyth and Glenisla parish, 10-J miles NNE of Alyth
town. Rising from a very wide base to an altitude of
2441 feet above sea-level, it can be easily ascended on
the E and W, but is steep and rugged on the N and S ;
and it commands a magnificent view from Schiehalliou
to the German Ocean, and from Loehnagar to the
Lammerniuir Hills.
Blair, Perthshire. See Blair Athole.
Blairadam, a station, with a post office, having money
order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, in Cleish
parish, S Kinross-shire, on the Kinross-shire section of
the North British, 3 miles SSE of Loch Leven (Kinross)
station, and 1 Of NNE of Dunfermline. Blairadam House,
1 J mile SSW of the station, stands in a large and finely-
wooded park, on the SE slope of a hill, which rises 707
feet above sea-level. Early in last century Blair estate
w 7 as purchased, and Blairadam House built by the archi-
tect Wm. Adam, father of the still more eminent archi-
tects, Robert (1728-92) and James (d. 1794). His
grandson, the Right Hon. Wm. Adam (1751-1839),
lord chief commissioner of the jury court in Scotland,
was a lifelong friend of Sir Walter Scott, with him and
seven others forming in 1S16 the Blairadam Club. Its
members ' met on a Friday ; spent the Saturday in a
ride to some scene of historical interest within an easy
distance (to one such in the dog-days of 1819 we owe
Scott's Allot) ; enjoyed a quiet Sunday at home, duly
attending divine worship at the Kirk of Cleish, not
Cleishbotham ; gave Monday morning to another anti-
quarian excursion ; and returned to Edinburgh in time
for the courts of Tuesday ' — chap. 1. of Lockhart's Life of
Scott. The next holder of the estate was Adm. Sir Chas.
Adam, M. P. (d. 1854) ; the next, the great Whig whip, the
Right Hon. Wm. Pat. Adam (1S23-81), M.P. for Clack-
mannan and Kinross shires 1859-SO, Lord of the Trea-
BLAIR ATHOLE
sury 1865-66 and 1868-73, Chief Commissioner of Works
1873-74 and 1880, Governor of Madras 1880-81. His
son, Sir Chs. Elphinstone Adam, Bart. (b. 1859 ; ere.
18S2), owns 4169 acres, valued at £4039 per annum.
Blair Athole (Gael. ' plain of the pleasant land '), a
village and a parish of N Perthshire. The village lies
between the left bank of the Garry and the right bank
of the confluent Water of Tilt, across which stands
another village, Bridge of Tilt, the two together practi-
cally forming one, with a post office (Blair Athole),
having money order, savings' bank, and telegraph de-
partments, a branch of the Union Bank, and gas-works,
whilst each possesses an excellent hotel. Blair Athole
is 3i miles NW of the Pass of Killiecrankie, 48 SW
of Castleton of Braemar by Spittal of Glenshee or 30 up
Glen Tilt, 18J ENE of Kinloch Rannoch, and 21 N of
Aberfeldy ; its station on the Highland railway is 19J
miles NNW of Dmikeld, and 60| S by W of Grantown,
Cattle fairs are held at Bridge of Tilt on 25 June and
4 September, and on the third Wednesday of May at
Blair Athole, wdiere also are a general business fair upon
12 February and a great Highland gathering in the
second week of September. Pop. of united village (1871 )
387.
The parish is bounded N by Kingussie-Insh and the
Glenfeshie portion of Alvie in Inverness-shire and by
Crathie-Braemar in Aberdeenshire, NE by Crathie-Brae-
mar, SE by Kirkmichael and Moulin, S by Dull, SW by
Fortingal, and NW by Laggan in Inverness-shire. From
E to W it has an extreme length of 24| miles, at 56° 52' ;
its width varies between 4| and 16i miles, the latter
measuring from the head of Loch Tummel northward to
the Inverness-shire border ; and its area is 182,670J acres
(285f sq. miles), of which 1556J are water. The High-
land railway runs 19J miles west-north-westward up
Glen Garry, ascending here from about 390 to 1500
feet above sea-level ; on it are the stations of Blair
Athole, Struan, and Dalnaspidal, 35J, 40, and 51 miles
NNW of Perth. By the Garry and its innumerable
affluents and sub-affluents the features of this parish
have been chiefly moulded, those affluents including
the Edendon (running 9 miles E and S), the Bruar
(9| S), the Erichdie (10J E by N), and the Tilt
(13i SW), which last has a head-stream in the Tarf
(ll| E). The Tummel itself, to which the Garry flows,
and its expansion, Loch Tummel (2| x J mile), mark 6J
miles of the southern boundary ; and in the SW portion
of the parish are Lochs Garry (2f x £ mile), Choin (7 J x 1
furl.), and Bhaic (3x1 furl.) ; in the NE portion, Loch
Loch (9J x 1 furl. ), half of Loch an Duin (10 x 1 £ furl. ),
and two or three smaller tarns. Glen Garry, from
Struan downward, is an open, fertile, finely wooded
vale ; but, saving Strath-Tummel and the lower reaches
of Glens Erichdie, Bruar, and Tilt, which likewise are
beautifully planted with larches and Scotch firs, the rest
of the surface is all an assemblage of moor-clad hills
and naked, many-ridged mountains. The part to the
left of the Garry belongs to the ' Forest of Athole,'
now well-nigh treeless ; and here, from W to E, the
following summits of the Grampians rise, those marked
with asterisks right on Blair Athole's boundaries : —
*Ben Udlaman (3306 feet), *Bruaeh nan Ioinbrean
(3175), *An Tore or Badenoch Boar (2432), and Glas
Mheall Mor (3037), westward of the Edendon ; *Carn
na Cairn (3087), *Vinegar Hill (2584), Cam a' Mhur-
raich (1811), Meall na Maoile (1S68), Sron a' Chleirich
(2670), Leac Liath (1788), Uchd a' Chlarsair (2587), and
*Leathad an Taobhain (2994), between the Edendon and
the Bruar; Beinn Bhreac (2992), Ben Dearg (3304),
Beinn a' Chait (2942), FairBhuidhe (1510), Meall Ream-
har (1850), Braigh Sron Ghorm (2S82), *Carn an Fhidleir
(3276), *An Sgarsoch (3300), An Sligearnach (2577), and
*Coire na Craig (2515), between the Bruar and the Tilt ;
*Sron a' Bhoididh (2131), Craig Dhearg (2141), Benglo
(3671), Cam Liath (3193), Meall Dail Min (1748), Meall
Gruaim (1372), Cam an Righ (3377), *Carn Bhac(3014),
*Beinn Iutharn Mhor (3424), *Glas Thulachan (3445),
*Braigh Feith Chuibhsachain (2371), *Ben Vuroch
(2961), and Crochton (1954), eastward of the Tilt. S of
165