Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BORROWSTOUNNESS
Of the total, 227S vessels of 272,200 tons, that entered
in 1SS0, 239 of 27,026 tons were steamers, 1588 of 183,030
tons were in ballast, and 1509 of 165,103 tons were
coasters ; whilst the total, 2265 of 268,210 tons, of those
that cleared, included 240 steamers of 25,224 tons, 447
vessels in ballast of 57,297 tons, and 871 coasters of
78,871 tons. The trade is mainly, then, an export one,
and coal is the chief article of export, Bo'ness herein
ranking second in amount and fourth in value among
Scottish ports. Besides 31,180 tons to the United King-
dom, 266,900 tons (valued at £91,840) were shipped to
foreign'coun tries in 1879 ; in 1880 the total value of foreign
and colonial imports was £226,572, of customs £26, and
of exports £105,912. Pop. (1795) 2613, (1841) 1790, (1851)
2645, (1861) 4561, (1871) 4256, of whom 876 belonged
to Grangepans ; of burgh (1871) 3336, (1881) 4471.
The parish contains also the villages of Newtoun and
Borrowstoun (formerly Burwardstoun), 4 J and 7 furlongs
S of the town. Triangular in shape, it is bounded N for
3| miles by the Firth of Forth, E by Camden, SE by
Linlithgow, SW and NW by Polmont ; and has an ex-
treme length from E to W of 3| miles, an extreme width
from N to S of 2 J miles, and an area of 4277A acres, in-
cluding 44 J acres of water, but excluding about 2 square
miles of foreshore. The Avon winds 5 J miles west-north-
westward and north-eastward along all the Polmont
boundary ; and the north-western corner of the parish,
along its lowest reaches, is occupied by the Carse of Kin-
neil, a fertile, alluvial flat, raised only 12 to 19 feet
above sea-level, and guarded from inundation by em-
bankments. Thence the surface mounts eastward and
southward to 156 feet near Inveravon, 290 at Upper
Kinneil, 312 at Woodhead, 375 near Muirhouse, 269
near Borrowstoun Mains, 193 at Newtoun, 350 near
Borrowstoun, 402 at Mile-end, and 559 on Glower-o'er-
'em or Irongath Hill, which, rising on the SE border,
commands a prospect over eleven shires, from the Bass
Rock to Ben Ledi, a distance of more than 70 miles, and
which Glennie's Arthurian Localities (1869) identifies
with the Agathes of the Book of Taliessin. The geology
presents some striking illustrations of igneous activity,
which Mr H. Cadell of Grange, in his Address to the
Edinburgh Geological Society (10 July 1880), ascribed
to the period when the highest but one of the marine
limestones was deposited. Sandstone and trap are
quarried ; and an ironstone mine and colliery at Kin-
neil, the latter carried far beneath the bed of the Firth,
were both of them active in 1879, whilst at the worked-
out Burn Pit colliery James "Watt's first steam-engine
was erected in 1765. The prevailing soil is a deep rich
loam, and, saving some 270 acres of plantations, nearly
all the area is under cultivation. Episodes in the his-
tory of the parish are the trial and execution of a wizard
and five witches in 1679 (Chambers's Bom. Ann. , ii. 406),
and the wild outburst in 1681 of the 'Sweet Singers of
Borrowstounness, ' who, six and twenty in number, and
headed by Muckle John Gibb, alias King Solomon, went
forth to the Pentlands, thence to behold the smoke and
utter ruin of the sinful, bloody city of Edinburgh (ib.
414). The chief antiquity is part of Antoninus' Wall,
known here as Graham's Dyke ; and urns, stone coffins,
coins, and a curious battle-axe have been discovered. A
ruined tower stands near Inveravon ; but another, called
Castle Lyon, between the sea-shore and Kinneil House,
has utterly disappeared. Kinneil itself is a fine old
mansion, wofully modernised and long untenanted,
almost its latest occupant having been Dugald Stewart,
from 1809 till just before his death in 1828. Held by
the Hamiltons since the 14th century, Kinneil is a seat
now of the Duke of Hamilton, owner in the shire of
3694 acres (including most of Bo'ness parish), valued at
£15,522 per annum (£S076 of it for minerals). Three
other proprietors hold each a yearly value of £500 and
upwards, 11 of between £100 and £500, 19 of from £50
to £100, and 51 of from £20 to £50. The parish, named
Kinneil up to 1669, is in the presbytery of Linlithgow
and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale ; the living is
worth £435. Valuation (1881) £21,312, 9s. Pop. (1755)
2688, (1801) 2763, (1821) 3018, (1841) 2344, (1851) 5192,
12
BORTHWICK
(1861) 5698, (1871) 4986, (1881) 6030.— Orel. Sur., sh.
31, 1867.
Borthwick, a parish of SE Edinburghshire, containing
the village and station of Fushiebridge, on the Waverley
section of the North British, 4| miles SE of Dalkeith,
and 12| SE of Edinburgh ; as well as part of Gore-
bridge village, 7 furlongs NW of Fushiebridge, at which
are another station and a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, and telegraph departments.
Irregular in outline, the parish is bounded N by Cran-
ston, E by Crichton, SE by Heriot, SW by Temple, NW
by Carrington, Cockpen, and Newbattle. From NNE to
SSW its greatest length is 6f miles ; its greatest breadth
from E to W is 4J miles ; and its area is 9806J acres, in-
cluding 666| acres lying J mile to the E of the main por-
tion. Ttne Water traces the northern part of the Crich-
ton boundary, and the South Esk follows the Carrington
border, whilst through the interior Gore Water, formed
near Borthwickhamletby the Middleton North and South
Burns, flows about 3i miles north-westward to the South
Esk. The surface, with charming diversity of hill and
dale, has a general rise from the great undulating cham-
paign of the Lothians to the Moorfoot Hills — from about
400 feet above sea-level near Gorebridge and Vogrie to
1249 on the SE border. The predominant rocks are Silu-
rian in the S, carboniferous in the centre and the N ; coal,
limestone, and sandstone have been extensively worked.
Cairns on the moors have been found to contain funereal
urns, and ancient stone coffins, with two stone troughs
supported by square pedestals, have been exhumed ; but
Borthwick's grand antiquity is the castle at its kirktown,
3J miles SE of Gorebridge, on a tongue of rocky land,
protected S, E, and N by deep and wooded ravines,
down two of which flow the head-streams of the Gore.
About 1J mile lower down, on the lands of Harvieston,
beautifully situated by the side of the Gore, stands the
ruined castle of Catcune, which is said to have been the
seat of the Borth wicks, before they had risen to eminence.
Towards the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th
century lived a Sir William Borthwick, who, being a
man of great parts, was employed as ambassador on
several important negotiations, and concerned in most
of the public transactions of his day. This William
seems to have been created Lord Borthwick before 1430,
for in October of that year, at the baptism of the King's
two sons, several knights were dubbed, among the rest
William, son and heir of Lord Borthwick ; 1452, how-
ever, is the date of creation, according to an ancient
chronicle. He obtained from James I. of Scotland a
licence to build and fortify a castle on the lands of Loch-
warret or Locherworth, which he had bought from Sir
William Hay : ' Construendi castrum in loco illo qui
vulgariter dicitur le Mote de Lochorwart. ' This grant
was obtained by a charter under the great seal, June 2,
1430. A statoly and most magnificent castle was accord-
ingly reared, and afterward became the chief seat and
title of the family. Standing in a base court 80 yards
long from E to W by 35 from N to S, this noblest of
Scotland's peel-towers is yet upon the whole very entire,
and of astonishing strength. There is indeed in the
middle of the E wall a considerable breach ; but whether
occasioned by lightning, the weather, or Cromwell's
artillery, cannot with certainty be determined. The
form of this venerable structure is nearly square, being
74 by 69 feet without the walls, but having on the W
side a large recess, 14 feet broad and 20 deep, which
seems to have been intended to give light to the prin-
cipal apartments, and which gives the building some-
what the form of a Greek II. The walls themselves — -
without and within of hewn and firmly-cemented stone —
are 14 feet thick near the bottom, and towards the top are
gradually contracted to about 6 feet. Exclusive of the
sunken story, they are, from the base-court to the battle-
ment, 90 feet high ; and if we include the roof, which
is arched and covered with flag-stones, the whole height
will be about 110 feet. From the battlements of Borth-
wick Castle, which command a varied and beautiful
view, the top of Crichton Castle can be discovered, lying
l-l mile to the eastward. The convenience of communi-
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