Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

BUEDSYARDS
here contains fossils which have been largely discussed
by eminent geologists. — The burn, rising on the north-
ern shoulder of the Pentland Hills, within Colinton
parish, runs 3J miles eastward to Burdiehouse hamlet,
and thence 5 miles north-eastward through Liberton
parish, and on the boundary with Newton and Inver-
esk parishes, to the Firth of Forth between Joppa and
Fisherrow.
Burdsyards, an estate, with a mansion, in the parish
and If mil e S by E of the town of Forres, Elginshire.
Burg, a bold, high, basaltic headland, in the SW of
Mull island, Argyllshire, mainly identical with Ardtun,
which has been already noticed.
Burgar, an estate, with a modern mansion, in Evie
and Rendall parish, Orkney, 11 miles from Kirkwall.
Burgee. See Burgie.
Burghead, a promontory, a bay, a small town, and a
quoad sacra parish, in Duftus parish, Elginshire. The
promontory projects north-westward into the Moray
Firth, measuring about 810 yards in length by 336 in
breadth. It rises at first with very slight ascent from 2S
feet above sea-level till it terminates in a round hill
with altitude of 80 feet or upwards, and with a rocky
precipitous sea-front. Upon this hill are vestiges of an
ancient fortification — the borg most probably of Sigurd,
Norwegian jarl of Orkney (c. 8S9). ' Hill Burton,' says
Skene, ' in stating his disbelief in the genuineness of
Richard of Cirencester, adds, among other things to be
abandoned, " the celebrated Winged Camp; the Pteroton
Stratopedon can no longer remain at Burghead, though
a water-tank discovered there in 1809 has become a
Roman bath to help in its identification. " He is, how-
ever, mistaken in supposing that its identification rests
upon Richard. Ptolemy is in reality the authority for
Alata Castra, and its position on the Moray Firth. It
is of course absurd to recognise Roman remains there at
that early period, but there can be no question that the
ramparts of a town of the Vacomagi are still to be seen
on that headland, which by the Norsemen was after-
wards called Torfnes ' (Celt. Scot, 1876, vol. i., pp. 74,
336). — The bay is flanked, on one side by the promon-
tory, on the other by a headland at the mouth of the
Findhorn river ; measures fully 4 miles across the
entrance ; penetrates the land to the distance of nearly
2J miles from the entrance line ; and has nearly a half-
moon form. — The town stands on the slope of the pro-
montory, at the terminus of a branch of the Highland
railway (1862), 5^ miles NKW of Alves Junction, lOf
NW of Elgin, and 124 NE of Forres. Laid out on a
regular plan, with well-built and substantial houses, it
is much frequented as a summer watering-place ; carries
on considerable commerce, an extensive herring fishery,
and a lim ited salmon fishery ; and has a post office, with
money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments,
a branch of the Caledonian Bank, a public reading-room,
a suite of baths, a coastguard station, a custom-house, a
quoad sacra parish church, a Free church, and a U.P.
church. The Morayshire Chemical Works, for the manu-
facture of artificial manures, was started in 1864 ; and
boat-building and fish-curing are also carried on. The
harbour, fronting westward or towards Cromarty, was
begun in 1807, and completed in 1810 ; comprises a
basin measuring 540 by 150 feet, with a sea-wall 240
feet long, extended in 1832 by a breakwater of 200 feet,
and, besides serving for the local commerce, accom-
modates passage-vessels on a ferry to Sutherland, and
receives calls of steamers plying between Leith and
Inverness. The herring catch was 6600 crans in 1S77,
1834 in 1878, 7900 in 1879, and 13,978 in 1880. A
public school, with accommodation for 351 children,
had (1879) an average attendance of 238, and a grant of
£197, 7s. The quoad sacra parish church was built as
a chapel of ease about the year 1830. The quoad sacra
parish was constituted in 1868, and is in the presbytery
of Elgin and synod of Moray. Stipend, £120. Pop.
of quoad, sacra parish (1871) 1947 ; of town (1831) 749,
(1861) 1099, (1871) 1308, (1881) 1472.— Orel. Sur., sh.
95, 1876. See Chambers's Book of Bays (1864), for
an account of the 'Dourie' or 'Clavie,' a relic of fire-
BURNFOOT
worship still kept up here on 12 Jan. ; chap. xi. of Jas.
Brown's Hound Table Club (1873) ; and Arthur Mitchell's
' Vacation Notes in Cromar, Burghead, and Strathspey '
(Procs. Soc. Ants. Scot., 1875).
Burgh-Head, "Wigtownshire. See Borough-Head.
Burgie, an estate, with a mansion, in Rafford parish,
Elginshire, 3^ miles E by N of Forres. It belonged to
the Abbots of Kinross, and passed, in 1567, to the
family of Dunbar. A strong castle was built upon it in
1602 ; and is now represented by only a large, beautiful,
six-story square tower, surmounted by battlements,
and commanding an extensive view. An addition was
made to the castle in 1702, in form of a more modernised
building ; but both this and the greater part of the
castle were taken down in 1S02 for building the present
contiguous mansion.
Burleigh, an old baronial castle in Orwell parish,
Kinross-shire, J mile SE of Milnathort. A place ori-
ginally of great strength, it was the seat from 1446 of
the family of Balfour, and gave them the peerage title
of Baron ; it passed with its lands to General Irwin, and
afterwards to Graham of Kinross ; and now it is repre-
sented by only part of its exterior walls, incorporated
with the outbuildings of a farmstead. Sir James Balfour
was made Lord Balfour of Burleigh in 1606 ; Robert,
fourth lord, the murderer of the Inverkeithing school-
master, took part in the '15, and suffered attainder ;
and Alexander Hugh Bruce was declared heir to the
barony by the House of Lords in 1S68, and relieved
from the effect of the attainder by Act of Parliament in
1869. His Lordship's seat is Kennet House in Clack-
mannanshire.
Burn, an estate, with a mansion, in Fettercairn parish,
SW Kincardineshire, on the left bank of the North Esk,
1J mile N of Edzell. The mansion was built in 1791
by Lord Adam Gordon ; its present owner, Major Wm.
M'Inroy, holds 49SS acres in the shire, valued at £3182
per annum.
Burnbane, a village in the E of Perthshire. Its post-
town is Dunkeld.
Burnbank, a burn in Kincardine parish, Perthshire.
It runs to the Forth, and has been used for mill-power
and for floating moss into the Forth.
Burnbank, a fishing village in Nigg parish, Kin-
cardineshire, 3 miles S of Aberdeen.
Burnbrae, a modern mansion in Abbey Paisley parish,
Renfrewshire, li mile ENE of Johnstone. It is a seat
of Rt. Tho. Napier Speir, Esq. (b. 1841 ; sue. 1853),
who owns in the shire 1527 acres, valued at £6487 per
annum (£2736 of it for minerals).
Burnbrae, a village in Calderhead registration district,
Lanarkshire.
Burnbrae, a village in the W centre of Ayrshire, 3|
miles from its post-town Tarbolton.
Burnbridge, a village in Muiravonside parish, Stirling-
shire.
Burnbutts, a village in the NW of Lanarkshire. Its
post-town is Tollcross, under Glasgow.
Burness, an estate, with a mansion, in Firth and
Stenness parish, Orkney.
Burness, a small lake in the N of Westray parish,
Orkney. It contains trout ; and it sends off its super-
fluence to Saintear lake.
Burness, an ancient parish, now annexed to Cross
parish, in Sanday island, Orkney. Originally called St
Colm's, it forms the NW limb of Sanday, and is almost
surrounded by the sea, being connected with the rest of
Sanday by only a narrow isthmus. It presents for the
most part, a flat, green, fertile appearance ; and it con-
tains several ponds, a considerable freshwater lake, a
public board school, and the mansions of Scar and
Saville. A curious tumulus was discovered in 1824.
In Burness was bom the lyric poet, David Vedder (1790-
1854).
Burnfoot, a seaport hamlet in Renviek parish, Kirk-
cudbrightshire, at the mouth of Abbey Burn, 5 A miles
SW of Kirkcudbright. It is a free port, and might
easily be provided with a commodious harbour.
Burnfoot, a small harbour in Old Luce parish, Wig-
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