Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

COLLTLAND
nearly uninhabitable, till about 1840 it underwent
thorough renovation, being now the seat of Jn. Inglis,
Esq., who owns 485 acres in the shire, valued at £1125
per annum. Colluthie Hill (430 feet) to the S of the
mansion, is rocky on the top, and has been planted.
Collyland. See Coalyland.
Colmkill. See Skye.
Colmonell, a village and a coast parish of Carrick, S
Ayrshire. The village, a neat little place, stands on the
left hank of tne Stinchar, 4| miles W by S of Pin wherry
station, and 10g S by W of Girvan, under which it has
a post and telegraph office ; at it are the parish church,
a Free church, a United Original Secession church, and
a public school. A fair is held on the first Monday of
May, o. *.
The parish contains also the coast village of Lendal-
foot and the stations of Pinmore, Pinwherry, and Barr-
hill on the Girvan and Portpatrick Junction railway
(1876), these being 5, 8, and 12$ miles S of Girvan. It
is bounded N by Girvan ; NE by Barr ; E by Minnigaff,
in Kirkcudbrightshire ; S by Penninghame, Kirkgowan,
and New Luce, in Wigtownshire ; SW by Ballantrae ;
and NW by the North Channel. Its greatest length is
13 miles from NW to SE, viz., from Lendalfoot to Loch
Maberry ; its width from NE to SW varies between 3J
and 7f miles ; and its area is 48,153§ acres, of which
184J are foreshore and 479 water. The Stinchar winds
7\ miles south-westward through the NW interior, then
2 miles along the Ballantrae border ; at Pinwherry it is
joined by the Duisk, which, formed by the Pollgowan
and Feoch Burns, runs 6 miles north-westward past
Barrhill, itself receiving by the way a score at least of
rivulets. By the Ceee, flowing 6i miles along all the
Minnigaff boundary, the SE corner of the parish is
drained to the Solway Firth, whither also two lakes on
the Wigtownshire border discharge their effluence —
Lochs Dornal (5 x 4$ furl. ) and Mabeery (1J mile x 3
furl. ). On the Barr boundary lie Loch Goosey (3x2
furl. ) and smaller Lochs Crongart and Fanoch ; whilst
in the interior are Drumlamford (2 x 1 J furl. ) and thir-
teen yet tinier lakelets. The coast-line, 6i miles long,
is closely followed, at a height of from 12 to 59 feet
above sea-level, by the shore road from Girvan to Bal-
lantrae, just beyond which the surface rises rapidly to
200 feet at Bennane Head, 500 at Carleton, and nowhere
much less than 100. Inland, the chief elevations to the
NW of the Stinchar are conical Enockdolian (S69 feet),
Knockdaw Hill (850), and Fell (810) ; to the SE of it,
Dalreoch Hill (604), Pinwherry Hill (548), Wee Wheeb
(649), Kildonan (659), Shiel Hill (751), and Barjarg
Hill (554). The formation is Lower Silurian. The vales
contain a good deal of fertile alluvial land, and great
improvements have been effected within the last forty
years, especially on the Corwar estate, where fully 3500
acres of wild heathery moor and 200 of deep moss have
been reclaimed, and now yield excellent pasturage.
Great attention is paid to sheep and dairy farming,
particularly to cheese-making ; and the harvest of the
sea is not neglected. Craigneil is a fine old ruin of the
13th century, and other ruined fortalices are at Enock-
dolian, Knockdaw, Carleton, Kirkhill, and Pinwherry.
The mansions are Ballochmorrie, Corwar, Daljarroch,
Drumlamford, Kildonan, Knockdolian, and Pinmore ;
and 12 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500
and upwards, 13 of between £100 and £500, 4 of from
£50 to £100, and 4 of from £20 to £50. Giving off
Arnsheen quoad sacra parish, Colmonell is in the pres-
bytery of Stranraer and synod of Galloway ; the living
is worth £300. The parish church, built in 1772, con-
tains 500 sittings ; in its kirkyard lie three martyred
Covenanters, one of whom, Matthew M'llraith, was
slain, says his epitaph, by order of 'bloody Claver-
house.' Five public schools — Barrhill, Colmonell, Cor-
war, Lendalfoot, and Pinwherry — with respective ac-
commodation for 146, 137, 60, 48, and 69 children,
had (1880) an average attendance of 117, 75, 41, 22,
and 57, and grants of £90, 12s., £55, 19s., £41, 15s.
2d., £26, 6s., and £47, 3s. Valuation (1881) £25,502,
7s. 6d., including £628 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1306,
280
COLPT
(1841) 2801, (1861) 2588, (1871) 2293, (1881) 2191, of
whom 1132 were in Colmonell registration district. —
Orel. Sur., shs. 7, 8, 1863.
Colmslie. See Allen.
Colms, St. See Combs.
Colonsay and Oronsay, two Inner Hebridean islands
of Argyllshire, separated by a sound of only 100 yards
at the narrowest, and dry at low water for three hours.
Colonsay, the northernmost and much the larger of the
two, has a good eastern harbour at Schallasaig, which,
16 miles NNW of Port Askaig in Islay, may be reached
from Glasgow by the Oban steamer, and at which are an
inn and a post office (Colonsay) under Greenock. Its
length from NNE to SSW is 8 miles, and its breadth
varies between 1J and 3J miles ; whilst 3 by 2 miles is
Oronsay's utmost extent. The surface is irregular,
rising to 493 feet in Carn-nan-Eun to the N of Colonsay,
where two lochs yield capital trout fishing. The shoot-
ing also is good. Mica slats, passing into chlorite and
clay slate, and mixed with quartz and limestone, is the
leading formation ; the soil is well suited for either crops
or cattle ; and so mild is the climate that fuchsias, hy-
drangeas, and the like, flourish unchecked by winter
cold. A paper read before the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland (June 14, 1880) described a bone cave lately
discovered in Colonsay by Mr Symington Grieve, and
comprising chambers 230 feet in extent, some of which
contain a local deposit of stalagmite, and, underneath,
successive layers of ashes, charcoal, and bones of the
common domestic animals. The most interesting anti-
quities, however, are the ecclesiastical, second only to
those of Iona. Columba and Oran, his colleague, are
said, though not by Skene, to have first settled here,
after quittiug Ireland in 563, and to have given name
to the two islands ; but the Austin Priory of Oronsay
must have been founded long after, most likely in the
14th century by a Lord of the Isles as a cell of Holyrood.
Early English in style, its roofless church measures 77|-
by 18 feet, and contains a number of curious effigies,
figured in Gordon's Monasticon (1868). Near it, too,
are a beautifully sculptured cross, 12 feet high, and the
mutilated fragments of another. From the Macduffies,
their ancient lords, the islands passed in the 17th cen-
tury to the Macdonalds of the Colkitto branch, and next
to the Duke of Argyll. The latter in 1700 exchanged
them for Crerar, in South Knapdale, with Donald
M'Neill, two of whose descendants have shed great
lustre upon Colonsay in law and in diplomacy. These
are Duncan M'Neill (1794-1874), who was raised to the
peerage as Lord Colonsay in 1867 : and his brother,
the Right Hon. Sir John M'Neill, G.C.B. (1795-1883),
of Buriihead, Liberton, who was principal proprietor,
holding 11,262 acres in Argyllshire, valued at £2172
per annum. Colonsay House (1722 ; enlarged about
1830), in the northern part of the island, is the present
seat of their nephew, Sir John Carstairs M'Neill,
K.C.M.G., C.B., V.C. (b. 1831; ere. 1880). An obelisk of
red Mull granite, 30 feet high, was erected in 1S79 to
the memory of Lord Colonsay, in place of one destroyed
three years before by lightning. Long annexed to Jura,
the islands now form a parish in the presbytery of Islay
and Jura and synod of Argyll ; the living is worth
£170. The church, built in 1802, contains 400 sittings ;
and Colonsay public and 'Kilchattan Christian Know-
ledge Society's school, with respective accommodation
for 50 and 51 children, had (18S0) an average attend-
ance of 20 and 30, and grants of £29, 3s. and £36, 7s.
Valuation (1881) £3131, 18s. Pop. (1801) 805, (1851)
933, (1861) 598, (1871) 456, (1881) 395.
Colonsay, Little, an island of Kilninian parish,
Argyllshire, in the mouth of Loch-na-Keal, off the W
side of Mull, between Ulva island and Staffa, 3 miles W
of Inchkenneth. It exhibits a columnar basaltic forma-
tion, similar to that of Staffa, but of less striking char-
acter, and its soil is less fertile than that of Ulva or
Gometra.
Colpieden, a hamlet 2 miles from Kettle in Fife.
Colport. See Coulport.
Colpy, a hamlet in Culsalmond parish, Aberdeenshire,