Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

CRIEFF JUNCTION
value of £500 and upwards, 11 of between £100 and
£500, 32 of from £50 to £100, and 60 of from £20 to
£50. Crieff is in the presbytery of Auehterarder and
synod of Perth and Stirling ; the living is worth £293.
Valuation (1868) £17,926, 13s. 2d., (1882) £30,680,
15s. Sd. Pop. (1801) 2876, (1831) 4786, (1861) 4490,
(1871) 4598, (1881) 4852.— Ord. Sur., sh. 47, 1869.
See S. Korner's Rambles round Crieff and Excursions
into the Highlands (Edinb. 1858); Beauties of Upper Strath-
earn (Crieff, 1854 ; 3d. ed. 1870) ; and Crieff, its
Traditions and diameters, with Anecdotes of Strathcarn
(Edinb. 1881).
Crieff Junction, a station in Blackford parish, Perth-
shire, at the deflection of the Crieff Junction railway
from the Caledonian, 2J miles SSW of Auehterarder,
and 9 SSE of Crieff.
Criffel, a barren though verdant granitic mountain-
group of SE Kirkcudbrightshire, commencing in New-
abbey parish near the Nith, and running south-westward
across Kirkgunzeon, Urr, and Colvend, down almost to
the shore of the Solway Firth. It culminates in conical,
peaked Knockendoch (1867 feet), 2| miles S by W of
Newabbey village, and from this ' huge Criffel's hoary
top, ' as Wordsworth calls it, commands in clear weather
a map-like view of the Solway's basin and the Cumber-
land mountains beyond, with far-away glimpses of
Arran, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. 'Drayton,' says
Dorothy Wordsworth, 'has prettily described the con-
nection this neighbourhood has with Cumberland when
he makes Skiddaw say —
' " Scurf ell from the sky,
That Annandale doth crown, with a most amorous eye
Salutes me every day, or at my pride looks grim,
Oft threat'ning me with clouds, as I oft threat'uing him." '
According to a prophecy ascribed to Thomas the Rhymer,
' in the evil day coming safely shall nowhere be found
except atween Criffel and the sea.' — Ord. Sur., sh. 5,
1867.
Crimond (anc. Creichmont, ' clay hill '), a hamlet and a
coast parish of Buchan, NE Aberdeenshire. The hamlet,
lying 2J miles inland, is 3 miles ESE of Lonmay station,
8| SE by S of Fraserburgh, and 9 NW of Peterhead,
under which it has a post office.
The parish, containing also the fishing hamlet of
Rattray, formerly a royal burgh, 2 miles to the ENE,
is bounded SW, NW, and N by Lonmay, NE and E by
the German Ocean, and SE by St Fergus in Banffshire
(detached). Its utmost length is 6f miles from ENE to
WSW, viz., from Rattray Head to a little beyond the
Loch of Kininmonth ; its width in an opposite direction
varies between 1§ and 2$ miles ; and its area is 62S1J
acres, of which 243J are water, and 14SJ foreshore.
The coast-line, 2§ miles in extent, includes the low,
rocky, shelving promontory of Rattray Head ; and else-
where presents a broad band of flat beach, backed by bent-
covered sand-hills. The interior rises abruptly from the
shore to 106 feet above sea-level near the coastguard
station, and, thence descending gradually towards the
centre, ascends again gently southward and south-west-
ward to 136 feet near South Mosstown, 228 at Upper
Ridinghill, and 284 at Lochhills. Loch Stratheeg,
2| miles long, and from 2 to 4J furlongs broad, lies on
the northern border, and receives burns and runnels
draining the interior ; the Loch of Kininmonth (3x1
furl. ), in the SW, has been recently drained. Streams
of pure water are scarce, most being tainted with iron.
Dark blue granite prevails in the E ; red granite, gene-
rally in a crumbling condition, is found in the W ; trap
rock is also abundant ; and limestone was at one time
quarried. The soil near the coast is light and sandy ;
towards the centre is generally of a black loamy nature,
resting on a clay bottom ; and elsewhere is cold and
wet. Nearly five-sevenths of the entire area are arable,
less than one-eighth is pastoral, and plantations cover
a considerable extent. Crimond estate belonged once
to the Earls of Errol, whilst Logie was the seat of
a branch of the Gordons ; but both belong now to
Ethel, daughter (b. 1S69) of the late Sir Alex. Banner-
man of Ckimonmogate. Logie was the scene of the
308
CRINAN
fine old Jacobite song, O Logie o' Buchan, believed
to have been written about 1736 by George Halket,
schoolmaster at Rathen ; and at a spot called the Battle
Fauld, tradition points out the grave of the hero of the
famous ballad, Sir James the Hose. A circular mound,
called Castle Hill, at the E end of Loch Strathbeg, was
the site of a castle of Comyn, Earl of Buchan ; and near
it are the First Pointed ruins of St Mary's chapel of
Rattray ; whilst on the farm of Netherton of Logie is
an ancient Caledonian circle in a high state of preserva-
tion. John Farquhar (1751-1826), known as ' the rich
Farquhar of Fon thill,' was a native. Rattray House is
the principal mansion ; and 3 proprietors hold each an
annual value of more, 5 of less, than £100. Giving off
a south-western portion to the quoad sacra parish of
Kininmonth, Crimond is in the presbytery of Deer and
synod of Aberdeen ; the living is worth £296. The
present church, at the hamlet, was built in 1812, and,
containing 500 sittings, has a steeple and clock ; its
ruined predecessor, near the manse, f mile N by W, is
said to have been a prebend of St Machar's at Aberdeen
in 1262, and bears date 1576. A public school, with
accommodation for 142 children, had (1880) an average
attendance of 98, and a grant of £84, 2s. Valuation
(1S81) £5997, 12s. 7d. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 862,
(1821) 900, (1841) 767, (1851) 893, (1871) 887, (1881)
827 ; of ecclesiastical parish (1881) 815. — Ord. Sur., shs.
97, 87, 1876.
Crimonmogate, a mansion in Lonmay parish, Aber-
deenshire, If mile W of Lonmay station. Grecian in
style, with a hexastyle granite portico, it was built
towards the middle of the present century at a cost of
£10,000 ; in its finely-planted grounds is a granite
obelisk to the memory of Patrick Milne, who bequeathed
the estate to the Bannermans. The present owner, Sir
George Bannerman of Elsick, tenth Bart, since 1682 (b.
1829 ; sue. 1877), holds 7660 acres in the shire, valued
at £7745 per annum.
Crinan, a village, a sea-loch, and a canal, in Argyll-
shire. The village, called sometimes Port-Crinan, stands
in Kilmartin parish, on the northern side of the sea-
loch, not far from the W end of the canal, 5J miles
WNW of Lochgilphead, under which it has a post
office ; at it are an excellent inn, a wharf and slip, and
a lighthouse. The steamers, in the line of communica-
tion between Glasgow and Oban, call at it ; and here
the Queen and Prince Albert spent the night of 18 Aug.
1843 on board the royal yacht. — The sea-loch, extend-
ing 4-| miles north-westward, opens into the upper part
of the Sound of Jura, adjacent to the mouth of Loch
Craignish ; and leads the way, round Craignish Point,
to the passage, between Scarba and Luing islands, to
the Firth of Lorn. Its head is narrow and tame ; but
most of its north-eastern side is rich in interesting
features ; and its mouth, 3 miles wide, between Craig-
nish and Ardmore Points, with a group of islets in its
own waters, and with the northern extremity of Jura in
front, is strikingly picturesque. — The canal goes from
the middle of the W side of Loch Gilp, 9 miles west-
north-westward, to Loch Crinan, in the vicinity of
Crinan village, and enables vessels of 200 tons burden,
from the upper Firth of Clyde to the Firth of Lorn, to
avoid the difficult and circuitous passage of 70 miles
round the Mull of Kintyre. Projected by Sir John
Rennie in 1793, at an estimated cost of £63,678, it was
opened in 1801 at an actual cost of £141,810 ; and even
then other loans had to be obtained, which by 1814
had burdened the Company with a debt of £67,810. It
is cut chiefly through chlorite schist, traversed by trap
dykes, and showing indications of great geognostic dis-
turbance ; and has eight locks between Loch Gilp and
the summit-level (59 feet), and seven between that and
Loch Crinan, thirteen of these locks being each 96 feet
long and 24 wide, and the other two 108 feet long and
27 wide. The average depth of water is only 10 feet,
the canal being fed by reservoirs on the hill above, whose
bursting (2d Feb. 1859) washed away part of the banks
and choked the channel for upwards of a mile with debris.
The repairs took a sum of £12,000, which was disbursed