Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

DUNOON
from its foot the Eachaig river winds 5J miles south-
south-eastward to the head of Holy Loch, and receives
by the way the Massen and Little Eaehaig, the former
running 8J miles southward and south-eastward through
the interior, the latter 4J miles east-north-eastward
along the boundary of Kilmun with Inverchaolain and
Dunoon. Dunoon is not so mountainous as Kilmun,
its chief elevations from S to N being Inellan Hill (935
feet), Ben Ruadh (1057), Garrowehorran Hill (1115),
Corlorach Hill (1371), Kilbride Hill (1294), Horse Seat
(1282), the Badd (1215), *Bishop's Seat (1651), Dunan
(575), Strone Saul (993), Finbracken Hill (649), and
Dalinlongart Hill (643) ; whilst in Kilmun rise Kilmun
Hill (1535), Stronchullin Hill (1798), Ben Ruadh
(2178), *Creachan Mor (2156), and Cruach a' Bhuie
(2084) to the E of the Eaehaig and Loch Eck, and, to
the W thereof, Ballochyle Hill (1253), Clachaig Hill
(1708), Sgarach Mor (1972), A' Chruach (1570), Clach
Beinn (2109), and Benmore (2433), where asterisks
mark those summits that culminate on the confines of
the parish. Clay slate, greenish, greyish, or bluish in
hue, sometimes finely laminated and firmly grained, is a
predominant rock, and has been quarried for roofing
purposes on Toward estate and near the town of Dunoon.
Highly indurated mica slate, traversed by veins of com-
pact quartz and contorted into every variety of curve,
is still more prevalent, forming by far the greater portion
of the ancient parish of Dunoon, and passing into clay
slate in the southern part of Kilmun Hill. Silurian
rock, course-grained and merging out of junction with
clay slate, occurs at Strone Point and Toward ; whilst
Old Red sandstone skirts the shore from Inellan to
within about a mile of Toward Castle, and has been
quarried, at different periods, for building purposes.
Limestone, in small quantity and here and there of
quality akin to marble, occurs contiguous to the Old
Red sandstone, which near Toward Point is traversed
by dykes of trap ; and serpentine, taking a high polish,
is fairly plentiful on the coast near Inellan. The soils
are generally light and shallow, consisting chiefly of
humus, sandy gravel, or sandy loam. Great agricul-
tural improvements have lately been effected, especially
on the Benmore estate, where and at Castle Toward
hundreds of acres have been planted with millions of
trees. On Ardnadam farm is a cromlech ; ancient stone
coffins have been found in various places ; an artifi-
cial mound, 90 by 73 feet, and 10 feet high, on Ardin-
slat farm, is supposed to have been formed by the
Romans ; and Kilmun has interesting ecclesiastical anti-
quities. The principal mansions, all separately noticed,
are Castle-Toward, Hafton House, Benmore House, and
Glenfinart House ; and 6 proprietors hold each an annual
value of £500 and upwards, 32 of between £100 and
£500, 99 of from £50 to £100, and 360 of from £20 to
£50. Dunoon is the seat of a presbytery in the synod
of Argyll ; and the civil parish is divided ecclesiastically
among Dunoon-Kilmun itself (a living worth £426) with
the chapelries of Strone and Toward, and the following
quoad sacra parishes, with date of erection as such —
Ardentinny (1874), Inellan (1873), Kirn (1874), and
Sandbank (1876). The seven schools, all of them public
but the last, of Ardentinny, Inellan, Kilmun, Rashfield,
Sandbank, Toward, and Glenloan, with total accom-
modation for 655 children, had (1880) an average at-
tendance of 386, and grants amounting to £375, 17s.
Valuation (1860) £34,889, (1882) £80,774, 16s. 6d.
Pop. (1S01) 1750, (1831) 2416, (1841) 4211, (1S61) 5461,
(1871) 6871, (1881) 8003.— Oral. Sur., sh. 29, 1873.
See S. Martin's Guide to Dunoon (Dunoon, 1881).
The presbytery of Dunoon comprises the old parishes
of Dunoon and Kilmun, Inverchaolain, Kilfinan, Kil-
modan, Kingarth, Rothesay, Lochgoilhead and Kil-
morich, and Stralaehlan and Strachur, the quoad omnia
parish of North Bute, the quoad sacra parishes of New
Rothesay, Ardentinny, Inellan, Kirn, and Sandbank,
and the chapelries of Strone, Toward, Kilbride, Tigh-
nabruaich, and Rothesay-Gaelic. Pop. (1871) 21,627,
(1881) 23,711, of whom 3102 were communicants of the
Church of Scotland in 1878. — The Free Church has a
DXJNROD
presbytery of Dunoon, with 3 churches in Rothesay,
2 in Dunoon, 2 in Kingarth, and 8 at respectively
Inellan, Kilfinan, Kilmodan, Kilmun, North Bute,
Sandbank, Strachur, and Tighnabruaich, which together
had 3237 members in 1881.
Dunpender. See Tp.aprain.
Dunragit, a hamlet and a mansion on the W border
of Old Luce parish, Wigtownshire. The hamlet lies
near a station of its own name on the Castle-Douglas
and Portpatrick railway, 3J miles W of Glenluce, and
has a post and telegraph office. To the S of the station
is the Mote of Dunragit, a roundish eminence, now
overgrown with whins ; and to the N, on the hillside,
stands Dunragit House, a modern edifice, a seat of John
Charles Cuninghame, Esq. of Craigends.
Dunreggan. See Moniaive.
Dun-Richnan. See Doees.
Dunrobin Castle, the Scottish seat of the Duke of
Sutherland, in Golspie parish, Sutherland, on a terrace
overlooking the sea, near a private station on the High-
land railway, 1J mile NE of Golspie, and i\ WSW of
Brora. It boasts to be the oldest inhabited house in the
kingdom, founded in 1098 or 1275 by Robert, Thane or
Earl of Sutherland, after whom it received its name, but
of whom history knows absolutely nothing ; the greater
portion of it, however, ismodern, built by the secondDuke
between 1845 and 1S51. It thus forms two piles con-
joint with one another, and together constituting a solid
mass of masonry, 100 feet square, and 80 feet high. The
ancient pile on the seaward side is a plain but dignified
specimen of the old Scottish Baronial architecture. The
new is very much larger than the old, and, blending the
features of German schloss, French chateau, and Scottish
fortalice, makes a goodly display of oriel windows, battle-
ments, turrets, and pinnacles ; whilst its great entrance-
tower, at the north-eastern angle, is 28 feet square and 135
high. Internally, the castle is arranged in suites distin-
guished by the names of different members or relations of
the family, as the Duke's, the Argyll, the Blantyre, and
the Cromartie Rooms, the last so called after George, the
Jacobite third Earl of Cromartie, who here was made
prisoner by the Sutherland militia, 15 April 1746.
Each of these suites comprises a complete set of sitting
and bed rooms, and is decorated in a style of its own ;
and that on the seaward front is separated from the
others by a wide gallery or passage, is adorned and fur-
nished in the most costly and elegant manner, com-
mands from a bedroom oriel window a wide and magnifi-
cent view, and was set apart for the use of the Queen
so long ago as 1851. From one cause and another Her
Majesty's visit was postponed till September 1872, when
it fell to her to lay the foundation stone of a monument
to her late mistress of the robes, the second Duchess
(1806-68). A beautiful Eleanor cross, 40 feet high, with
a bronze bust by Noble, this monument, finished in
1874, crowns a slight eminence to the right of the prin-
cipal avenue. Prior to the Queen's visit, Dunrobin had
twice received the Prince and the Princess of Wales —
in 1866 and 1871. Very fine flower gardens, between a
terrace (100 yards long) and the sea, are reached by suc-
cessive broad flights of steps ; behind is the beautiful
park, in which are two 'brochs' or dry-built circular
towers. One of these, being excavated by the Rev. Dr
Joass, yielded two little plates of brass, the one oblong,
the other semicircular (Mr Joseph Anderson, Rhind
Lecture, 31 Oct. 18S1). Both castle and grounds are
accessible to the public. George Granville William
Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, present and third Duke (b.
1828 ; sue. 1861), holds 1,176,343 acres, or more than
nine-tenths of the shire, valued at £56,396 per annum.
See Sutherland, Cromarty, and Ben-a-Bhragie. —
Or A- Sur., sh. 103, 1878.
Dunrod, an ancient parish on the coast of Kirkcud-
brightshire, united about the year 1663 to Kirkcudbright,
and now forming the southern part of that parish. Its
name signifies 'a red hill,' and seems to have been de-
rived from an oblong reddish-coloured hill adjacent to
the site of its church. This, with its fragment of a
Norman fort, stood 4 miles SSE of Kirkcudbright town,
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