Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

FLOAT BAV
by Dunbog, it has an utmost length from ENE to WSW
of 4J miles, a varying breadth of 4^ furlongs and 2
miles, and an area of 285 4 J acres, of which 240 J are
foreshore. The firth, expanding here from IJ to 3 miles,
is fringed by a level strip 70 to 550 yards in breadth,
beyond which the surface rises rapidly to 714 feet at
Glenduckie Hill, 800 on the boundary with Abdie, and
600 on that with Creich, whilst from Glenduckie sinking
again to less than 200 on the Dunbog border. The
rocks are partly eruptive, partly Devonian, and the soil
in general is a clayey loam. Rather more than one-
tenth of the entire area is under wood, one-fifteenth is
natural pasture, and all the rest is under cultivation.
Ballanbreich Castle, a picturesque ruin, has been separ-
ately noticed. Two parsons of Flisk in the first half of
the 16th century, John Waddell and James Balfour,
were judges of the Court of Session ; and another, John
Wemyss, towards the close of that century, became
principal of St Leonard's College, St Andrews. The
property is mostly divided among three. Giving off a
portion quoad sacra to Dunbog, Flisk is in the presby-
tery of Cupar and synod of Fife ; the living is worth
£259. The parish church, built in 1790, contains 153
sittings ; and a public school, mth accommodation for 73
children, had (1881) an average attendance of 40, and a
grant of £49, 6s. Valuation (1866) £3666, 16s. 3d.,
(1882) £4452, 2s. lOd. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 300,
(1831) 286, (1861) 313, (1871) 280, (1881) 259 ; of q. s.
parish (1871) 212, (1881) 21Z.— Orel. Siir., sh. 48, 1868.
Float Bay or Port Float, a small bay in Stoneykirk
parish, Wigtownshire, 6 miles SE of Portpatrick. It is
said to have got its name from the wreck here of some
of the ships of the Spanish Armada or ' Flota ; ' but
above it is the moss or flow of 'Meikle Float.'
Float Moss, a large expanse of low meadowy ground
m Carstairs, Carnwath, and Pettinain parishes, Lanark-
shire, along the banks of the Clyde, in the south-eastern
vicinity of Carstairs Junction. It used to be frequently
flooded by freshets of the river, so as at times to resemble
a large and dreary-looking lake ; and it took its name
from a float or large boat which formerly served in lieu
of a bridge across the Clyde, and which cost £500. The
Caledonian railway goes across it, on works which were
formed at great expense ; and it has here timber viaducts
for allowing free scope to the freshets of the river.
Flodda. See Fladda.
Flodigairy, an ancient house in Kilmuir parish, Isle
of Skye, Inverness-shire. A loud rumbling noise, heard
from beneath an eminence in its close vicinity, is sup-
posed to be caused by the roll of sea-billows into some
natural tunnel or subterranean cavern.
Floors Castle, the seat of the Duke of Eoxburghe, in
Kelso parish, Roxburghshire, 3 furlongs from the N
bank of the Tweed, and IJ mile WNW of Kelso town.
As built for the first Duke in 1718 by Sir John Vanbrugh,
a better playwright than architect, it was severely plain,
not to say heavy-looking ; but in 1849 and following
years the whole was transformed by Playfair of Edin-
burgh into a sumptuous Tudor pile — one of the most
palatial residences of the Scottish nobility. The gar-
dens, too, already beautiful, were greatly extended
(1857-60) ; the home farm, to the rear of the castle,
was rearranged and in great measure rebuilt (1875) ;
and no fewer than 120 model cottages were erected on
the estate — all these improvements being carried out by
James, sixth Duke (1816-79), who had the honour of
receiving visits here from Queen Victoria (Aug. 1867), the
Prince and Princess of "Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh,
the Duke of Albany, etc. John, third Duke (1740-
1804), is remembered as a famous bibliomaniac. His
library, numbering nearly 10,000 books, was sold in
1812, when the first edition of the Decameron (1471)
brought £2260, and Caxton's Historye of Troye (1461)
1000 guineas. James Henry Robert Innes-Ker, present
and seventh Duke since 1707 (b. 1839 ; sue. 1879), holds
50,459 acres in the shire, valued at £43,820, 8s. per
annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865. See Eoxbxjkgh,
Eelso, and Cessfoed.
Flotta, an island in the S of Orkney, lying nearly
32
FOCHABERS
midway between Hoy and South Ronaldshay, and flank-
ing part of the southern side of Scalpa Flow, 15 miles
SSW of Kirkwall. It has a post office under Stromness.
It measures 3^ miles in length from NE to SW, by 2 j
miles in extreme breadth, and is deeply pierced on the
north-eastern side by an elongated bay called Pan-
hope, which forms an excellent harbour. The coast
is mostly high and rocky ; the interior low, tame, and
heathy, consisting mainly of sandstone and sandstone-
flag. Specially well situated for fishing, and famous
for its excellent fishing boats, it was the residence
of the ancient Norwegian historiographer, sent from
Norway to collect information respecting Scotland, and
gave name to his work, the Codex Flotticensis, from
which Torfaeus and subsequent historians drew much of
their materials on the ancient condition of the northern
districts of Scotland. Ecclesiastically, the island is
included in the parish of Walls and Flotta. Pop.
(1841) 405, (1861) 420, (1871) 423, (1881) 425.
Flotta-Calf, a pastoral island of Flotta parish, Orkney,
adjacent to the north-eastern extremity of Flotta island,
and measuring 2 miles in circumference.
Flowerdale, an old-fashioned mansion of the middle
of last century, with beautiful grounds and finely-wooded
policies, in Gairloch parish, NW Ross-shire, adjacent to
Gairloch village, and to the head of the Gair Loch. It
is the seat of Sir Kenneth-Smith Mackenzie of Gairloch,
sixth Bart, since 1702 (b. 1832 ; sue. 1843), who holds
164,680 acres in the shire, valued at £7842, 15s. per
annum. His ancestor, ' Eachin Roy ' or ' Red Hector,'
second son of Alexander, seventh chieftain of KintaU, ob-
tained a grant of Gairloch barony from James IV. in 1 494.
FlowerhilL See Aikdkib.
Fluchter, a village in Baldemook parish, SW Stirling-
shire, 2 miles E of Milngavie.
Fludha, an estate, with a mansion, in Kirkcudbright
parish, Kirkcudbrightshire, IJ mile from the town.
Fochabers, a small town in Bellie parish, NE Elgin-
shire. It stands, 140 feet above sea-level, on the right
bank of the Spey, 4 miles above its mouth, and 3 miles
E by N of Fochabers station, in Speymouth parish, on
the Highland railway, this station being 6^ mUes ESE
of Elgin and llf WNW of Keith. Its present site is
an elevated gravel terrace in a deep wooded valley, but
it stood in the immediate vicinity of Goedon Castle
till the close of last century, when, to improve the
grounds of that noble mansion, it was rebuilt on the line
of road from Aberdeen to Inverness, about a mile
farther S. The ancient market-cross still stands in
the ducal park. A handsome three-arch bridge, 382
feet long, that spans the Spey here, was partly swept
away by the great flood of 1829, which raised the river
nearly 9 feet above its ordinary level. The town has a
quadrangular outline, with central square and streets at
right angles one to another ; presents a neat, weU-built,
and modern appearance ; serves as a business centre for
a considerable extent of surrounding country ; com-
municates by coach with Keith and Portsoy ; and has a
post oSice, with money order, savings' bank, insurance,
and railway telegraph departments, branches of the
Union and Aberdeen Town and Count}' Banks, a branch
of the Elgin Savings' Bank, a penny savings' bank, 9
insurance agencies, an hotel called the Gordon Arms, a
county police station (1869), a reading-room and library,
and a gas-light company. Thursday is the day of a
weekly corn market ; fairs are held on the third Thurs-
day of January and February, the fourth Wednesday of
March, the fourth Thursday of April and May, the first
Thursday of July, the second Wednesday of August,
and the first Thursday of October and December ; and
sheriff small debt courts sit on the Saturday after the
second Monday of February, June, and October. Bellie
parish church, on the S side of the square, is a hand-
some edifice of 1797, with a portico and a spire. Other
places of worship are a Free church, a Roman Catholic
church (1828), and an Episcopal church, which, built
in 1835 at a cost of £1200, was, at a further cost of
over £2000, internally restored in 1874. The antiquary,
George Chalmers (1742-1825), and William Marshall