Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GORANBERRY
miles east-south-eastward through the parishes of Port
of Monteith, Kincardine (detached), and Kilmadocl'C, till
it falls into the Forth at a point 1^ mile NW of Gar-
gunnock station. It contains fine red-fleshed trout ;
expanded formerly into a lacustrine marsh, called
Goodie Lake ; and was the scene of a serious disaster to
the Argyll men in the military events of 1646. — Ord.
Sur., shs. 38, 39, 1871-69.
Goranberry. See Castleton, Roxburghshire.
Gorbals. See Glasgow.
Gordon, a village and a parish in the W of Merse
district, SW Berwickshire. The village. West Gordon,
stands 500 feet above sea-level, 8 miles NW by N
of Kelso ; whilst its station, on the Berwickshire loop-
line of the North British, is lOJ miles NNE of St Bos-
wells, 6 ENE of Earlston, 4 WSW of Greenlaw, and llj
WSW of Duns. It consists of a long street, containing
some good shops and dwelling-houses ; is surrounded
with small enclosures belonging to the inhabitants ; and
has a post office. Pop. (1871) 336, (1881) 302.
The parish anciently comprehended Dirrington Laws
district, now annexed to Longformacus, and anotlier
district now forming part of Westruther. It is
bounded NE and E by Greenlaw, SE by Hume, S
by Earlston, W by Legerwood, and NW by Leger-
wood and Westruther. Its utmost length, from E by
N to W by S, is 6| miles ; its utmost breadth, from
N to S, is 4§ miles ; and its area is 9739 acres, of
which 255 are water. Eden Water winds 2j miles east-
north-eastward along the north-western border, then 4J
miles south-by-eastward across the interior ; whilst
Bl.ackaddeu Water traces 1;^ mile of the boundary with
Greenlaw. The surface, gently undulating, but higher
for the most part than any district in the eastern divi-
sion of the Merse, declines to 450 feet above sea-level
along the Eden, thence rising to 666 feet near East
Gordon, 782 near Rumbleton Law, 731 near Hexpath,
619 near Fallside, 891 at an ancient camp near the NW
border, and 788 near Huntlywood. The rocks are
partly Devonian, chiefly Silurian ; and much of the land
has, since the opening of the present century, been re-
claimed from moss or moor to a state of high cultivation.
Some two-thirds of the entire area now are arable ; 500
acres are under wood ; and the rest is pastoral or waste.
From the 12th till early in the 14th century this parish
was the original seat of the Gordons, ancestors of the
Duke of Piichmond and Gordon and of the Marquis of
Huntly ; and a farm in its western division retains to this
day the name of Huntlywood. Greenknowe Tower, now
a fragmentary ruin, was the residence of Walter Pringle,
a zealous Covenanter. Six proprietors hold each an
annual value of £600 and upwards, 4 of from £50 to
£100, and 7 of from £20 to £50. Gordon is in the
presbytery of Earlston and synod of Merse and Teriot-
dale ; the living is worth £241. The ancient church,
St Michael's, was, in 1171, transferred by the monks of
Coldingham to those of Kelso in exchange for the
church of Earlston. The present parish church, built
in 1763, contains 450 sittings ; a Free church contains
250 ; and a public school, with accommodation for 130
children, had (1881) an average attendance of 105, and
a grant of £78, 10s. Valuation (1865) £8347, 9s. lid. ;
(1882) £10,063, 6s. 9d. Pop. (1801) 800, (1831) 882,
(1861) 931, (1871) 876, (1881) 832.— Ord. Sur., sh. 25,
1865.
Gordon Arms, an inn in Yarrow parish, Selkirkshire,
on Yarrow Water, at the intersection of the road from
Selkirk to Moffat with that from Tushielaw to Inner-
leithen, 13 miles WSW of Selkirk. It is a favourite
anglers' haunt.
Gordon Castle, the Scottish seat of the Duke of Rich-
mond and Gordon, in Bellie parish, at the mutual bor-
der of Banff and Elgin shires, 5 furlongs E of the Spey's
right bank and 1 mile NNE of Focliabers. Alexander
Seton, elder son of the daughter and heiress of Sir Adam
Gordon, took the name of Gordon in 1449, when he was
made first Earl of Huntly. He acquired, through
marriage, the lands of Bogygeich or Bog-of-Gight ; and
by his son and successor, George, high chancellor of
200
GORDONSTOWN
Scotland in 1498, Bog-of-Gight Castle was founded.
Richard Franck describes it in the 17th century as a
' palace all built with stone, facing the ocean ; whose
fair front — set prejudice aside — worthily deserves an
Englishman's applause for her lofty and majestic turrets,
that storm the air and seemingly make dints in the
very clouds.' As Bog-of-Gight the castle figures in the
history of the six Earls of Huntly (1449-1599) and the
four Marquises of Huntly (1599-1684), as Gordon Castle
in that of the five Dukes of Gordon (1684-1836), the
fourth of whom was author of Cauld Kail in Aberdeen,
while his butler, William Marshall, composed the
famous air of Tulloclujorum. The ' Cocks of the North '
or 'Gudemen of the Bog,' as these northern magnates
were styled, were a dynasty famous for adherence to the
Catholic faith and to the house of Stewart ; their names
are associated with those of Brechin (1452), Flodden
(1513), Pinkie (1547), Corrichie (1562), Donibristle
(1592), Glenlivet (1594), Frendraught (1630), Edinburgh
Castle (1689), and Sheriffmuir (1715). The dukedom
expired with the fifth Duke in 1836, when the mar-
quisate of Huntly devolved on his fifth cousin once
removed, the Earl of Aboyne ; but the greater part of
the Gordon estates were inherited by his maternal
nephew, Charles, fifth Duke of Richmond and Lennox
(ere. 1675). In 1876 the title Duke of Gordon, in the
peerage of the United Kingdom, was revived in favour
of Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, present and sixth
Duke of Richmond (b. 1818 ; sue. 1860), who holds
269,291 acres in Scotland, valued at £60,390 per annum,
viz., 159,951 in Banffshire (£23,842), 69,660 in Aber-
deenshire (£24,748), 12,271 in Elginshire (£10,618),
and 27,409 in Inverness-shire (£1182).
Almost rebuilt by the fourth Duke of Gordon towards
the close of last century, from designs by Baxter of
Edinburgh, and consisting of hard white Elgin free-
stone, Gordon Castle presents a northern facade 568 feet
long — a four-storied centre, connected by galleries with
E and W two-storied wings. The wliole is battle-
mented ; and, behind, the original six-storied tower of
Bog-of-Gight rises to a height of 84 feet. The interior
contains a valuable library, magnificent dining and
drawing rooms, etc. ; and is richly adorned with marble
statues and busts, portraits, and other paintings. The
family portraits include one of the Princess Annabella,
James I.'s daughter and second Countess of Huntly, and
another, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of the beautiful fourth
Duchess. A beech, a lime-tree, and two sycamores
divide the honours of the beautifully-wooded deer-park
and policies, the former 1300 acres in extent. The chief
approach, on the high road between the Spey and Focha-
bers, is by a lofty battlemented archway between two
domes. Thence the road winds for a mile through lawn
and shrubbery and spreading trees until it is lost in an
oval before the castle, which, though it stands on a flat
nearly 4 miles distant from the Moray Firth, commands a
finer view than one might look for — of the wooded plain,
the Spey glittering onwards to the sea, and the village
and shipping of Garmouth. — Ord. Sur., sh. 95, 1876.
See Huntly, Aboyne, and Alvie ; the History of the
Famihi of Gordo7i, by William Gordon (2 vols., Edinb.,
1726-27) and C. A. Gordon (Edinb. 1754) ; and Lachlan
Shaw's History of the Province of Moray (1775 ; 3d ed.,
Glasg., 1882).
Gordon Place, a village in Dyce parish, Aberdeen-
shire, adjacent to Dyce Junction, 6:^ miles NW of Aber-
deen. Pop., with Dyce village, (1871) 353, (1881) 561.
Gordon, Port. See Port Gordon.
Gordonsburgh. See Maryburgh.
Gordon's Mills, a small village in Resolis parish,
Cromartyshire, on the S shore of Cromarty Firth, at
the mouth of Resolis Burn, 2 miles S of Invergorden.
It had an establishment which was first a snuff manu-
factory, and afterwards a wool-carding mill.
Gordonstown, a mansion in Drainie parish, Elgin-
shire, IJ mile from the coast, and 5J miles NNW of
Elgin. The estate was purchased in 1636 and folloiring
years by the second son of the eleventh Earl of Suther-
land, Sir Robert Gordon, vice-chamberlain of Scotland