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KELTON HILL
but has never been worked on account of the dearth of
coal. The soil, generally thin, in some places is a fine
loam, and in others, especially on the small conical
hills, is a deep watery till. Mosses of considerable ex-
tent are in various places, and exhibit remains of an
ancient forest. About one-fourth of the entire area is
under cultivation ; plantations cover some 630 acres,
and the rest of the land is either pastoral or waste.
The chief antiquities are remains of a Caledonian stone
circle on Torrs Farm ; the Caledonian hill fort of
Dungyle ; another ancient stone fort, 68 paces in
diameter, at a short distance from that on Dungyle ;
a Roman tripod found on Mid Kelton farm ; a sarco-
phagus, 7 feet long, found in a tumulus near Gelston ;
a number of curious small antiquities found in a morass
on Torrs Farm and in Carlinwark Loch ; the Gallows
Slote, on which the victims of feudal tyranny were tor-
tured or executed, adjacent to the \V side of Carlinwark
Loch ; a moat in the western vicinity of Gelston Castle ;
and vestiges or ruins of the ancient churches of Kelton,
Gelston, and Kirkcormack. The famous piece of ord-
nance called Mons Meg, now in Edinburgh Castle, is
believed to have been made in 1455 at Buchan's Croft,
near the Three Thorns of Carlinwark. Mansions,
noticed separately, are Carlinwark House, Dildawn,
Gelston Castle, and Threave House ; and 8 proprietors
hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 11 of
between £100 and £500, 23 of from £50 to £100, and
60 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery of Kirkcud-
bright and synod of Galloway, the parish since 1S73
has been divided between Castle-Douglas quoad sacra
parish and Kelton proper, the latter a living worth
£338. Its church, If mile S of Castle-Douglas, was built
in 1806, and, as restored in 1S79-80 at a cost of nearly
£1S00, contains 450 sittings. Other places of worship
are described under Castle-Douglas ; and, besides the
three schools there, Gelston and Rhonehouse public
schools, each with accommodation for 103 children, had
(1881) an average attendance of 46 and 59, and grants
of £53, 19s. and £44. Valuation (I860) £13,642, (1883)
£20,613, 10s. 6d. Pop. (1S01) 1905, (1S31) 2877,
(1861) 3436, (1871) 3222, (1881) 345S, of whom 966
were in Kelton ecclesiastical parish. — Orel. Sur., sh. 5,
1857.
Kelton Hill or Rhonehouse, a village in Kelton parish,
Kirkcudbrightshire, 2i miles SS\V of Castle-Douglas,
under which it has a post office. It formerly had seven
annual fairs, of which the June one was very famous as
a horse fair.
Kelty, a collier village in Beath parish, Fife, and
Cleish parish, Kinross-shire, 7 furlongs AV of Kelty
station on the Kinross-shire section of the North British
railway, this being 5 miles SSE of Kinross. It has a
Free church and a public school. Pop. (1871) 793,
(1881) S60, of whom 752 were in Beath.— Orel. Sur., sh.
40, 1S67.
Kelvin, a river of Stirling, Dumbarton, and Lanark
shires, rising in the great strath of the Forth and Clyde
Canal at a point 3 miles E by N of Kilsyth, and 160
feet above sea-level. Thence it flows 21 miles west-
south-westward and south-south-westward, till it falls
into the Clyde at Partick, the western suburb of
Glasgow. It bounds the parishes of Kilsj'th, Cumber-
nauld, Kirkintilloch, Campsie, Cadder, Baldernock,
New Kilpatrick, Maryhill, Barony, and Govan, under
which and Glasgow full details are given as to the
towns, villages, and other features of its course. Fol-
lowed pretty closely along its left side by the Forth and
Clyde Canal, it is very slow and sluggish over the first 12^
miles, where it formerly was choked with aquatic vege-
tation, and often dispread itself far and wide in a man-
ner betwixt lake and morass. But it was straightened,
deepened, and embanked ; and now it crawls along with
all the appearance of a large ditch. For several miles
it is one of the tamest lines of water in the kingdom ;
but afterwards it has green and wooded banks ; further
on it is fringed with luxuriant haughs, and overlooked
by pleasant braes or hanging plains ; and all along, till
near its entering its far-famed dell, it borrows much
KEMNAY
interest from the Kilsyth Hills and Campsie Fells, which
flank the N side of its basin. The affluents which
come down to it from these heights contribute the larger
portion of its volume ; and at least Garvald Burn is
entitled to rank as the parent stream. At Kirkintilloch,
the Kelvin receives on the right hand the Glazert coming
down from the Campsie Fells, and on the left Luggie
AVater creeping in from a region of moors and knolly
flats. But it still continues languid, and can boast no
higher ornament for several miles than the luxuriant
Balmore haughs. Below these it is joined on its right
side by Allander Water, and passes into a total change
of scenery. Its basin is henceforth a rolling surface of
knolls, with no overhanging fells and few extensive
prospects, but with intricate and endless series of wind-
ing hollows, abrupt diversities, and charming close views.
And here at Garscube, 5 miles NW of Glasgow, the
Kelvin awakens into activity, and enters on Kelvin -
grove. Its course thence to Partick lies generally
along a dell of similar character to that of the North
Esk between Hawthornden and Dalkeith, but with less
brilliance and more diversity. Some parts contract into
gorges, others expand into vale ; some wall in the water-
course between steeps or precipices, others flank it with
strips of meadow or shelving descents ; some are com-
paratively tame and soft, while others are wild and harsh.
But the dell, as a whole, is all feature, all character —
most of it clothed with trees as thickly as a bird's wing
with feathers — some parts streaked with cascades, and
many picturesquely-studded with mansions, bridges,
and mills. Its waters below Maryhill are intensely
polluted by factories ; but they elsewhere contain trout,
pike, perch, and roach, and were formerly frequented
by salmon.— Orel. Sur., shs. 31, 30, 1867-66.
Kelvingrove. See Kelvin.
Kembaek, a parish in the Stratheden district of Fife,
containing the conjoint villages of Dura-den, Blebo Craigs,
and Kembaek Mills, 1J mile S of Dairsie station, and
3h miles E of Cupar, under which there is a post office
of Duraden. Bounded KW by Dairsie, N by Leuchars,
NE by St Andrews, E and S by Ceres, and W by Cupar,
it has an utmost length from E to W of 2| miles, a
varying width of 7 furlongs and 2| miles, and an area
of 2602 acres, of which 7| are water. The Eden winds
3J miles north-eastward along all the Dairsie and
Leuchars boundary ; and its affluent, Ceres Burn, flows
1§ mile northward through Dura Den, partly along
the Ceres boundary, but mainly across the middle of the
parish. The surface declines along the Eden to less
than 100 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to 547
feet at Clatto Hill on the St Andrews border. The
rocks, comprising trap, sandstone, ironstone, and shale,
include a vein of lead-ore ; and the fossil fishes of their
yellow sandstone have been fully noticed under Dura
Den and the geology of Fife. The soil is variously
strong heavy clay, deep able black loam, peat, gravel,
and poor black sand ; and agriculture has been carried
to high perfection, especially on the Blebo estate, where
steam power has been employed for a good many years.
About one-seventh of the entire area is under wood,
nearly all the remainder being either in tillage or pas-
ture. Mansions are Bleeo House, Dura House, Kem-
baek House, and Piumgally ; and 4 proprietors hold each
an annual value of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100
and £500, and 6 of from £20 to £50. Kembaek is in
the presbytery of St Andrews and synod of Fife ; the
living is worth £223. The parish church was built in
1814 at a cost of £700. A public school, with accom-
modation for 190 children, had (18S1) an average attend-
ance of 74, and a grant of £67, 18s. Valuation (1866)
£48S5, 18s., (18S3) £6554, 9s. Pop. (1S01) 626, (1831)
651, (1861) 896, (1871) 1056, (1881) 853, of whom 380
were in the three conjoint villages. — Orel. Sur., shs.
48, 49, 41, 1857-68.
Kemnay, a village and a parish of central Aberdeen-
shire. The village stands near the right side of the
river Don, close by Kemnay station on the Alford
Valley branch of the Great North of Scotland railway,
this being 4 miles "W of Kintore and 17| AVNW of
349

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