Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

KILMARON CASTLE
Smith (1829-67), poet; and James B. Reid (1837-63),
artist. See also The Contemporaries of Burns and the
more recent Poets of Ayrshire (Edinb. 1840); Archibald
M 'Kay's History of Kilmarnock (Kilmarnock, 1848 ; 3d
ed. 1864 ; 4th, 1880) ; James Paterson's Autobiographical
Reminiscences, including Recollections of the Radical
Years 1819-20 in Kilmarnock (Glasgow, 1S71) ; M'Kay's
Burns and his Kilmarnock Friends (Kilmarnock, 1S74) ;
Cunninghams Topographised by Timothy Pont, A.M.,
1604-8, with Continuations and, Illustrative Notices by
the late James Dobie of Crummock (1876) ; and chap.
xix. of M'llwraith's History of the Glasgow and South-
western Railway (Glasgow, 1880).
Kilmaron Castle, a mansion in Cupar parish, Fife,
If mile NW of Cupar town. A splendid edifice, built
after designs by Gillespie Graham, it was the seat of Sir
David Baxter, Bart. (1793-1872), a manufacturer and
munificent benefactor of Dundee, at the death of whose
widow in 18S2 the estate — 1201 acres, of £3287 annual
value — went to the Right Hon. W. E. Baxter of Kin-
CALDRUM. — Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Kilmaronock, a parish of E Dumbartonshire, whose
church stands 2 miles WNW of Drymen station on the
Forth and Clyde Junction section of the North British,
this being 3 miles NE of Caldarvan or Kilmaronock
station and 6J ENE of Balloch. Including the islands
of Inchmurrin, Creinch, Ton-inch, and -Aber, it is
bounded W and NW by Loch Lomond, NE and E by
Buchanan and Drymen in Stirlingshire, S by Dumbar-
ton, and SW by Bonhill. Its utmost length, from E to
W, is 5| miles ; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 5J
miles ; and its area is 14,561J acres, of which 4236| are
water. Loch Lomond is on the boundary from a point
5 furlongs N of Balloch pier all round to the mouth of
Endrick Water ; Endeick Water winds 8 miles west-
north-westward along all the north-eastern border ; and
Gallangad or Catter Burn, entering from Dumbarton,
flows 3J miles northward through the southern interior,
then 2| miles north-eastward along the boundary with
Drymen, till it falls into Endrick Water near Drymen
station. From Loch Lomond the surface rises south-
eastward to 284 feet near Baturich Castle, 576 at
Mount Misery, 462 at conical Dunoryne, and 800 at the
Dumbarton boundary, the southern district, beyond the
Forth and Clyde railway, being mainly a moorish up-
land tract, projected from Dumbarton Muir. The
north-eastern district, along Endrick Water, to a
breadth of from 1 furlong to f mile, is a low, level,
alluvial tract of high fertility, richly embellished with
culture and wood ; and the rest of the land, with ex-
ception of Duncryne and the ridge of Mount Misery, is
all champaign, diversified with heights of from 100 to
300 feet above sea-level, and richly adorned with corn-
fields, woods, and parks. The rocks are partly eruptive,
partly Devonian ; and the soil is various, ranging from
deep alluvium to shallow moor, but most of it very
fertile. About 850 acres are under wood ; fully as
much upland is pastoral ; and the rest of the land is
nearly all arable. Kilmaronock Castle, on the Mains
estate, near the church, would seem to have been a mas-
sive and imposing pile. Mansions are Baturich Castle,
Caldarvan House, Catter House, and Ross Priory ;
and, besides the Duke of Montrose, 3 other proprietors
hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 12 of
between £100 and £500, 4 of from £50 to £100, and 4
of from £20 to £50. The original church of Kilmaronock
(Gael. ' church of my little Ronan') was dedicated to St
Ronan, a bishop of Kingarth in Bute, who died in 737 ;
but a neighbouring spring bears the name of ' St Maro-
nock's Well,' and Scott in the Lady of the Lake calls
Ellen a 'votaress of Maronnan's cell.' In 1325 it was
given by Robert I. to the monks of Cambuskenneth,
and theirs it continued down to the Reformation. Kil-
maronock is in the presbytery of Dumbarton and synod
of Glasgow and Ayr ; the living is worth £353. The
present church was built in 1813, and contains 340
sittings. A U.P. church was rebuilt about 1852 ; and
two public schools, Ardoch Bridge and Kilmaronock,
with respective accommodation for 80 and 82 children,
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KILMATJRS
had (1881) an average attendance of 33 and 52, and
grants of £28, 16s. and £56, lis. Valuation (1860)
£7232, (1883) £11,309, lis. 3d. Pop. (1801) 879, (1831)
999, (1861) 1085, (1871) 978, (1881) 927.— Ord. Sur.,
shs. 38, 30, 1871-66.
Kilmartin, a village and a coast parish of Argyll-
shire. The village, on the road from Lochgilphead to
Oban, 3* miles NNE of Port Crinan and 8 NNW of
Lochgilphead, is situated near the middle of a beautiful
vale which is watered by the rivulet Skeodnish, and
flanked by steep wooded hills. Rebuilt on a regular
plan about 1835, it now is one of the neatest and
pleasantest of Highland villages, and chiefly consists of
substantial slated cottages, each with a garden plot.
It has a post office under Lochgilphead, with money
order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, and
fairs on the first Thursday of March and the fourth
Thursday of November. The parish church is a hand-
some Gothic edifice of 1835, with a square tower and
520 sittings ; in its graveyard is a purely Celtic cross,
5$ feet high, whose ornamentation consists of interlaced
work, divergent spirals, and key patterns or fretwork.
There are also a Free church and St Columba's Epis-
copal church (1854 ; 120 sittings).
The parish, containing also Port Crinan, and in-
cluding the two chief islands in Loch Craignish, with
several other islets, is bounded NW by Craignish, NE
by Kilchrenan and Dalavich, SE by Kilmichael-Glassary,
S by Loch Crinan, which separates it from Knapdale,
and W by Loch Craignish, which separates it from the
Craignish peninsula. Its utmost length, from NE to
SW, is 12J miles ; its utmost breadth is 5J miles ; and
its area is 25,102 acres. Loch Awe, for 4 J mUes down-
ward from its head, lies on the boundary with Kil-
michael-Glassary ; and the rivulet Skeodnish, rising not
far from the loch's head, and running 6 miles south-
south-westward to Loch Crinan, appears to traverse the
loch's original outlet. The ranges, ridges, and groups of
hill, which occupy most of the interior, are much diversi-
fied with intervening dales and hollows, and exhibit no
little beauty of verdure and copsewood. They rise to
altitudes of from 700 to 1407 feet above sea-level ; and
include several summits which command extensive and
very brilliant views. The vale of the Skeodnish is
overhung by the hills in the N, and partly flanked by
those in the S ; has, for some distance from its head,
a narrow and winding character, but expands afterwards
into a level plain, partly extending along the south-
eastern boundary ; and, viewed as a whole, is one of
the loveliest valleys in the Highlands. A series of
broad terraces, rising 50 to 60 feet above the bottom
level, and mostly composed of gravel and small boulders,
is in the upper part of the vale, principally on the W
side ; and an extensive peat moss, reaching partly into
Kilmichael-Glassary, and long under a course of drainage,
lies on the SE border. The predominant rocks are
metamorphic, and include chlorite, mica, clay, and
hornblende slates. The soil of the strath is fairly good,
a mixture of many kinds, and generally is very various,
ranging from alluvium to moor. Barely one-seventh of
the entire area is in tillage ; 1215 acres are under wood ;
and nearly all the remainder is either pastoral or waste.
The ruins of Kilmartin Castle, the ancient residence of
the rectors of Kilmartin, crown a bank immediately N
of the village ; other antiquities being the ruins of
Carnassart Castle and a number of large cairns in
the valley and on the hills. Duntroon Castle is the
chief mansion ; and 2 proprietors hold each an annual
value of more, 5 of less, than £500. Kilmartin is in
the presbytery of Inveraray and synod of Argyll ; the
living is worth £230. A public school, with accom-
modation for 160 children, had (1S81) an average attend-
ance of 87, and a grant of £74, lis. Valuation (1860)
£63S4, (1883) £7865, 5s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1501, (1831)
1475, (1861) 949, (1871) 869, (1881) 811, of whom 647
were Gaelic-speaking.
Kilmaurs, a small town and a parish in Cunninghame
district, Ayrshire. The town stands, 200 feet above sea-
level, on the right bank of Carmel Water, and has a
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