Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MARYPARK
£500 and upwar(1s, 2 of from £50 to £500, and 4 of from
£20 to £50. Marykirk, dedicated to the Virgin, is in
the presbytery of Fordoun and the synod of Angus and
Mearns ; the living is worth £370. The parish church,
at the village, was built in 1806, and contains 638 sit-
tings. There are also a Free church of Marykirk and
a U.P. church at Muirton (182i ; 430 sittings). Two
public schools, Luthermuir and Marykirk, with respec-
tive accommodation for 155 and 180 children, had (1883)
an average attendance of 54 and 119, and grants of £56,
15s. and £111, 13s. 6d. Valuation (1856) £8577, (1884)
£11,450, plus £2177 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1530,
(1841) 2387, (1861) 2068, (1871) 1771, (1881) 1461.—
Ord. Sur., shs. 57, 66, 1868-71.
Marypark, a post office in Inveraven parish, Banff-
shire, 3 miles NE of Ballindalloch.
Mary's Loch or Loch Morie, a pretty, troutful lake
in the upper part of Alness parish, Ross-shire, 9J miles
WNW of Alness village. Lying 622 feet above sea-level,
it has an utmost length and breadth of 2 miles and 4|
furlongs ; is flanked to the SW by Meall Mor (2419
feet) ; took its name from an ancient chapel at its head,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary; is very deep, and has
never been known to freeze further than a few yards
from its banks ; receives at its head the Abhuinn nan
Glas; and from its foot sends off the river Alness, 11 J
miles east-south-eastward to the Cromarty Firth. — Ord.
Sur., sh. 93, 1881.
Maryton, a parish in Forfarshire, bounded on the N
by the river South Esk, parish of Dun, and the Montrose
Basin, E by Craig, S by the German Ocean and Lunan,
and W by Farnell. It consists of three detached por-
tions — Maryton proper, Dysart, which is separated by
a part of Craig, and Grahamsfirth, which lies to the
"W of Farnell. Its extreme length, from N to S, includ-
ing the interjecting part of Craig, is about 4 miles ; and
its breadth, exclusive of Grahamsfirth, about 2 miles ;
the area is 3687 acres, of which 41 are water and 84
foreshore. The soil partakes of all the varieties of
strong clay, rich loam, and land of a lighter character.
The rocks along the sea-coast are precipitous and pic-
turesque ; and intersecting the parish is a ridge of hills
extending from E to W, the highest of which is Maryton
Law (335 feet), believed to have been formerly a site for
the administration of justice, from which there is a mag-
nificent view of the district. The land is well adapted
for all the usual crops, and, as a rule, a system of high
farming prevails. Tliis is especially the case on Old
Montrose in the hands of Mr Charles Lyall, whose
ancestors for many generations have been among the
most distinguished agriculturists of Forfarshire, and
who is himself one of the best known and most enter-
prising farmers in Scotland. The landed proprietors
are the Earl of Southesk, who owns the whole of
Maryton proper, and the Misses Carnegy of Craigo,
who are in possession of the Dysart estate, excepting a
small part held in feu by the joint proprietors of the
neighbouring estate of Dunninald.
The ancient divisions of the parish were, about the
13th century, the lands of Old Montrose, which were
erected into a barony in 1451, and into an earldom in
1505 ; the lands oi JBonniton oi: Bonnington, erected into
a barony in 1666; the lands of Aiianic ; the lands of
Fullerton ; the Ahthen of St Mary's, consisting of the
lands of Over and Nether Maryton ; the lauds of Drum,
and of Balnanon. These lands formed the parish of
Maryton proper. Dyserth, including Over and Nether
Dysart, constituted a separate parish which was first
annexed to Brechin and afterwards disjoined in 1649
and added to Maryton. A romantic account has been
given of the annexation of Orahamsfirtli, there being
a legend that it was given as pin-money to the Hon.
Magdalene Carnegie when espoused to the Earl (after-
wards Marquis) of Montrose, but it is more likely to
have come into the possession of the Grahams as their
share in the division of Monrommon Muir, of which
it forms a part. There is a tradition that Hospital
Sliiells, a farm in Marykirk, belonged to Maryton
parish, having probably been gifted to St Mary's of
10
MARYTON
Old Montrose. The name of Ananie, unfortunately,
is lost to the parish, though it lingered until the
present century in the Den of Ananise, by which name
the pretty Den of Fullerton was known. The lands
to which the name applied had centuries before been
added at different times to Bonniton, FuUerton, and
Old Montrose.
The most distinguished of the families connected with
the parish have been the Grahams of Old Montrose (1325-
1668). The several titles of the family were derived
from Old Montrose, and not from the tovra of Montrose,
with which the estate had not the slightest connection,
the identity of name (Alt Munross) being purely acci-
dental. Sir David Graham, a devoted follower of
Robert the Bruce, received from the King the lands of
Old Montrose in exchange for those of Cardross. James,
fifth Earl of Montrose, who is best known as the Great
Marquis, was born at Old Montrose, and there remains
a fragment of the house in which the birth took place.
The next family in point of fame is that of the MelviUes
of Dysart. The first whose name is found in connection
with the parish is Sir Robert Melweill of Dysert, who
perished at Harlaw in 1411. The last mention of the
family is also in the case of a Robert Melville, whose
name appears in a retour of the dominical lands of the
Mains of Meikle Dysart in the barony of Dysart. Their
interest in the parish soon afterwards ceased. The
Woods of Bonniton were a notable famUy, connected
with the pari.sh from 1493 to the beginning of the 18th
century. There were several knights in the family, and
its representative was created a baronet in 1666, for
service rendered to Charles II. The famous Earl of
Middleton succeeded the last Marquis of Montrose in
possession of the estate, and it was forfeited along with
the titles when the second Earl was outlawed in 1695.
The first Fullerton of that ilk was Geoffrey, falconer to
Robert Bruce, wliose name appears in connection with
the estate (Fowler-town) in 1327. It was held in the
family for at least 120 years, after which they trans-
ferred themselves and their name to the lands in Meigle
parish still called Fullerton. Other noted families
having an interest in the parish were the Cranes and
Schakloks of Annauie, Arrats of Balnanon, Inverpeffers
and TuUochs of Bonniton, Crawmounts and Durhams of
Fullerton (the latter being of the Durhams of Grange),
Wisharts of Drum, Lyells, Guthries, and Mills of
Dysart ; Mills of Bonniton, and Hays (Dupplin) ;
Stratons, MiUs, and Stirling of Old Montrose. The
Abthen seems to have continued mainly in the hands of
the ecclesiastics. There is evidence, indeed, that the
FuUertons more than once obtained some interest in it,
but the right was held of 'tholance' of the bishop.
After the Reformation, Bishop Alexander Campbell
made over the whole lands of Maryton to his kinsman
and chief, the Earl of Argyll. They were transferred
eventually to the owner of Old Montrose, and have since
continued to be a portion of that estate. By-and-by
portions of Ananie and Fullerton were added, the re-
mainder being annexed to what became the barony of
Bonniton. 'Towards the end of the 18th century the
two estates were purchased by Sir David Carnegie, and
have been included since in the fertile domain of the
lords of Einnaird.
The ecclesiastical history of the parish is interest-
ing. The church of Dyserth, belonging to the priory
of Rostinoth, is mentioned in early charters, but there
is no trace of where it stood. Until 1649 the in-
habitants communicated at the kirk of Brechin ' quilk
was thair paroche kirk.' At their own request they
were transferred by Act of Assembly to the kirk of
Maryton.
The kirk of Marinton was a vicarage of the cathedral
of Brechin, and it was gifted (1178-98) to the abbey of
Arbroath. It was dedicated to the Virgin, and named
St Mary's of Old Montrose. There is a St Mary's Well
in the parish, but on the western border. "The first
Protestant minister was Richard Melville, who was also
laird of Baldovie. His father, younger son of Melville
of Dysart and laird of Baldovie, had fallen at Pinkie,