Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

MEIGLE HILL
estates, noticed separately, are Belmont (whose mansion,
Belmont Castle, was burned on 21 April 1884) and Drum-
KILBO ; and i proprietors hold each an annual value of
£500 and upwards. Including ecclesiastically the Kin-
loch portion of Coupar-Angus parish, Meigle is the seat
of a presbj'tery in the synod of Angus and Mearns ; the
living is wortli £314. At Ardler or Washington village,
a handsome Established mission church was erected in
1883 by Peter Carmichael, Esq. of Arthurston. Two
public schools, Meigle and Washington, with respective
accommodation for 200 and 110 children, had (1883)
an average attendance of 164 and 69, and gi'ants of
£170, 7s. and £60, 7s. 6d. Valuation (1865) £7953, 8s.
2d., (18S4) £10,111, 5s. 3d. Pop. of civil parish (1801)
946, (1831) 873, (1861) S35, (1871) 745, (1881) 696 ; of
ecclesiastical parish (1871) 1003, (1881) 966.— Orrf.
Sur., shs. 56, 48, 1870-68.
The presbytery of Meigle comprises the quoad civilia
parishes of Airlie, Alyth, Bendochy, Blairgowrie, Coupar-
Angus, Eassie and Nevay, Glenisla, Eettins, King-
oldrum, Lintrathen, Meigle, Newtyle, and Ruthven, and
the quoad sacra parishes of KUry, Persie, and St Mary's
(Blairgowrie). Pop. (1871) 18,564, (1881) 18,269, of
whom 4821 were commnnicauts of the Church of Scot-
land in 1878. — The Free Church also has a presbytery
of Meigle, with 2 churches in Blairgowrie, and 8 in
Airlie, Alyth, Coupar-Angus, Cray, Glenisla, Meigle,
Newtyle, and Rattray, which 10 churches together liad
2624 communicants in 1883.
Meigle Hill. See Galashiels.
Meikle Bin, a hill (1870 feet) in the SE of Fintry
parish, Stirlingshire, adjacent to the meeting-point
with Campsie and Kilsyth. A central summit of the
Lennox Hills, it occupies such a position as to unite the
Fintry, Campsie, and Kilsyth sections of these hills ; is
adjoined on the NE by Little Bin (1446 feet) ; sends off,
from its SW side, a torrent called Bin Burn, running
northward as a head-stream of the river Carron ; is seen
from a great distance in the direction of Lanark ; and
forms a conspicuous landmark from the Firth of Forth.
—Orel. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Meikle-Eamock. See Earnock, Meikle.
Meikle-Feny. See Dokkooh, Firth or.
MeiklefoUa. See Fyvie.
Meikle Greinord. See Greinord.
Meikle Law. See Loxgformacus.
Meikleour House, a mansion in Caputh parish, Perth-
shire, near the left bank of the river Tay, f mile above
the Isla's influx, 2 miles NNW of Cargill station, and
4 S by W of Blairgowrie. As greatly enlarged in 1869
from designs by the late David Bryce, R. S. A. , it is a
stately cMteau-like building, with extensive vineries
and finely wooded grounds, its great beech hedge (1746)
being 80 feet high and J mile long. It is the seat of the
Dowager Marchioness of Lansdowne (b. 1819 ; sue.
1867), who in 1874, as sixth descendant of the first
Lord Nairne (ere. 1681), was declared heir to the title
of Baroness Nairne. She holds 9070 acres in the shire,
valued at £8026 per annum. (See Auohtergaven. )
Meikleour village, 5 furlongs N by E of the mansion,
has a post office under Perth, an inn, a 'tron and
jougs,' a cross (1698), and fairs on the fourth Friday
of June, the third Friday of August, and the fourth
Friday of October.— Orrf. Sur., sh. 48, 1868. See
chap. xxxi. of Thos. Hunter's Woods and Estates of
Fcrtlishire (Perth, 1883).
Meikle Roe, an island of Delting parish, Shetland, in
St Magnus Bay, 27 miles NNW of Lerwick. Separated
from the mainland by Roe Sound (200 yards wide at
the narrowest), it has a somewhat circular outline, with
a diameter of Z\ miles. It contains eighteen little fresh-
water lochs, and rises in South Ward at the centre to
557 feet above sea-level Pop. (1851) 290, (1871) 216,
(1881) 230.
Meikle Warthill or Wartle, a vOlage in Rayne parish,
Aberdeenshire, 3J furlongs N by W of Wartle station.
Cattle and horse fairs are held here on the Thursdays
before 26 May and 22 Nov.— Ord Sur., sh. 86, 1876.
Meiklewood House, a handsome modem mansion in
MELDRUM
Gargnnnock parish, Stirlingshire, on the right bank of
the winding Forth, H mile NE of Gargunnock station.
—Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.
MeikUe, Loch, a lake in Urquhart parish, Inverness-
shire, 6 miles W of Druninadrochit. An expansion of
the river Enrick, it lies at an altitude of 372 feet ; has
an utmost length and breadth of 9 and 3 furlongs ; con-
tains salmon, trout, and big pike ; has, on its banks,
the mansions and pleasure-grounds of Lochletter and
Lakefield ; and is so flanked with picturesque mountains
as to form one of the most captivating scenes in the
Highlands.— Ord Sur., sh. 73, 1878.
Mein Water, an impetuous rivulet of Annandale,
Dumfriesshire, rising at an altitude of 780 feet on the
northern border of Middlebie parish, and running 8J
miles south-south-westward through that and Hoddam
parish, past the town of Ecclefechan, till, after a total
descent of 690 feet, it falls into the Annan at a point li
mile SSW of Ecclefechan. -Orti. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Melby, a mansion in Walls parish, Shetland, on the
W coast, nearSaudness, and 32 miles WNW of Lerwick.
Meldrum (Gael, meall-droma, ' hill of the ridge '), a
vOlage and a parish of Garioch district, central Aber-
deenshire. The village of Old Meldrum stands, 378 feet
above sea-level, near the southern boundary of the parish,
at the terminus of a branch line (1856) of the Great
Korth of Scotland railway, by rail being 5| miles NNE
of Inverurie Junction and 22 (by road 19) NNW of
Aberdeen. Erected into a burgh of barony in 1672, it
offers a very irregular aligument, but contains some
good houses, and has a post office, with money order,
savings' bank, and telegraph departments, branches of
the North of Scotland and the Aberdeen Town and
County Banks, 9 insurance agencies, 4 hotels, a gas
company, a water supply, a new public hall (1877),
horticultural, Bible, and clothing societies, a young
men's Christian association, a brewery, a distillery, and
cattle markets on every third Tuesday throughout the
year. The antique parish church of 1684 was enlarged
in 1767, and, as reseated in 1810, contains 674 sittings.
Other places of worship are a Free church, a U. P. church
(1822 ; 312 sittings), and St Matthew's Episcopal church
(1863), the last an Early Decorated edifice, with nave,
chancel, organ chamber, vestry, and spire. Pop. (1841)
1102, (1861) 1553, (1871) 1535, (1881) 1494, of whom
817 were females. Houses (1881) 309 inhabited, 14
vacant, 2 building.
The parish, called Bethelnie till 1684, is bounded NE
and E by Tarves, SE and S by Bourtie, W by Daviot
and Fyvie, and N by Fj'vie. Its utmost length, from
NW to SE, is 6§ miles ; its breadth vai'ies between i\
furlongs and Similes; and its area is SlllJ acres, of
which 9 are water. Streams there are none of any size,
but the drainage is carried mainly to the Ury and partly
to the Ythan. Along the southern boundary the sur-
face sinks to 270 feet above sea-level ; and thence it
rises in easy gradient to 564 feet near Chapelhouse, 567
near Bethelnie, and 804 at Core Hill in the NW corner
of the parish. The central district presents a diversity
of rich well-cultivated table-land, sloping southward,
eastward, and westward, and commanding from many
standjjoints extensive views, on the one hand over
Formartine and Buchan, on the other over Garioch to
Bennochie. Hornblende rock of a quality that admits
of its taking a polish like marble occurs in large detached
masses ; rock crystal is found on the Core Hill of
Bethelnie ; limestone occurs on the NE border, and was
for some time worlced ; and eruptive rocks are predomi-
nant. The soil of the northern district is mossy, heathy,
and nowhere deep or fertile ; but elsewhere, especially
on the south-westward and southward slopes, is a deep
loam. Nearly three-fourths of the entire area are in
tillage ; more than 500 acres are under wood ; and the
rest is either pastoral or waste. A small so-called
' Roman camp ' on Bethelnie farm has been erased by
the plough ; a graveyard, around the site of the ancient
parish church, St Nathalin's, is at Bethelnie ; and
another graveyard, with foundations of a small pre-
Eeformatiou chapel, is at Chapelhouse, J mile from
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