Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 5

mjLU SOUND OF
on the rugged shores of Mull, to which Scott alludes in
his Lord of the Isles. The chief are those of Aros,
DuAKT, and MoY. Other antiquities consist of barrows,
cairns, camps, small forts, grave-stones, and sculptured
stones ; for an account of whjch see a paper in the
Proceedings of the Scot. Soc. of Antiq., 1883-4. A lead-
ing event in the past history of Mull was the fierce sea-
battle between Angus of the Isles and the Earl of
Crawford and Huntly, which was fought in the
15th century, and has given name to Bloody Bay, a
little N of Tobermory.
The presbytery of Mull includes the quoad civilia
parishes of Ardnamurchan, Coll, Kilfinichen, Eilninian,
Morvern, Torosay, and Tyree, and the qzioad sacra
parishes of Acharacle, Hylipol, Zona, Kinlochspelvie,
Salen, Strontian, Tobermorj', and Ulva. Pop. (1871)
15,233, (1881)13,933, of whom 1225 were communicants
of the Church of Scotland in 1878.— The Free Church
also has a presbytery of Mull, whose nine churches had
1775 members and adherents in 1883.
Mull, Sound of, the boomerang-shaped belt of sea
separating the island of Mull from the Scottish main-
land, is identical in the N with the lower part of Loch
Sunart, and in the S with the upper part of the Firth
of Lorn. Sometimes it is regarded as stretching be-
tween, but excluding these. In this more limited sense,
the sound stretches from the headlands of Bloody Bay
on the NW, to Duart Point on the SE of Mull, a
distance of 19 miles. Along its length it is flanked
only by Morven on the mainland side ; varies from 11
furlongs to 3J miles in breadth ; and has only 5 or 6
inconsiderable inlets, of which Loch Aline in Morven,
and the Bays of Salen and Tobermory in Mull, are the
chief. In the larger signification the name is extended
to include the channel stretching beyond Duart Point
to the headlands of Loch Buy and the northern point
of Seil island — in all, a total length of 36 miles. This
has occasionally a breadth of 8 to 10 miles, and
embraces Kerrera and the smaller islands ; and is
Hanked on the S by Mid and Nether Lorn. The
Sound of Mull is deep, but navigation is difficult from
the meeting of the tides and the fierce gusts which
sweep down from the high hills on either side. The
scenery is very beautiful and varied ; and along its
shores rise the picturesque and often striking ruins of
old Highland towers and keeps, such as Duart,
Aetoknish, and Akos. The opening and much of the
scene of Sir Walter Scott's Lord of the Isles is laid on
the Sound of Mull. He refers to the difficulty of navi-
gation in the passage :
* With eve the ebbinjj currents boiled
More fierce from strait and lake,
And midwaj^ through the channel met
Conflicting; tides that foam and fret.
And high their ming^led billows jet.
As spears that, in the battle set,
Spring upward as they break.'
Mulroy. See Kilmonivaig.
Munadhliath. See Monadhliath.
Munches, a handsome modern mansion of granite,
with finely-wooded grounds, in Buittle parish, Kirkcud-
brightshire, near the right bank of Urr Water, 2 miles
S of Dalbeattie. Its owner, Wellwood Herries Maxwell,
Esq. (b. 1817 ; sue. 1858), from 1868 to 1874 was Liberal
M.P. for the Stewartry, in which he holds 4597 acres,
valued at £5149 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.
Muncraig Hill. See Bokgue.
Munlochy, a village in Knockbain parish, Eoss-shire,
4 mile W of the head of Munlochy Bay, 5g miles WSW
of Fortrose, and 6| N by W of Inverness, with which
it communicates daily by the mail gig. It has a post
office under Inverness, with money order, savings' bank,
and telegraph departments, a public school, a reading-
room and library, yearly games of the Black Isle Athletic
Association, a jetty, and a considerable export trade in
wood — props, staves, and sleepers. Munlochy Bay, an
inlet of the Moray Firth, extends 2| miles westward ;
has a maximum width of J mile ; and is an excellent
fishing station. — Ord. Sur., shs. 83, 84, 1881-76.
SEUBKOES
Murdoch Isle. See Aed, Loch.
Murdostoun Castle, a mansion in Shotts parish,
Lanarkshire, near the right bank of South Calder Water,
2 miles N of Newmains. Its owner, Robert King Stewart,
Esq. (b. 1853 ; sue. 1866), holds 1760 acres in the shire,
valued at £2833 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Murie House, a mansion in Errol parish, Perthshire,
li^ mile WSW of Errol village. The estate was sold in
December 1872 for £78,500, and now belongs to John
Brown Brown-Morison, Esq. of Finderlie and West
Errol (b. 1840; sue. 1866), who holds 1918 acres in
Perthshire and 164 in Kinross-shire, valued at £3741
and £426 per annum. Law Knoll, an artificial mound
within the park, measures 120 feet in diameter at the
base, 30 in diameter at the top, and 20 in vertical
height ; stands at the head of an old avenue of lofty
oaks ; and seems to have once been a seat of feudal
courts of justice. — Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Murieston House, a mansion in Midcalder parish,
Edinburghshire, on the left bank of Murieston Water, 2
miles SSW of Midcalder village. An old castellated
edifice, it had faUeu into decay, when it was partially
rebuilt about 1836. Murieston Water, issuing from
CoBiNSHAW Reservoir, runs 7J miles north-north-east-
ward through West and Mid Calder parishes ; and falls
into Linnhouse Water in the vicinity of Midcalder vil-
lage, near the Linnhouse's influx to the Almond. — Ord.
Sur., sh. 32, 1857.
Murkle Bay, a creek (4 x 2J furl. ) on the S side of
DuNNET Bay, N Caithness, at the mutual border of
Thurso and Olrig parishes, 4 miles ENE of Thurso
town. It was formerly noted for its fisheries and its
manufacture of kelp, and is capable of being rendered a
safe retreat to vessels in distress, from tempests in the
Pentland Firth. Murkle estate, lying around the bay,
belongs to Sir Robert C. Sinclair, Bart, of Stevenston.
The traditional scene of a victory over the Danes, it is
said to have originally been called Morthill or 'the field
of death.'— Orrf. Sur., sh. 116, 1878.
Murlaggan, a village in Kilmonivaig parish, Inver-
ness-shire, near the right bank of the Spean, 16 miles
ENE of Fort William.
Murlingden, a mansion in Brechin parish, Forfarshire,
IJ mile NiSrW of the town.
Murray, Wigtownshire. See Port-Mueeay.
Murrayfield, a mansion in St Mungo parish, Dum-
friesshire, near the right bank of the Water of Milk, IJ
mile E by S of Lockerbie.
Murrayshall, a mansion in a detached section of
KiNXOULL parish, Perthshire, 3 miles NE of Perth.
Built by Sir Andrew Murray in 1664, and restored in
1864, it is the seat of Henry Stewart Murray-Graham,
Esq. (b. 1848 ; sue. 1881), who holds 1913 acres in the
shire, valued at £2679 per annum. Murrayshall Hill
(918 feet), a prominent summit of the Sidlaws, is
crowned by an obelisk erected in 1850 to the memory of
Lord Lynedooh. — Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.
Murrayshall, an estate, with a mansion, in St Ninians
parish, Stirlingshire, 2| miles SW of Stirling. Forming
part of the Polmaise property, it includes the western
portion of the battlefield of Bannockburn ; contains an
interesting series of superpositions of rock, from columnar
trap near the surface down to bituminous shale at a depth
of 157 feet ; and has a limestone quarry. — Ord. Sur., sh.
39, 1869.
Murrajrthwaite, a mansion in Cummertrees parish,
Dumfriessliire, 5j miles WSW of Ecclefechan. Its
owner, William Murray, Esq. (b. 1865 ; sue. 1872),
holds 1356 acres in the shire, valued at £1625 per
annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Murrin. See Inchmuekin.
Murroch Bum, a rivulet of Dumbarton parish, Dum-
bartonshire, rising on Knockshanoch, adjacent to Dum-
barton Muir, at an altitude of 870 feet above sea-level,
and running 4J miles south-westward, along a glen
containing abundant supplies of limestone, till it falls
into the river Leven, 9 furlongs N of Dumbarton town.
—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Murroes, a parish of S Forfarshire, containing two