Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TALLA WATER
Tain and of the opposite coast, that, in the words of
the New Statistical Account, 'although the firth now
measures 3J miles across, there is an (improbable)
tradition, that it was at one time possible to effect a
passage over it at low water upon foot, by means of a
plank thrown across the channel where narrowed to a
few feet ' by promontories which have been worn into
the long sunken bank of the Geyzen-Briggs. Meikle
Ferry, a narrow promontory, extending 1§ mile north-
westward to within 5 furlongs of the opposite shore, is
at the western extremity, and 4 miles distant from
Tain. A small trouting stream, dignified with the
name of the river Tain or Aldie Water, comes in from
the SW, and makes a circuit round the burgh to
the Firth. Springs of excellent water are numerous.
Loch Eye (If mile x 4$ furl. ; 51 feet) lies on the Fearn
boundary ; and five smaller lagoons are scattered over
the broad sandy golf-links of Morrich More, which skirt
all the eastern seaboard. The surface of the parish con-
sists of three well-defined districts — a belt of low flat
plain along the coast, about 4 mile in mean breadth,
and partly disposed in public links or downs ; a broad
sheet of land, of middle character between a terrace and
a hanging plain, receding from a bank or escarpment of
50 feet above the plain, and displaying rich embellish-
ments of wood and culture ; and a ridge or series of
gentle uplands along the exterior frontier, sending up
their loftiest summit in the Hill of Tain to an altitude
of 931 feet above sea-level. The soil is variously deep
and light, fertile and barren ; and the hills are partly
heathy, partly clad with fir timber. The formation
of the lowest grounds indicates an alternation of con-
quests and abandonments by the sea ; that of the central
district shows a prevalence of red clay with numerous
boulders of granitic gneiss ; and that of the hills is
entirely sandstone — apparently the Old Red, though
principally of whitish colour. The sandstone has been
largely quarried in the Hill of Tain. Tarlogie House,
2 miles NW of Tain, was built in 1825 at a cost of
£1750. Its owner, Major Hugh Law Rose (b. 1S37 ;
sue. 1867), is the largest proprietor in the parish with
an annual rental of nearly £2000. Mr Maeleod of
Cadboll (residing at Invergordon Castle) has a rental
of £1236 in the parish, and 2 lesser proprietors hold
each an annual value of between £400 and £500, 11 of
between £100 and £300. Tain is the seat of a presby-
tery in the synod of Ross ; the living is worth £431.
Two public schools, Inver and Tain, with respective
accommodation for 70 and 323 children, had (18S5)
an average attendance of 59 and 208, and grants of
£52, 6s. and £188, 17s. Valuation (1860) £7641,
(1885) £6943, 12s. 10d., plus £1509 for railway. Pop.
(1801) 2277, (1831) 3078, (1861) 3294, (1871) 3221,
(1881) 3009, of whom 1016 were Gaelic-speaking.—
Ord. Sw., sh. 94, 1878.
The presbytery of Tain comprises the quoad cimlia
parishes of Edderton, Fearn, Kilmuir-Easter, Kincardine,
Logie-Easter, Nigg, Rosskeen, Tain, and Tarbat, and
the quoad sacra parish of Croick. The Free Church
also has a presbytery of Tain, with churches at Ed-
derton, Fearn, Invergordon, Kilmuir-Easter, Kin-
cardine, Logie-Easter, Nigg, Rosskeen, Tain, and
Tarbat, and a preaching station at Croick. See the
History tf Tain by the Rev. William Taylor, M.A.
(Tain, 1SS2).
Talla Water, a troutful rivulet of Tweedsmuir parish,
Peeblesshire, rising at an altitude of 2300 feet at a point
£ mile NW of Loch Skene, and running 6J miles north-
westward, till, after a descent of 1500 feet, it falls into
the Tweed near Tweedsmuir church. See Gameshope
Bukn. —Ord. Sur., sh. 16, 1864.
Tamsford or Thomsford, a hamlet in Largo parish,
Fife, 2 miles NW of Lower Largo.
Tanera. See Summer Isles.
Tankerness Hall, a mansion in St Andrews parish,
Orkney, on the northern shore of Deer Sound, 6 miles
ESE of Kirkwall.
Tannach, a village in Wick parish, Caithness, 4 miles
SW of Wick town.
TANNADICE
Tannachy, an estate, with a mansion, in Rathven
parish, Banffshire, 1 mile SSW of Port-Gordon.
Tannadice, a village and a parish of NW central
Forfarshire. The village stands, 208 feet above sea-
level, on the left bank of the river South Esk, 8£ miles
WSW of Brechin and 7 N by E of Forfar, under which
it has a post office.
The parish is bounded N by Letlmot, E by Fearn and
Careston, SE by Aberlemuo, S by Oathlaw, SW by
Kirriemuir, and W and NW by Cortachy. Its utmost
length, from N to S, is 8§ miles ; its breadth increases
southward from 2J to 8 miles ; and its area is 21,452f
acres, of which 124J are water. Trusty Burn, rising at
an altitude of 2160 feet in the NW corner of the parish,
and running 3 miles south-south-eastward, unites, at 890
feet above sea-level, with another rivulet to form Noran
Water, which itself flows 4J miles south-south-east-
ward through the interior and then 4J miles east-south-
eastward along the Fearn boundary, until it passes off
from Tannadice at a point 1 J mile above its influx to the
South Esk. That river has here an east-south-easterly
course of 11 miles, viz., 6 J miles along the western and
south-western border, next 3 J miles through the southern
interior, then 5 furlongs along the Oathlaw boundary at
Tannadice House, and lastly, a little lower down, f mile
along the same boundary at Marcus Lodge. The East
Burn of Moye runs 5 miles south-south-westward along
the north-western border to the South Esk, to which
or to Noran AVater flow several rivulets that rise in the
interior. In the SE the surface declines to 140 feet
above sea-level ; and thence it rises to 415 feet at Meikle
Coul, 889 near Newmill of Inshewan, 1611 at St Arnold's
Seat, 1682 at Pinderachy on the Fearn boundary, and
2383 at the Hill of Glansie on the Lethnot boundary.
The southern district is part of the rich and beautiful
territory of Strathmore, but is more undulated and
otherwise diversified than many other parts of the
strath. The central and northern districts rise in hilly
and undulating ridges to the lower acclivities of the
Grampians ; and St Arnold's Seat, a conspicuous hill in
the van of the range, commands a gorgeous view of all
Angus and Fife and most of the Lothians, away to the
Pentlands and the Lammermuirs. The uplands are to a
large extent heathy and almost wholly pastoral ; and
they maintain several hundreds of sheep. Only a few
cattle are bred, a large number being bought in a fed
condition every year. Except for a trap dyke extending
across the entire breadth of the parish, Old Red Sand-
stone is everywhere the predominant rock. Of a coarse
grain and a reddish hue, it is quarried chiefly for build-
ing fences. The soil is partly a fertile black loam,
partly thin and of moorish texture. AVithin the last
thirty-five years great improvements have been carried
out in the way of draining, fencing, and building,
especially on the Tannadice estate, which was purchased
from Mrs Balfour Ogilvy in 1870 by AVilliani Neish,
Esq. The mansion, Tannadice House, 7 furlongs ESE
of the village, was built about 1805. Other mansions,
noticed separately, are Downie Park, Glenosil, and.
Inshewan ; and there are 14 estates, but only 12
proprietors. On the N side of the Esk, near Shiel-
hill Bridge, anciently stood Quiech Castle, a seat of
the Earls of Buchan. The site, now without a vestige
of the castle, and occupied by a plain cottage, is a pre-
cipitous rock, looking sheer down, through deep and
yawning chasms, upon a rush and turbulence of water,
and almost isolated and rendered nearly inaccessible by
the river. In the vicinity of Achlouchrie is the site of
another ancient castle, an eminence which still bears the
name of Castle Hill, and overhangs a deep gorge of the
river, having round its base a semicircular fosse 12 feet
deep and 30 wide. Three conical 'laws,' or ancient
sepulchral tumuli, were levelled in the early part of the
present century. Tannadice is in the presbytery of
Forfar and the synod of Angus and Mearns ; the living
is worth £214. The parish church, at the village, is a
Gothic edifice of 1846, containing 656 sittings. A Free
church, Memus, stands 3| miles A\ 7 by N of the village
and 5\ NE of Kirriemuir. Three public schools— Burn-
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