Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TINWALD
loftiest of the ' Southern Heights of the Central Low-
lands,' and attains an altitude of 1655 feet above the
Clyde at its base, and 2335 feet above the sea. Its
base is 6J miles in length from E to W, and 2| in
breadth from N to S ; and it rises at first slowly, after-
-wards more rapidly, to a massive domical summit.
It figures very conspicuously throughout a great extent
of landscape, and commands a view along the Clyde to
the Grampians and Goatfell, together with side views
to the Bass, to Cumberland, and to Ireland ; it consists
of eruptive rocks overcapping Silurian and Devonian
rocks ; on its SE skirt is the fragment of the ancient
castle of Fatlips ; and its summit is crowned by a
huge cairn of probably the ancient Caledonian times.
Long a beacon post and a place of Beltane fires, it took
-thence its name of Tinto, signifying the ' hill of fire ; '
it is believed to have been also a scene of ancient Cale-
donian heathen worship ; and, as to either its grand
appearance, its antiquarian associations, or its fancied
connection with popular myths, it figures in many old-
world rhymes, one of which ( ' On Tintock tap there is
a mist,' etc.) is finely moralised in Dr John Brown's
.Jeems the Doorkeeper. — Ord. Sur., sh. 23, 1865.
Tinwald, a Dumfriesshire parish on the mutual border
of Nithsdale and Annandale. It comprehends the
ancient parishes of Tinwald and Trailflat, united in
1650 ; and contains the small post-office village of
Amisfield, with a station on the Caledonian railway,
4 miles NNE of the post-town, Dumfries. It is
bounded NE by Eirkmichael, E by Lochmaben, S by
Torthorwald, SW by Dumfries, and W and NW by Eirk-
mahoe. Its utmost length, from N by W to S by E, is
5g miles ; its utmost breadth is 4J miles ; and its area
is 10,391^ acres, of which 109 are water. The Water
of Ae flows 5 miles east-south-eastward along or close
to all the Eirkmichael boundary ; Lochae Water or
Park Burn, its head-stream, runs 6J miles south-south-
eastward along all the boundary with Eirkmahoe and
Dumfries ; and several burns rise in the interior, and
run to either the Ae or the Lochar. Along the Water
of Ae the surface declines to less than 200, along Lochar
Water to less than 100, feet above sea-level. The tract
adjacent to the latter stream appears to have formed
part of an estuary in times subsequent to the human
occupation of the surrounding country ; comprises a
belt about 1 mile long and J mile broad, reclaimed from
moss into remarkably fine meadow ; and includes a
sandy ridge of some 35 acres, called Tinwald Isle, once
surrounded with such depth of estuarial water as to have
served the purpose of a commodious harbour. About
three-fourths of the entire area are occupied by hilly
heights, which, rising slowly from the low flat grounds,
have diversified shoulders and an undulating tabular
summit, are either ploughed or verdant over nearly all
their surface, and attain a maximum altitude of 818
feet above sea-level at High Auchnane. They com-
mand brilliant views over all the lower basin of the
Nith from Queensberry to Criffel, and across the Solway
Firth to Skiddaw ; and they pass, at the southern
boundary, into the continuous but lower heights of
Torthorwald and Mouswald. A lake, called Murder
Loch, was once of considerable size and great depth, but
has been much reduced by draining, and now is nowhere
more than 18 feet deep. The predominant rocks are
greywacke and greywacke slate. The soil, to some
extent, is either reclaimed moss, sandy gravel, or stiff
moorish clay ; but is mainly a loamy or friable clay,
much mixed in places with small stones. Woods cover
■a considerable area ; about 2150 acres are meadow,
pasture, or waste ; and the rest of the parish is in
tillage. Tinwald House, on the western skirt of the
hills, lg mile SE of Amisfield village, was once a seat of
the Marquis of Queensberry, but is now a farm house ;
and the Queensberry estate in Tinwald and Torthorwald
was sold in 1884 to James Jardine, Esq. of Dryfeholm.
Mansions, noticed separately, are Amisfield House and
Glenae ; and the principal antiquities are Amisfield
Castle, adjoining Amisfield House, vestiges of four
ancient forts at Amisfield, Shielhill, High Auchnane,
442
TOLLA, LOCH
and Barrshell Hill, and traces of a Roman road by Trail-
flat towards Burnswark. William Paterson (1655-1719),
the projector of the Darien colony and the Bank of
England, was born at Skipmire farm, as also was his
grand-nephew, Dr James Mounsay, first physician for
many years to the Empress of Russia. Five proprietors
hold each an annual value of more, and 5 of less, than
£500. Tinwald is in the presbytery and synod of Dum-
fries ; the living is worth £228. The parish church
was built in 1763, and contains 400 sittings. Two
public schools, Amisfield and Shieldhill, with respective
accommodation for 146 and 49 children, had (1884) an
average attendance of 91 and 57, and grants of £71,
10s. and £53, 13s. Valuation (I860) £7795, (1885)
£11,190. Pop. (1801) 980, (1831) 1220, (1861) 1079,
(1871) 993, (1881) 861.— Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Tippermuir. See Tibbermoee.
Tiree. See Tye.ee.
Tirry. See Laieg.
Tobermory, a seaport village in the N of Mull island,
Argyllshire, 28 miles WNW of Oban, and 2| W by S of
the nearest point of the Morvern mainland. It stands
at the head of a sheltered bay, on the SW side, and towards
the north-western entrance of the Sound of Mull ; and
it was built in 17S8, at the same time as Ullapool, by
the British Fisheries Company, as the site of a fishing
establishment, and the rendezvous of the herring vessels.
Its name means 'Mary's Well,' and was taken from a
fountain on the spot, which was dedicated to the Virgin,
and had much celebrity in pre-Reformation days. The
chief part of the town is arranged in the form of a
crescent ; but an upper town, surmounting a cliff to the
rear, consists almost wholly of poor cottages or huts,
though a number of villas have Been recently built on
the outskirts. The harbour or bay is spacious, and
almost complete!}' landlocked ; and is sheltered across
the entrance, and at a brief distance, by Calve Island.
A new quay and pier, constructed by the proprietor,
F. W. Caldwell, Esq. of Mishnish, at a cost of over
£2000, was opened in 1864. As the only town in Mull,
and in a large circumjacent district, both Hebridean
and continental, Tobermory possesses much provincial
importance, and is the seat of some domestic trade.
As a seaport, it is the natural outlet of the surplus
produce of northern Mull ; and enjoys regular steam-
Boat communication with Oban, the Clyde, etc. It
has a post office under Oban, with money order, savings'
bank, and telegraph departments, branches of the
Clydesdale and North of Scotland Bank, 18 insurance
agencies, 3 hotels, a reading-room and library, a Scottish
Baronial courthouse (1862), a public school, a girls' in-
dustrial school, a poorhouse, etc. A new water supply
was introduced in 1882 at a cost of over £6000. Places
of worship are the quoad sacra parochial church
(1827-28), a Baptist chapel (1816), and a new Free
church (1878-79). The last is an Early English edi-
fice, built at a cost of over £3400, with a tower and
spire, and 500 sittings. The quoad sacra parish, which
was constituted ecclesiastically in 1827, and politi-
cally in 1845, is in the presbytery of Mull and the
synod of Argyll ; its minister's stipend is £120, with
manse and glebe. The town is a police burgh under the
General Police and Improvement Act (Scot.) of 1S62,
being governed by a chief magistrate and two bailies,
who act, with three others, as police commissioners.
Its prison was closed in 1884. The 'Florida,' one of the
ships of the Spanish Armada, in 1588 was blown up in
Tobermory Bay (see Inveearay), where the ill-fated Earl
of Argyll put in on 11 May 1685, and where the Queen
passed the night of 19 Aug. 1847 on board the royal yacht.
Pop. of village (1841) 1396, (1851) 1543, (1871) 1196,
(1881) 1200, of whom 1007 were Gaelic-speaking and 629
females; of?, s. parish (1871) 1344, (1S81) 1342. Houses
in town (1881) 180 inhabited, 10 vacant, 4 buaBing.
Toberonichy, a village on the E side of Luing island,
Argyllshire, 7J miles S of Easdale.
Todhills, a hamlet in Tealing parish, Forfarshire, 6
miles N by E of Dundee.
Tolla, Loch. See Glenoechy.