Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TOESONCE HOUSE
land on the W, and Luing on the E. The strait
between it and Luing oilers a communication across,
from ebb till half- tide, by a rocky bar not 100 yards
in breadth ; and is rendered so intricate and whirl-
ing by rocks and rocky islets, that the tide sweeps
it with great rapidity, and in a perfect dance of com-
plicated movement. The island is an irregular ellipsoid,
the longer axis extending NE and SW ; and it measures
3 miles by 1, having an area of 275 acres. Its surface
exhibits one smooth green hill, 200 feet high, and a
ridge of still lower elevation on the W, both descend-
ing in gentle slopes to the sea. The whole of its E
side, excepting a few trap rocks, and a little grey-
wacke, consists of the same clay-slate as that for
which Luing and Seil are celebrated. Pop. (1S71) 20,
(1881) 10.
Torsonce House, an ancient but renovated mansion
in Stow parish, Edinburghshire, near the left bank of
Gala Water, 7 furlongs S by W of Stow village.
Torthorwald, a village and a parish of SW Dumfries-
shire. The village stands on the face of a long broad
brae, 3J miles N of Racks station, and 4 ENE of
Dumfries, under which it has a post office.
The parish, containing also the villages of Hacks and
Collin, is bounded NW and N by Tinwald, E by
Lochmaben, SE by Mouswald, SW by Caerlaverock,
and W by Dumfries. Its utmost length, from N to S,
is 6^ miles ; its utmost breadth is 3§ miles ; and its
area is 6843J acres, of which 12 are water. Sluggish
Lochae Water flows 6J miles south-by-eastward along
all the boundary with Dumfries and Caerlaverock ; and
ditch-like Wath Burn traces all the Mouswald boundary,
until, at the southern extremity of the parish, it falls
into Lochar Water. All the parish to the S of Collin
village, with a strip about J mile broad along all the
upper part of the western border, is part of Lochae
Moss ; and at no part exceeds 57 feet above sea-level.
The rest of the surface is mainly the western face or west-
ward brae of the middle portion of the broad based range
of hill commencing in the N of Tinwald, and extending
southward to the S of Mouswald. This brae extends
across a base of from 2 to 2£ miles, to a maximum alti-
tude in Torthorwald of 803 feet close to the Lochmaben
boundary. It is finely diversified with hillock, terrace,
and waving hollow ; presents, as seen from Dumfries,
and from any other part of the Nitk's banks, a very
beautiful section of the eastern hill-screen of Lower
Nithsdale ; and commands, from its highest points, a
very brilliant view of the southern half of Dumfries-
shire, the eastern part of Galloway, the Solway Firth,
and part of Cumberland and the Irish Sea. Much of
the moss district has been reclaimed ; and all the brae,
excepting a small extent of pasture, is in tillage. The
predominant rocks are Silurian, and cannot be quarried.
The soil, on a bank contiguous to the E side of the
moss, is sandy ; on the lower and middle parts of the
brae is rich and fertile ; and on the higher grounds is
cold and moorish. Torthorwald Tower, in the southern
vicinity of Torthorwald village, is a curious ruin, with
x'ery thick walls, whose mortar is as hard as stone. It
is of unknown origin, but was inhabited by the Carlyles
and Kirkpatricks, as well as by a natural son of the
Eegent Morton, who, about 1590, was created Lord
Torthorwald by James VI. Vestiges of two ancient
Caledonian camps are on the brow of the brae, and
show two or three concentric trenches. The Marquess
of Queensberry's estate in both Torthorwald and Tin-
wald was purchased in 1884 by James Jardine, Esq. of
Dryfeholm ; and Sir Alexander Davidson Grierson of
Lag, Bart., is another large proprietor; whilst a third
holds an annual value of between £300 and £400. Tor-
thorwald is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries ;
the living is worth £290. The parish church was built,
partly in 1730, chiefly in 1782, and was enlarged in 1791
and 1809. Restored and reseated in 1877, it contains
500 sittings. Two public schools, Collin and Torthor-
wald, each with accommodation for 100 children, had
(1S84) an average attendance of 82 and 52, and grants,
of £71, lis. and £53, 13s. Valuation (1860) £5764
TOUGH
15s. 9d., (1885) £7739, 7s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 703, (1841)
1346, (1861) 1254, (1871) 1098, (1881) 990.— Ord. Sur.,
sh. 10, 1S64.
Torwood, a village in Dunipace parish, Stirlingshire,
2J miles NNW of Larbert station. To the S are the
ruins of Torwood Castle, supposed to have been built by
one of the Baillies about the middle of the 16th century,
and surrounded by the Torwood, a remnant of the
ancient Caledonian Forest. The true ' Wallace Oak '
here is gone for ever, though a shoot of it was thriving
so late as 1835. The so-called 'Wallace Oak' in the
Carbrook policies cannot be more than 300 years old ;
but an old thorn near it was very possibly the identical
tree beneath which Donald Cargill excommunicated
Charles II., Sept. 1680 (Trans. Highl. and Ag. Sots.,
1881, p. 204).— Ord. Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Torwoodlee, a handsome and commodious mansion of
1784, in the Selkirkshire portion of Stow parish, near
the right bank of Gala Water, 2 miles NW of Galashiels.
To the W are the ruins of its predecessor, a large and
well-built tower. Held by his ancestors since 1509,
Torwoodlee now belongs to James Thomas Pringle, Esq.
(b. 1832 ; sue. 1859), who owns 7901 acres in Selkirk
and Roxburgh shires, valued at £4080 per annum. —
Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
Toskerton. See Stoneykirk.
Touchadam. See Polmaise.
Touch House, a mansion in St Ninians parish,
Stirlingshire, near the right bank of Touch Burn, 3
miles W by S of Stirling. Having come to his grand-
mother in 1835, the estate now belongs to Sir Alan-
Henry Seton-Steuart of Allanton, fourth Bart, since
1815 (b. 1856 ; sue. 1884), who is hereditary armour-
bearer and squire of the royal body in Scotland. He
holds 4801 acres in Stirling and 2673 in Lanark shires,
valued at £2676 and £4076 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh.
39, 1869.
Tough, a parish in Alford district, Aberdeenshire, at
its northern boundary containing Whitehouse station.
2| miles ESE of Alford terminus, aud 26J WNW oi'
Aberdeen, under which it has a post and railway tele-
graph office. It is bounded N by Keig, E by Mony-
musk, SE by Cluny and by Kincardine O'Neil, S by
Lumphanan, W by Leochel-Cushnie, and NW by Alford.
Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 6J miles ; its
utmost breadth is 3| miles ; and its area is 7112$ acres,
of which 4 are water. The drainage is carried north-
ward towards the Don ; and at Whitehouse station the
surface declines to 450 feet above sea-level, thence rising
to 1306 feet at Green Hill on the Monymusk boundary,
and 1621 at Coeeennie or Benaquhallie on the Kincar-
dine O'Neil boundary. Red and blue granites and gneiss
are the predominant rocks ; and hard claystone porphyry
and magnesian limestone also occur. The soil, in most
places light, in several shallow and stony, is here and
there mixed with moss, but very deep and fertile. Less
than one-half of the entire area is in tillage ; some 1100
acres are under wood ; and the rest of the land is either
pastoral or waste. Antiquities are two or three cairns,
several stone circles, an assemblage of standing-stones
and small tumuli, and a standing-stone 12£ feet high
and 9J in circumference, traditionally alleged to mark
the grave of Lulach or Luath, the son of Lady Macbeth.
The plain farmhouse of Tillyfour, 3£ miles SSW of
Whitehouse station, was the home of the 'king of
Graziers,' William M'Combie, Esq. (1805-80), whose
matchless herd of polled Angus or Aberdeen cattle
procured him the honour of a visit from the Queen in
1866, and who sat for West Aberdeenshire in the Liberal
interest from 1S68 till 1876, being the first tenant-
farmer returned in Scotland. In Feb. 1883 the Tilly-
four estate, of 1900 acres (1195 arable, 400 hill-pasture,
and 305 wood), was sold for £23,000 to Henry Begg,
Esq. of Lochnagar Distillery. Tonley House, a large
old mansion, i mile NNW of the church, is the seat of
George Moir -Byres, Esq. (b. 1813 ; sue. 1881), who
holds 4623 acres in the shire, valued at £3527 per
annum. Two more mansions are Whitehouse, standing
high, to the SE of the station ; and Tullochvenus, in
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