Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TOUR
the extreme S, 3 miles N of Lumphanan station. Two
proprietors hold each an annual value of more, 2 of
less, than £500. Tough is in the presbytery of Alford
and the synod of Aberdeen ; the living is worth
£190. The parish church, 1J mile S by W of
Whitehouse station, was built in 1838, and contains
550 sittings. A new public school, opened on 2 April
1884, with accommodation for 120 children, had
(1885) an average attendance of 75, and a grant of
£ „ . Valuation (1860) £3233, (1885) £5564, plus
£511 for railway. Pop. (1801) 629, (1831) 828, (1861)
874, (1871) 760, (1881) 681. — Ord. Sur., sh. 76,
1874.
Tour, a mansion in Kilmaurs parish, Ayrshire, 2
miles NNW of Kilmarnock.
Toward Point, a headland in Dunoon parish, Argyll-
shire, 6| miles SSW of Dunoon town, 3| W by S of
Wemyss Bay, and 3g NE of Eothesay. Its lighthouse,
standing 56 j feet above high-water, was completed in
1812, and since 1873 has shown a fixed light, flashing
every 10 seconds. Near it is a steamboat pier. (See
Castle-Toyvard and Dunoon.) — Ord. Sur., sh. 29,
1873.
Towerhill House, a mansion in Kilmaurs parish, Ayr-
shire, 2J miles NW of Kilmarnock.
Tower-Lindsay. See Crawford.
Towie, a parish of Aberdeenshire, whose church stands
on the right bank of the Don, 10 miles SSW of Rhynie,
and 12J WSW of Alford (only 8g as the crow flies). On
the opposite side of the river are Inverkindie post office
(under Aberdeen) and the Glenkindie Arms Inn (1821),
where fairs are held on 27 May and 23 November.
The parish is bounded N and NE by Kildrummy, E by
Leochel-Cushnie, S by Logie - Coldstone and Tarland-
Migvie (detached), and TV by Logie-Coldstone and de-
tached portions of Tarland-Migvie and Strathdon. Its
utmost length, from E to W, is 5J miles ; its breadth, from
N to S, varies between 3J and 5§ miles ; and its area is
12,214J acres, of which 740 belong to a detached strip
(3| miles x J mile), extending north-north-westward from
Chapelhaugh, at the NW corner of the main part of
the parish. The Don winds 6 J miles east -north-
eastward, mainly across the interior, but partly along
the Kildrummy and Strathdon boundaries ; and here
is joined by four or five little burns. Along it the
surface declines to 600 feet above the sea, and chief
elevations on its left or northern side are Glaschuil
or Grey Hill (1177 feet), Garlet Hill (1596), and
*Peat Hill (1857); on its right or southern side, *Scar
Hill (1723), *Broom Hill (1883), and Gallows Hill
(1425), where asterisks mark those summits that cul-
minate on the confines of the parish. The hills are
undulating, smooth, and heathy ; and the arable lands
are partly haugh, partly the steep declivities of the hills.
The soil near the river is very fertile, and produces com-
paratively early crops. The parish is fairly well wooded,
especially to the N of the Don, but in the S there is
hardly a tree. Granite and sandstone are scarce or
difficult of access ; a coarse hard limestone is found in
one or two places ; and serpentine occurs on one farm.
The ancient name of the parish was Kilbartlut ('the
church or cell of Bartha ') ; and its later name, written
in full, was Towie-Kinbattoch ( ' the north-lying land at
the head of the fair hill'). There are sites or remains
of five pre-Eeformation chapels ; artificial mounds, seem-
ingly parts of ancient fortifications, at Kinbattoch and
Fichlie ; large tumuli at Gray hill, one of which, being
opened a few years ago, was found to contain charred
bones and an arrow head ; and a sculptured stone in
the churchyard. But the most conspicuous antiquity
is the ruin of the Castle of Towie, anciently the
fortified seat of a branch of the sept of Forbes. A
square tower is almost all of it that now remains.
The castle is famous as the scene of a terrible
tragedy, enacted in the November of 1571. Alexander
Forbes was absent at the time ; but his lady, Margaret
Campbell, being summoned to surrender by a party of
soldiers, despatched by Sir Adam Gordon of Auchin-
doun, fired upon their leader, one Captain Kerr, and
448
TRANENT
wounded him in the knee. In revenge, the castle was-
straightwaj- fired, when she and her family and domestics,
amounting to twenty-seven persons, perished in the
flames.* Three proprietors hold each an annual value
of more, and two of less, than £500. Towie is in the
presbytery of Alford and the synod of Aberdeen ; the
living is worth £198. The parish church, built in 1803,
is a plain structure. There is also a Free church ; and
a public school, with accommodation for 110 children,
had (1884) an average attendance of 84, and a grant
of £80, 19s. 7d. Valuation (1860) £3686, (1885)
£5259, 8s. 4d. Pop. (1801) 528, (1831) 728, (1861)
839, (1871) 798, (1881) 759.— CM. Sur., shs. 76, 75,
1874-76.
Towie-Barclay, an old castle in the SE corner of
Turriff parish, Aberdeenshire, near Auchterless station,
and 4J miles SSE of the town of Turriff. Supposed to
have been built in 1593, it remained pretty perfect till
1792, was re-roofed in 1874, and retains a fine baronial
hall with vaulted ceiling. From the beginning of the
12th century till 1733, the estate belonged to the
Barclays, one of whose line was the celebrated Russian
general, Prince Michael Barclay de Tolly (1759-1818).
In 1792 it was sold to the governors of Gordon's
Hospital, Aberdeen, for £21,000.— Ord. Sur., sh. 86,
1876. See vol. iv. of Billings' Baronial Antiquities
(1852).
Townend House, a mansion in Symington parish,
Ayrshire, 4 miles E by N of Troon.
Townhead, a place in Crossmichael parish, Kirkcud-
brightshire, 2 miles NW of Castle-Douglas, under which
it has a post office.
Townhill, a collier village in Dunfermline parish,
Fife, 1A mile NNE of the town. It has a post and
telegraph office under Dunfermline, a public school
(1876), and a chapel of ease (1878). Pop. (1871) 855,
(1881) 1862.— Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
Town-Yetholm. See Yetholm.
Traithrow. See Cummerteees.
Tranent, a town and a parish of NW Haddington-
shire. The town is 1J mile SE of Prestonpans station,
7i miles W by S of Haddington, 3J E of Musselburgh,
6| NE of Dalkeith, and 9 J E of Edinburgh. It stands,
200 to 312 feet above sea-level, on a ridge of rising-
ground ; and its ancient name, Travernant, means ' the
hamlet on the vale ' — from the Cymric tref, ' a home-
stead or village,' and riant, ' a valley. ' Its main street
extends from E to W along the public road, and is fully
\ mile long. The buildings along this street consist
partly of villas and partly of shops, and have a neat
and elegant appearance. There are other streets branch-
ing off, but the buildings in these are not equal to those
in the main street. It is fair, however, to add that all
over the town there is much improvement as compared
with what it was 30 or 40 years ago. Built, it is said,
by the Picts about the middle of the 11th century, and
demolished in 1797, the old parish church is now repre-
sented by only a small ruin, which the late Mr Cadell
converted into a mausoleum. This church about 1145
was confirmed by Thorald, the son of Swan, to the canons
of Holyroodhouse. The present plain building, with a
square tower, was opened in 1801, and has been lately
cleaned and redecorated. It contains a harmonium
(1882) and 912 sittings. The churchyard has been much
improved within the last few years, and commands a
view of the Firth of Forth, unsurpassed for beauty and
variety. Other places of worship are a Free church (1 843),
a U.P. church (1826 ; 637 sittings), and a Primitive
Methodist chapel (1870 ; 250 sittings). The Catholics,
who number 400, have neither chapel nor schools, but
a site has been bought, and a building fund is in pro-
* The erroneous date (1751), given for this event in the New
Statistical Account, has been blindly accepted by many subse-
quent writers. It is also curious that a wholly identical tragedy
is narrated of Corgarff Castle, in Strathdon parish, Aberdeen-
shire (under the different dates of 1551, 1571, and 15S1); of the
' House o' Rodes,' near Gordon village, in Berwickshire ; and of
Loudoun Castle, in Ayrshire. The fine ballad, Edom o' Gordon,
has often been published as a 'Border ballad.' Its Ayrshire
version is given in the New Statistical, vol. v., pp. 846, S47.