Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 6

TEESTA
promise, which they but slenderly realise, of disclosing
objects of worth to naturalists and the curious. They
are mere uninhabited pasture-grounds, carpeted with
rich grass, and attached to a farm in Coll. Caimbug-
more and Cairnbug-beg, two of the principal, are sepa-
rated by a very narrow strait, and are supposed to have
anciently formed the limits and the advanced post of
the Sudreys or Southern Hebrides. A fortalice.on the
former seems to have been constructed by the Macleans,
on the site of a more ancient strength which history
states to have been in the possession of the Norwegians
in 1249 ; and as part of it which remains is a wall with
embrasures skirting the edge of the cliff, it most pro-
bably was mounted with ordnance. Many books and
records rescued from Iona at the time of the suppression
of its monastery having been deposited in this fortalice,
were destroyed in the course of a siege which the place
sustained from a detachment of Cromwell's army. A
barrack on Cairnbug-beg is still tolerably entire. Fladda ,
a third of the principal isles, has a uniformly flat and
uninteresting aspect ; Linga, a fourth, rises from a low
plain by a succession of terraces into a hill 300 feet high ;
and Back, the fifth, is ' distinguished by a hill which
in some positions has the appearance of a hemisphere,
from which the whole island acquires the semblance of
an ancient shield with the umbo protuberant in the
centre.' The isles are composed throughout of amyg-
daloid and basalt — the latter of perpendicular fracture
but not columnar.
Tresta. See Fetlae.
Trinafour, a place, with an inn, in Blair Athole
parish, Perthshire, on the right bank of Erichdie
Water, 6 J miles W by S of Calvine station.
Trinity, a place on the Firth of Forth, 3 furlongs
W of Newhaven, i{ mile E of Granton, and 3 miles
W by N of the Edinburgh Post Office. Consisting
largely of modern villas, it has a post office, a rail-
way station, a pretty Episcopal church (1853), sea-
baths, and a chain pier, which is much resorted to by
swimmers.
Trinity-Gask, a Strathearn parish of Perthshire,
whose church stands 3§ miles S by E of Madderty
station, 7| ENE of Crieff, and 6 N by E of Auchter-
arder, under which there is a post office. It is bounded
N by Madderty, E by Findo-Gask, SE by Auchterarder,
SW by Blackford, W by Muthill, and NW by the Inner-
peffray section of Monzie. Its utmost length, from E
to W, is 5J miles ; its breadth varies between 5 furlongs
and 3J miles ; and its area is 5784J acres, of which 95J
are water. The Earn winds 6§ miles eastward — for the
most part along or near to the southern border ; and its
sub-affluent, Cowgask Burn, flows north-eastward along
part of the Madderty boundary. Sinking beside the Earn
to less than 50 feet above sea-level, the surface thence
rises northward, so as to form a gently sloping bank,
with a summit altitude of 306 feet at a point f mile E
by N of the church. This higher ground commands a
fine view of the beautiful strath and its hill-screens ; but
elsewhere the parish is nearly flat, and has but a slight
elevation above the river. The Earn, over all its con-
nection with the parish, flows in beautiful sinuosities
between pleasant banks, richly adorned in many places
with natural and planted wood. A spring called Trinity
"Well, a little to the S of the manse, had great celebrity
in pre-Eeformation times for performing cures, and for
affording protection against plague and witchcraft. A
mineral spring was discovered about 1850 in a marshy
place near Cowgask Burn. Its waters possess properties
similar in many respects to those of Airthrey at Bridge
of Allan. A trap dike runs from E to W, parallel with
the northern boundary, and occasionally rises into rugged
ridges. A soft red argillaceous rock forms a sort of chasm
or ravine for the Earn in the W, but, becoming mingled
with mica, passes into sandstone in the centre and E —
the Old Red which prevails throughout the strath. The
soil is very various. Nearly 1000 acres are under wood ;
and the rest of the area is mostly in tillage. The old
Roman road from the Stormont to Ardoch runs from E
to W through the N of the parish, near whose highest
TROON
point long stood the curiously-sculptured 'Borestone,'
54 feet high, which in 1884 was removed to Moncreiffe.
Gascon Hall and St Bean's church of Kinkell
are noticed separately, as also are the mansions of
Colquhalzie and Millearne. Four proprietors hold
each an annual value of £500 and upwards, and five of
between £100 and £500. Trinity-Gask is in the pres-
bytery of Auchterarder and the synod of Perth and
Stirling ; the living is worth £266. The present parish
comprises the ancient parishes of Kinkell and Easter
Gask, the latter of which had a second place of worship
at a spot still known as Chapelhill ; and the union of
the three churches into one parish is said to have given
rise to the name of Trinity-Gask. The local pronuncia-
tion, however, is 'Tarnty.' The parish church, built
in 1770, contains 195 sittings. Kinkell U.P. church,
containing 800 sittings, was built about 1790 ; and the
public school, with accommodation for 54 children, had
(1884) an average attendance of 38, and a grant of
£47, 2s. Valuation (1866) £6469, (1885) £6838, 8s. 7d.
Pop. (1801) 796, (1831) 620, (1861) 488, (1871) 415,
(1881) 396.— Ord. Sur., sh. 47, 1869.
Trochrie. See Dunkeld, Little.
Tromie. See Glenteomie.
Tronach Castle. See Rathven.
Trondra, an island of Tingwall parish, Shetland, J
mile S of Scalloway. It extends 1\ miles south-by-
westward, and has an utmost breadth of f mile. Pop.
(1871) 126, (1881) 133.
Trool, Loch, a beautiful lake of Minnigaff parish,
W Kirkcudbrightshire, 14 miles N of Newton-Stewart.
Lying 250 feet above sea-level, it extends If mile south-
westward, has a maximum width of If furlong, and
sends off the Water of Trool If mile west-south-west-
ward to the Water of Minnoch. — Ord. Sur., sh. 8,
1863.
Troon (Cymric trwyn, ' a nose or promontory '), a sea-
port town and watering-place in Dundonald parish,
Ayrshire, at the terminus of the Troon and Kilmarnock
branch (1812) of the Glasgow and South-Westeen
Railway, and § mile W of its Ayr and Irvine section
(1837). By road it is 6 miles S of Irvine, 6 N by W of
Ayr, and 31 SW by S of Glasgow, whilst by rail it is
9J miles SW of Kilmarnock, 73J NNE of Portpatrick,
and 8 S by E of Kilwinning Junction. It takes its
name from a low rocky promontory, curving 14; mile
westward and north-westward at the middle of the Bay
of Ayr, and measuring \ mile in mean breadth. In its
natural state this headland was covered with rich pasture
towards the land, but became naked rock towards the
extreme narrowing point. A continuation of it extends
a short distance beneath the sea, so as to be concealed
even at low water. The embayed marine space embraced
by it is by far the best natural harbour in Ayrshire,
affording safe anchorage-ground from every quarter
except the NW ; and, at half a cable's length from the
rock, it has, at half-flood, a depth of 3 fathoms. The
Glasgow merchants, aware of its advantages, made a
vain effort to purchase the circumjacent property for
the erection of a seaport ; and, in consequence of the
repulse they met, were obliged to select the very inferior
site of Port-Glasgow (1668). After the lapse of 140
years, the third Duke of Portland, who had purchased
the Fullaeton estate in 1805, commenced in 1808 a
series of vigorous operations to render the place fully
available for commerce. He first built a pier 500 feet
long, nearly at right angles with the rock, where the
depth is 19 feet at low water, and he afterwards con-
structed a fine wet dock with floodgates, two graving-
docks, a lighthouse, and large storehouses. Due
encouragements were offered to render Troon a resort of
trade and a seat of population, and they were rapidly
followed by success, so that a town arose where before
had been only some saltpans and an old smuggling inn.
After the disastrous storm of Jan. 1839, when 22 ships
were driven from their moorings, and some of them
totally wrecked, a breakwater was erected, 3000 feet
long. The total length of quayage is now 5300 feet ;
and the cost of the harbour works, from first to last, has
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