Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

ABERLACHAN
spent several autumns here between 1850 and 1861 ; and
here the Empress Eugenie passed the October following
the loss of the Prince Imperial (1879),
Aberiachan, a rivulet on the confines of the parishes
of Inverness and Urquhart, Inverness-shire. It traverses
romantic scenery; makes a succession of falls, from 10
to 30 feet in leap ; and enters the lower part of Loch
Ness, about 9 miles from Inverness. A spar cave ad-
jacent to it, and to the road from Inverness to Fort
Augustus, was discovered not many years ago ; measures
about 21 feet in length, from 6 to 12 feet in height, and
from 3 to 6 feet in width, and makes an interesting dis-
play of stalactites and stalagmites.
Aberlady (anc. Aberlefdi — Gael. abhir-Hobh-aite,
' confluence of the smooth place '), a village and a coast
parish of NW Haddingtonshire. The village stands at
the mouth of the sluggish Peffer Burn, 3 miles NE
of Longniddry station, and 5J NW of Haddington.
Consisting chiefly of one long street of good appearance,
it is an occasional resort of sea-bathers from Haddington ;
has a post office under Longniddry, with money order,
savings bank, and telegraph departments, a hotel, and
some good shops; is lighted with gas; and in 1891 had
a population of 505.
The parish is bounded N by Dirleton, E and SE by
Haddington, S by Gladsmuir, and W by the Firth of
Forth. It has an equal extreme length and breadth of
3$ miles ; its area is 4928 acres, of which 21^ are
links, 581 foreshore, and 6 water. The surface rises
very slowly from the shore, nowhere much exceeds 200
feet of elevation, and is mostly flat, yet has a pleasant
aspect, abounding in artificial adornment, and command-
ing views of the Firth and its shores away to the Lomond
hills, the Edinburgh heights, the Peutlands, and the
Grampians. The coast is everywhere low, and has a
great breadth of foreshore. Vessels of 60 or 70 tons can
ascend the channel of the Peffer, at spring tides, to
within a few hundred yards of the village, and lie
tolerably secure ; but they cannot easily go out during
a westerly wind. The harbour or anchorage-ground be-
longs to Haddington, in capacity of a port; but it is
practically of little or no value, as the trade is trivial.
A belt of links, or low flat sandy downs, skirts much of
the shore, and is tunnelled by rabbit-holes; the land
thence inward, though now well cultivated and produc-
tive, appears to have been, at no very distant period,
swampy and worthless. The soil there is light and
sandy; further back is clay, not naturally fertile; and
further inland to the eastern border, is of excellent
quality. The Peffer is the only stream of any size ; and
water for the use of the inhabitants is chiefly obtained
from wells, being good and abundant. The rocks are
partly eruptive, but mainly of the Carboniferous forma-
tion. Limestone and sandstone abound, but are not
worked ; and coal, in connection with the great coalfield
of Midlothian, is believed to extend under a considerable
area, but not in conditions likely to compensate mining.
Kilspindley fortalice, built in 1585 between the village
and the shore, has wholly disappeared, as have two
ancient hospitals at Ballencrieff and Gosford. The Red
Friar Monastery of Luffness, said to have been founded
by Patrick, Earl of Dunbar, in 1286, is represented by
the founder's effigy, and by the N walls of its First
Pointed church, which measured 94 feet 10 inches by
19 feet; and Redhouse Castle, a large 16th-century
mansion, near the Gladsmuir boundary, is now a com-
plete ruin. Gokford (Earl of Wemyss), BallenOMEFF
(Lord Elibank), and Luffness (H. W. Hope, Esq.), are
the principal seats ; the property is divided among
3 landowners holding £500 and upwards, 1 between £100
and £500, 1 between £50 and £100, and 17 between £20
and £50. The Rev. Adam Dickson (d. 1776), author of
The Husbandry of the Ancients, was a native of tliin
parish, which is in the presbytery of Haddington and
synod of Lothian. The parish church was rebuilt in
1887 ; the living is worth £400. There is also a U.P.
church; and a public school here, with accommodation
for 170 children, had (1891) an average attendance
of 149, and a grant of £150, 7s. lOd. Valuation (1892)
26
ABERLOUR
£9500. Pop. (1831) 973, (1861) 1019, (1871) 1022, (1881)
1000, (1891) 1063.— Ord. Sur., sh. 33, 1863.
Aberlady Bay, an encurvature of the Firth of Forth,
on the coast of Haddington and Edinburgh shires, from
Gullane Point to Leith, measures 12 miles along the
chord, and 3£ thence to the inmost recess of the shore.
The view over it, from Arthur's Seat, includes the coast
towns of Portobello, Musselburgh, and Preston pans; the
fertile slopes of Haddingtonshire, with the Garleton Hills
on the right, and the conical hill of North Berwick Law in
the distant front, and is exquisitely beautiful. It was
from Aberlady Bay, according to legend, that Thaney, the
virgin mother of St Kentigern, was cast adrift in a coracle.
Aberlemno (Gael, abhir-leumnach, ' confluence of the
leaping stream'), a village and a parish of central Forfar-
shire. The village stands on the left bank of a rivulet,
3J miles N by W of Auldbar Road station on the Cale-
donian, and 6 NE of its post-town, Forfar. The present
parish comprises the ancient parishes of Aberlemno and
Auldbar ; but the former is thought to have originally
included the portion of Oathlaw through which the
Lenino flows, and to have had its church where that
stream enters the South Esk. It is bounded N by
Careston and Brechin, E by Brechin and Guthrie, S and
SW by Rescobie, W by Oatlilaw, and NW by Tannadice.
Of irregular outline, it measures 6J miles from NE to
SW, and 5 from NNW to SSE ; its land area is 8914
acres. The South Esk, roughly tracing all the north-
western and northern boundary, is the only consider-
able stream ; the only loch, Balgavies, on the southern
border, is J mile long by 1 furlong wide, contains pike
and perch, and was formerly dredged for marl. The
surface declines towards the South Esk, and from N to S
attains an altitude of 452 feet at the Mote, of 323 at
Blibberhill, of 663 in the eastern summit of the Hill of
Finhaven, of 441 near the Wood of Kellockshaw, of 492
at Pitkennedy, of 800 in fort-crowned Turin Hill on the
south-western border, of 348 near Framedrum, and of
384 near Turin House. The lower grounds are for the
most part fertile and well cultivated ; the higher are
often clothed with broom and heath. A greyish sand-
stone abounds in the SW, and is worked in several
quarries both for building and for paving purposes.
Melqund and Flemington Castles are ruins ; Auldbar
Castle, Balgavies, and Carsegownie are interesting old
buildings, still inhabited. Older than any of these are
two sculptured stones, standing one in the churchyard,
the other a little to the N. The former, about 6 feet
high, represents a battle in which both horse and foot
are engaged, and in which a bird attacks a helmeted man,
vainly attempting to cover himself with a shield. Above
are a mirror and less intelligible emblems ; on the back
is a finely ornamented cross, surrounded by quaint
figures of animals. ' This monument,' says Worsaae,
' might have been reared after a victory, whether over
the Danes remains uncertain. At all events, the stone
is Scotch, not Scandinavian ' (Banes and Northmen,
pp. 210-213). A third and similar stone was brought to
Auldbar Castle from the ruins of a neighbouring chapel.
The Earl of Minto and Viscount Melgund (ere. 1813)
owns nearly one-half of the parish ; and 7 other pro-
prietors hold each an annual value of £500 or upwards,
4 of between £100 and £500, and 1 of between £20
and £50. Aberlemno is in the presbytery of Forfar and
synod of Angus and Mearns. The church is mainly a
reconstruction of 1722, with some 450 sittings; its
minister's income is £253. There is also a Free church,
and under the board are the Aberlemno school and a
subscription school at Pitkennedy, which, with respec-
tive accommodation for 152 and 67 scholars, had (1891)
an average attendance of 76 and 51, and grants of
£47 and £37, 7s. 6d. Valuation of lands (1891) £8290,
16s. ; of railway, £687. Pop. (1831) 1079, (1871) 1007,
(1891) 926.— Ord. Sur., sh. 57, 1868.
Aberlour (Gaol, abhir-luath-ir, 'confluence of the
strong stream '), a village and a parish on the W border
of Banffshire. The village of Aberlour or Charlestown
of Aberlour stands on a haugh, at the influx of a burn of
its own name to the Spey, and has a station on the