Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

AIRNTTJLLY
Airlie was away in England, and his son, Lord Ogilvy,
fled at the host's advance ; who, having plundered, burned
the 'bonnie house,' Argyll himself, as Gordon tells the
tale, ' taking hammer in hand, and knocking down the
hewed work of doors and windows till he did sweat for
heat at his work. ' A rare old ballad celebrates the in-
cident with many poetic embellishments. The moat
has been half filled up, and little is left of the original
pile but the wall on its eastern and most accessible side
— high and massive, with frowning portcullis entry ; for
the present castle is but a goodly modern mansion, de-
signed at first as merely a summer resort, and afterwards
greatly enlarged. In 1458 Sir John Ogilvy, knight, of
Lintrathen, descended from the first Thane of Angus,
received a grant of the castle and barony. His son, Sir
James, ambassador to Denmark in 1491, was the same
year ennobled as Lord Ogilvy of Airlie ; and James,
seventh lord, was in 1639 created Earl of Airlie and Baron
Ogilvy of Alyth and Lintrathen. The present holder of
these titles is David Stanley William Ogilvy (b. 1856 ;
sue. as eleventh Earl 1881). Another chief proprietor
is Sir Thos. Munro (b. 1819; sue. as second Bart. 1827);
his seat, Lindertis, 1J mile E of the Kirkton, is a cas-
tellated mansion, rebuilt in 1813. Airlie is in the
presbytery of Meigle and synod of Angus and Mearns;
the living is worth £240. Two public schools, Airlie and
Craigton (girls'), with respective accommodation for 96
and 62 children, had (1891) an average . attendance of
66 and 22, and grants of £66, Is. and £14, 6s. "Valua-
tion, (1891) £9114, 19s. Pop. (1801) 1041, (1831) 860,
(1841) 868, (1871) 778, (1881) 844, (1891) 741.— Ord.
Sur., sh. 56, 1870.
Airntully. See Aentully.
Airsmoss. See Aikdsmoss.
Airth, a village and a parish of E Stirlingshire. The
village lies J mile from the Forth, 8J miles SE of Stirling,
5j N by E of Falkirk, and 2J E by N of Airth station
(in St. Ninians parish), on a branch of the Caledonian,
this being 3 miles S by W of South Alloa, 3| NNE of
Larbert Junction, 22jfc NE of Glasgow, and 32J WNW of
Edinburgh. The railway branches off again near Airth,
one branch going on to South Alloa, the other crossing
the Forth by the new bridge a little to the west of the
town of Alloa. Airth has a post office, with money
order and savings bank departments, a cross bearing
date 1697, the parish church (1820; 800 sittings), a
Free church station, and a U. P. church ; at Dunmore,
1J mile NN¥ is St Andrew's Episcopal church (1851),
an early English edifice, with nave and chancel, and
several good stained windows. Pop. (1891) 440.
The parish contains also the port of South Alloa, 2|
miles NNW. It is bounded S by Bothkennar, SW by
Larbert, and W by St Ninians ; whilst NW, NE, and
E it is washed for 6 miles by the Forth. From NNW
to SSE it has an extreme length of 5 miles; its breadth
from E to W varies between 7 furlongs and 3J miles;
and its area is 6388 acres, of which 572 are foreshore and
339g water. Excepting the central hills of Dunmore and
Airth, the latter and higher of which but little exceeds
100 feet, the surface everywhere is low and level, and
seems at a late geological period to have all lain under
the waters of the Forth. Strata of shells, at no great
depth, are found throughout the low grounds ; and in
1817 the skeleton of a whale, 75 feet long, was discovered
in cutting a road, more than 2 furlongs from the present
beach ; later still an anchor was found in Dunmore Hill,
half a mile from it. Much fertile land has been re-
claimed from the tide and from a state of moss in
the W, where Letham and Dunmore mosses have still
an extent of some 300 acres, 270 more being pasture,
and 4850 in tillage. The Pow Burn, entering from St
Ninians, winds through the middle of the parish to the
Forth, a little above Kincardine Ferry, and is crossed by
the ' Abbey Town ' and other bridges ; and a spring,
one of several said to have been medicinal, is called the
' Lady Well ' — both names suggestive of Airth's former
connection with Holyrood Abbey. The rocks belong to
the Carboniferous formation, and Dunmore colliery was
working here in 1879 ; sandstone, too, of various texture
id
AITH
and hue, being quarried at several points. Plantations,
luxuriant and well assorted, adorn the Airth and Dun-
more estates, one chestnut at Airth having a height of
65 and a circumference of 16 feet, and a Scotch pine a:
Dunmore containing upwards of 250 feet of cubic timber.
Airth Castle, on the SE extremity of circular Airth Hill,
which commands a magnificent view, dates partly from
the latter half of the 16th century, partly from 1802.
Its modem northern facade is a meagre pseudo-antique,
but the southern and eastern fronts have many interest-
ing features. Thus, 'Wallace's Tower' stands on the
outer, not inner, angle, is corbelled only on its eastern
side, and presents a pepper-box turret, which Billings
pronounces of native, not French or Flemish, origin ;
and on either hand of the tower are a row of curious
gabled dormers, one of them having a starry-headed
tympanum (Baronial Antiquities). On the eastern slope
of the hill stands the ruined church, once held by
Holyrood, with a N round-headed arch, belonging to the
Transition period or close of the 12th century, the 15th
century Airth aisle, and the 16th century Dunmore aisle
(Procs. Soc. Ant. Scot, 1879, pp. 165-170). An earldom
of Airth was conferred in 1633 on William Graham,
eighteenth Earl of Menteith, but became extinct at the
death of its second holder in 1694 ; Airth Castle belongs
now to Colonel Graham, who owns 1145 acres in tin
shire of an annual value of £3242. Dunmore, a plain
though castellated mansion, with splendid gardens, is
the seat of Chs. Adolphus, seventh Earl of Dunmore
(b. 1841 ; sue. 1845), who is fifth in descent from Chs.
Murray, first Earl of Dunmore (ere. 1686), the second
son of John, first Marquis of Athole, and who owns in
Stirlingshire 4620 acres, and in Inverness-shire 60,000,
valued at £8923 and £2239 per annum. In all, 8 land-
owners hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards,
4 of between £100 and £500, 4 of from £50 to £100, and
8 of from £20 to £50. Airth is in the presbytery of
Stirling and synod of Perth and Stirling ; the living
amounts to £370. Three schools, Airth, South Alloa,
and Lord Dunmore's, with respective accommodation
for 182, 100, and 84 children, had (1891) an average
attendance of 123, 51, and 62, and grants of £102, 18s. 6d.,
£42, 12s., and £53, lis. Valuation £13,769, 6s. 5d.,
including £1620 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1855, (1811)
1727, (1831) 1S25, (1861) 1194, (1871) 1396, (1881) 1362,
(1891) 1297.— Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.
Airthmithie. See Auchmithie.
Airthrey, an estate, with a mansion and with mineral
wells, in Logie parish, Stirlingshire. The estate adjoins
Clackmannan and Perth shires, was sold about 1796 by
Robert Haldane, the founder of Scottish Congregational-
ism, to Gen. Sir Rt. Abercromby, brother of Sir Ralph,
the hero of Aboukir Bay, and remained in the family
of Baron Abercromby till 1890, when it was acquired by
Donald Graham, Esq. The mansion stands 1J mile ESE
of Bridge of Allan, was built in 1791 from a design
by the architect Adam, is a castellated structure of
moderate size, and has a park of remarkable beauty,
commanding superb views of the Oehils and of the
plain beneath them. Two standing stones are in the
park, without inscription, emblem, or any historical
identification, yet popularly believed to be commemora-
tive of the total defeat of tho Piets by the Scots in 839.
The mineral wells are on the brow of an ascent from the
Bridge of Allan, are approached thence by tasteful
walks, have a neat bath-house, with shock, shower,
plunge, and douche baths ; and, though four in number,
yield only two waters, called the weak and the strong
water. The waters act in the way of saline aperient ;
and, for general medicinal effect against various chronic
diseases, they have long competed in fame with the
waters of the most celebrated spas in Britain. One pint
of tho weak water, according to the analyses of Dr
Thomson, contains 37 '45 grains of common salt, 34 32
of muriate of lime, and 119 of sulphate of limej and
one pint of the strong water contains 47 '354 grains of
common salt, 38 '461 of muriatoof lime, 4 715 of sulphate
of lime, and 0'450 of muriate of magnesia.
Aith, a bay, a headland, and a hamlet in Aithsting