Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

BTJRNTOWN
to the E and rocky to the W of the town. A small
headland, called Ross Point, lies about 3 furlongs W of
the harbour ; and a creek strikes inland from that
point, is J mile wide at the entrance and f mile long,
and has been bisected by a stone wall 12 feet high and
9 feet broad, pierced with two flood-gates, and has,
through the flood-gates, such an influx and efflux of
tidal current as drives a corn-mill. The sea-board, to
the width of i mile, appears, in a rough view, a hill-
flanked plain, but really has considerable diversity of
elevation, being traversed from E to W by a series of
ridges, parallel to one another, and of different heights.
The first ascends gently from the sea; the next, called
School Hill or Mount Pleasant, rises on the northern
outskirts of the town; and the third is that on which
Kirkton village stands, but all three are of very incon-
siderable elevation. The fourth is the Bin, truly and
conspicuously a hill, rising abruptly to an altitude of
632 feet above sea-level. The surface northward thence
presents an interesting variety of hill and dale; has
eminences somewhat irregularly scattered, and consider-
ably diverse in height and aspect, and culminates in
Dunearn Hill (671 feet), 2 miles NNW of the town.
Dunearn Hill looks very like an extinct volcano, and it
commands a magnificent panoramic view, embracing
portions of 14 counties. Starley Burn descends from
the western hills, falls over a high rock into the sea,
making there a very picturesque cascade, and holds so
much carbonate of lime in solution as to petrify moss and
wood. The rocks are carboniferous and eruptive, and
they exhibit constituents and juxtapositions highly in-
teresting to geologists. Sandstone and limestone are
quarried; coal is known to exist; ironstone, bituminous
shale (at one time worked by the Burntisland Oil Com-
pany), slate clay, and various kinds of trap abound; and
natrolite, zeolite, amethyst, chalcedony, agates, and
other scarce minerals are found. Numerous kinds of
fossils, some of them of rare character, are in the lime-
stone; and basaltic columns, in beautiful arrangement,
occur on Orrock Hill and on the northern side of Dunearn
Hill. The soil between the town and the Bin is mostly
a rich, deep, very fertile loam; that to the N of the
Bin is of lighter character, yet mostly well cultivated
and productive. Numerous tumuli were formerly in the
N; a small baronial fortalice was formerly at Balbee;
and ruins of the small fort or castle of Knockdavie,
which belonged to one Douglas, a persecutor of the
Covenanters, crown a small eminence at Stenhouse.
Burntisland is in the presbytery of Kirkcaldy and synod
of Fife; the living is worth £296. Pop. of parish (1861)
3670, (1891) 6174.— 0/d Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
Burntown, a village near Gargunnock, on the N bor-
der of Stirlingshire.
Burnturk, a village in Kettle parish, Fife, 1J mile
ESE of Kettle village. Sandstone quarries are in its
neighbourhood.
Burnweel. See Barns of Ayr.
Burnwynd, a hamlet in Ratho parish, Edinburgh-
shire, 1J mile S by W of Ratho village.
Burra, two islands, an ancient parish, and a quoad
sacra parish in the S of Shetland. West Burra lies
about 3J miles W of the nearest part of the mainland,
and 10J miles SW of Lerwick, under which it has a post
office; measures about 6 miles in length from NNE to
SSW, and from J mile to 1J mile in breadth; has an
irregular outline and a rocky coast; and consists, in a
general view, of a hill ridge. East Burra, or House
Island, extends parallel to most of West Burra, at
nearly mid-distance between it and the mainland; ap-
proaches West Burra so near at one point as to com-
municate with it by a rude timber bridge; measures
about 5 miles in length, and nearly 1 mile in mean
breadth; and consists mostly of a hill ridge, but ter-
minates on the S in a long, narrow, grassy peninsula.
The ancient parish of Burra was united in 1891 by tin;
Boundary Commissioners with the ancient mainland
parishes of Lerwick (3158 acres), Gulberwick (2793
acres), and Quarff (2098 acres), to form the reconstituted
parish of Lerwick. The ancient parish consisted of the
204
BURROW-HEAD
following islands: — Papa (148 acres), West Burra (1781
acres), East Burra (1242 acres), Houss Ness (32 acres),
South Hevera (147 acres), Little Hevera (29 acres), and
six small islands (16 acres). The Heveras and Papa will
be separately noticed. The quoad sacra parish (stipend,
£120), in the presbytery of Lerwick and synod of Shet-
land, comprises, since 1833, the ancient parishes of Burra
and Quarff. Pop. (1891) 987, of whom 488 belonged to
West Burra, and 207 to East Burra. See Bressay.
Burrafrith, a romantic bay and a hamlet in the N of
Unst island, Shetland. The bay penetrates the land
about H mile southward, has a sandy beach, and em-
bosoms a holm or small pastoral island of its own name.
The hamlet has a public school.
Burraness, a headland in North Yell parish, on the E
side of Yell island, Shetland, confronting the sound be-
tween Fetlar and Unst, and terminating 2 miles NNW
of the nearest part of Fetlar. It is crowned by a hrough
in almost entire condition.
Bunavoe, a bay and a hamlet in Mid and South Yell
parish, Shetland. The bay is in the SE of Yell island;
opens 4£ miles N by W of Lunaness on the mainland,
and 26 J miles N by E of Lerwick; penetrates the land
2 J miles north-north-eastward; is flanked on all the E
side by a narrow peninsula, terminating in Burra Head;
and forms a good harbour. The hamlet lies at the head
of the bay; has a post office under Lerwick, and a
public school; it gives name to a presbytery in the
synod of Shetland. The presbytery comprehends the
parishes of Mid Yell, Fetlar, Unst, with the quoad sacra
parishes of North Yell and South Yell, and two mission
stations, Mid Yell and Balta Sound. Pop. (1891) 5154,
of whom 1338 were communicants of the Church of
Scotland, the sums raised by them that year in Christian
liberality amounting to £394.
Burravoe, a bay in Nesting parish, on the E side of
the mainland of Shetland. A brough stood adjacent to
it, but has been entirely demolished. Remains of an
ancient wet dock or artificial harbour are on it, near the
site of the brough, and indicate it to have been anciently
a place of some commercial traffic.
Burravoe, a small bay in the NE of Northmaven
parish, Shetland, 3 miles S of the northern entrance of
Yell Sound.
Burray, an island and a parish in the S of Orkney.
The island, lying between South Ronaldshay and Po-
mona, is separated from the former by Water Sound, 5
furlongs wide, from the latter by Holm Sound, 1^ mile
wide. With an irregular outline, rudely resembling
three limbs of a Greek cross, it measures about 4 miles
in length from E to W, and from less than 1 mile to
about 2 J miles in breadth ; and is nearly all low land,
incumbent on sandstone and schistose rocks. It has a
post office under Kirkwall. Burray was the birthplace
of the novelist, Mrs Mary Brunton or Balfour (1778-
1818). Its inhabitants numbered 681 in 1891. The
parish comprehends the islands of Burray, Hunda, and
Glims Holm, and is united to South Ronaldshay. Its
church, falling to ruin about 1800, is now substituted
by a chapel of ease (stipend, £60 with manse). There is
also a U.P. church; and a public school, with accom-
modation for 133 children, had (1891) an average at-
tendance of 109, and a grant of £129, 7s.
Burrelton, a village in Cargill parish, Perthshire, ad-
jacent to Woodside village and station, and near the
Forfarshire boundary, 2J> miles SSW of Cupar-Angus.
It has a post office under Cupar-Angus, with money
order and savings bank departments, a Free church, a
public school, and a fair on the first Tuesday of July.
Pop. with Woodside (1891) 452.
Bunion, an ancient castle in Cross and Burness parish,
Orkney, now represented by only substructions and one
large stone.
Burron, a hill, with remains of an ancient Caledonian
camp, in Mouswald parish, Dumfriesshire.
Burrow-Head, a headland in the SE of Stronsay island,
Orkney, 1J mile N by E of Lamb Head, and 2J miles S
by W of Odness Head.
Burrow-Head, Wigtownshire. See Borough-Head.