Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

CRUGGLETON
Lacca and Gask ; its current has been utilised to drive
a wool-mill at Auquharney and several meal-mills lower
down. Great quantities of peat-moss lie along the
northern boundary ; and forests of oak and other hard-
wood trees anciently occupied much of the area, but now
are represented only by a few old trees, dwarfed by the
sea-breeze that has stunted the clumps and plantations
of Slains and Auquharney. Granite and trap are the
prevailing rocks ; and the former has been quarried
along the northern cliffs, under great disadvantages of
both working and transport. The neighbouring waters
teem with fish ; and at a cost of £8000 a new har-
bour has been formed at the village of Port Eekoll,
where Cruden Water falls into the bay ; it consists of
an outer and an inner basin, the latter 5400 square
yards in area. On the plain skirting Cruden Bay
Malcolm II. of Scotland is said to have defeated Canute,
afterwards King of England, in 1014 ; but the battle is
one of those which, in Dr Hill Burton's words, ' only
find a local habitation and a name, along with the
usual details, from late and questionable authority.'
A mound, evidently artificial, and popularly called the
Battery, crowns a height to the N of the Hawklaw, and
to the SE of that mound are remains of what seems to
have been a vitrified wall Another artificial mound,
the Moathill, a seat most probably of feudal justice, and
an eminence, called Gallowhill, where c rimin als were
executed, are on Ardiffery farm ; whilst Highlaw, 1 mile
from the coast, is crowned by a tumulus, said to have
been used for beacon fires, and commanding a fine view
over the low surrounding country, away to the Gram-
pians. A ' Druidical circle,' J mile W of the parish
church, was demolished in 1831 ; a necklace of jet and
amber, three stone cists, flint implements, a rude old
granite font, and other relics of antiquity, have been
from time to time discovered ; and the Bishop's Bridge
over Cruden Water, near the church, was built in
1697 by the Right Rev. Dr Jas. Drummond of Brechin,
and widened by the Earl of Erroll in 1763. Slains
Castle, however, is the chief artificial feature in the
parish, where 8 proprietors hold each an annual value
of £500 and upwards, 4 of between £100 and £500, and
3 of from £20 to £50. Giving off portions to Ardallie,
Blaekhill, and Boddam quoad sacra parishes, Cruden is
in the presbytery of Ellon and synod of Aberdeen ; the
living is worth £260. The parish church, on the right
bank of Cruden Water, 1 mile SSW of Auchiries, was
built in 1776, and enlarged in 1834, when two round
towers were added ; it contains 820 sittings, and has
a church-hall beside it. At Hatton, If mil e WHW,
stands the Free church (1844) ; and £ mile SSW is St
James's Episcopal church (1843 ; 440 sittings), which,
Early English in style, has a nave and chancel, a spire
90 feet high, an organ, and three stained-glass windows.
Of St Olave's or Olaus' chapel, near the New Bridge,
said to have been founded by Canute, the last remains
were carried away for road-metal in 1837. Errol Epis-
copal school and the public schools of Auchiries, Bog-
brae, Celdwelis, and Hatton, with respective accommo-
dation for 127, 101, 104, 120, and 150 children, had
(1891) an average attendance of 83, 100, 75, 109, and
172, and grants of £90, 10s. 6d., £95, 18s. 6d., £68, 16s.
6d., £86, 8s., and £170, 7s. 8d. ; also an infant school
at Port Erroll. Valuation £16,072, 13s. 6d. Pop. (1881)
3444, (1891) 3593.— Ord. Sur., sh. 87, 1876.
Cruggleton, an ancient coast parish of SE Wigtown-
shire, united in the middle of the 17th century to Kirk-
madrine and Sorbie, and now forming the south-eastern
section of the present Sorbie. Its ruined Norman church,
3 miles S of Garliestown, belonged to Whithorn priory,
and, consisting of nave and chancel, measures 67£ by 30
feet. Cruggleton Castle, 3 furlongs to the E, stood on
a bold rocky headland, over 100 feet high, mid-way
between Rigg or Cruggleton Bay and Port Allan. Sup-
posed to have been built by Norsemen, it was long
the seat of the Irish M'Kerlies ; is said to have been
captured by both Edward I. and Wallace ; and after
passing through many hands, came eventually to the
Agnews. It is now represented by only an arch, the
CTTILLIE
foundations of some walls, and distinct traces of a
fosse.
Cruicksfield, an estate, with a mansion, in the S of
Bunkle parish, Berwickshire, 4 miles NE of Duns.
Cruick Water, a stream of NE Forfarshire, rising at
•the northern extremity of Fearn parish, and running
15J miles south-south-eastward and east-north-eastward
through Fearn, Menmuir, and Stracathro, till it falls
into the North Esk, 5 furlongs E of Stracathro church.
A capital trouting stream, but possessed of little beauty,
it descends from 1480 to 118 feet above sea-level, and
becomes after heavy rains a voluminous and furious
torrent, though dwindling to a mere rill in time of
drought.— Ord. Sur., sh. 57, 1S68.
Cruikston. See Crookston.
Cruin. See Inohcruin.
Cruister, a hamlet near Sandwick, in Dunrossness
parish, Shetland.
Cruivie, a ruined square tower on the lands of Straiton,
in Logie parish, NE Fife, 2J miles NNE of Logie
church.
Crummag Head. See Crammag.
Crutherland, an estate, with a mansion, in Glasford
parish, Lanarkshire, on the right bank of Calder Water,
2f miles SE of East Kilbride.
Cryston. See Chryston.
Cuan, a narrow sound separating Luing island from
Seil island, in Kilbrandon and Kilchattan parish, Argyll-
shire. It has a very strong current, running at the rate
of 7 or 8 miles an hour ; and, in consequence of the
church standing near it, gives name popularly to the
parish.
Cuchullins or Coolins, a group of savagely picturesque
mountains in Bracadale and Strath parishes, Isle of
Skye, Inverness-shire. Rising from the sea-shore to the
E of Loch Brittle and N of Loch Scavaig, and extending
north-eastward to Glen Sligachan, eastward to the valley
of Strath, they occupy an area of about 35 square miles,
and are a confused assemblage of barren heights, from
2000 to 3000 feet high, distinguishable, by striking
differences in outline, feature, and colouring, into two
great sections. The southern and larger of these con-
sists of smooth, conoidal masses, that rise from a
labyrinth of low ground — each separate from its fellow,
nearly all streaked from s ummi t to base with broad
reddish sheets of debris, and many of them abrupt,
acclivitous, and rounded like vast bare cones. The
northern section, on the other hand, consists of singularly
rugged and serrated ranges and masses of mountains,
intersected by wild ravines, and shooting up in sharp
and jagged peaks. It is mainly formed of hypersthene,
whose dark metallic aspect is relieved by scarce one
blade of vegetation ; and, strongly attracting rain-clouds
from the ocean, it often is lashed with storms. Always,
even amid the blaze of summer sunshine, a region of
desolation, without any play of colours, it looks under a
wreathing of clouds to be little else than an assemblage
of deep and horrible abysses, which the eye vainly en-
deavours to penetrate ; dark Loch Cortjisk lies in its
very core. The loftiest peak is Scuir-na-Gillean (3167
feet), 4A miles S of Sligachan inn ; and six other summits
are estimated to exceed 3000 feet above sea-level. See
chaps, v. and vi. of Alexander Smith's Summer in Skye
(1865).
Cuekold-Le-Roi. See Cocellerue.
Cuen or Loch nan Cuinne. See Baden.
Cuff HilL See Beith, Ayrshire.
Cuil, a bay in Appin, Argyllshire, opening from Loch
Linnhe, 4J miles NE of Shuna island. With a semi-
circular outline, on a chord of 1J mile, it is engirt with
a fine sandy beach, receives the river Duror, and is
often frequented by large shoals of herrings. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. 53, 1877.
CuilhUl, a village in Old Monkland parish, Lanark-
shire, 2 miles W of Coatbridge.
Cuillie or Culaidh, a loch in the upper part of Kildonan
parish, Sutherland, 2i miles SSW of Forsinard station.
Rudely triangular in shape, it has an utmost length of
3 and 2 furlongs, and teems with trout.
315