Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

MINDOKK CASTLE
Mindork Castle. See Kirkcowan.
Mingala, an island of Barra parish, Outer Hebrides,
Inverness-shire, § mile MW of Bernera, If mile SSW
of Pabba, and 9 miles SSW of the nearest point of Barra
island. It extends 2 J miles north - north-eastward ;
measures lj mile in extreme breadth; rises, along the
W side, in almost mural cliffs, the retreat of innumer-
able sea- fowl, to an altitude of 900 feet above sea-level;
and is mostly pastoral, but contains some arable land.
Pop. (1861) 139, (1871) 141, (1881) 150, (1891) 142, of
whom 140 were Gaelic-speaking.
Mingary Castle, an ancient fortalice in Ardnamur-
chan parish, Argyllshire, on the S shore of the Ardna-
murchan peninsula, at the mouth of Loch Sunart,
looking along the Sound of Mull, and confronting the
north-western extremity of Mull island, 6 miles N by
W of Tobermory and 20 WSW of Salen. Crowning a
scarped rock, which rises 24 feet murally from the
sea, it measures more than 200 feet in circumference ;
and has an irregular hexagonal outline, adapted to the
configuration of the ground, being broadest on the land-
ward side, where it is defended by a dry ditch. Its high,
strong, battlemented, outer wall is seemingly of ancient
construction, little fitted to resist artillery; but a
three-storey house and some offices are said to have been
erected so late as the beginning of the 18th century.
Anciently the seat of the Maclans, a clan of Macdonalds,
descended from an early Lord of the Isles, it twice was
occupied by James IV. — first in 1493, when he issued a
charter hence; next in 1495, when he received the sub-
mission of the chieftains of the Isles. It was, partly at
least, demolished in 1517 by the Knight of Lochalsh;
sustained a siege in 1588 by the Macleans, but was re-
lieved by a Government force ; and was captured in
1644 by Colkitto, who made it the prison of a small
body of Covenanters, including three ministers. Now,
though strictly a ruin, it is still in a state of tolerable
preservation.
Minginish. See Bracadale.
Minishant, a hamlet in Maybole parish, Ayrshire, 3J
miles NNE of Maybole town, under which it has a post
office.
Minnick Water, a rivulet of Sanquhar parish, Dum-
friesshire, rising at an altitude of 1740 feet, on the
north-western slope of Lowther Hill, close to the Lan-
arkshire boundary, and 9 furlongs SSE of Wanlock-
head. Thence it runs 6J miles west-south-westward,
receiving in its progress three tributaries, each nearly
equal to itself in volume, and falls into the Nith, just
below Minnick-Bridge village, 2 miles SE of Sanquhar.
Some wildly romantic spots, interesting both for their
own scenery and for association with traditions of the
Covenanters, are on its banks ; and a road goes up all
its vale to Wanlockhead, leading thence to Leadhills
and Upper Strathclyde. — Orel. Sur., sh. 15, 1864.
Minnick, Water of. See Minnoch.
Minniehive. See Moniaive.
Minnigaff (Gael, monadh-duih. 'dark mountainous
region'), a hamlet and a parish in the extreme W of
Kirkcudbrightshire. The hamlet stands on a low piece
of ground at the influx of Penkill Burn to the Cree, £
mile N of the post-town, Newton-Stewart. Before that
town had come into existence this was a place of some
importance, for Symson describes it in 1684 as having ' a
very considerable market every Saturday, frequented by
the moormen of Carrick, Monnygaffe, and other moor
places, who buy there great quantities of meal and malt. '
The parish, containing also Blackcraig village and
the Creebridge suburb of Newton-Stewart, is bounded
NW and N by Barr in Ayrshire, NE by Carsphairn and
Kells, SE by Girthon and Kirkmabreck, and SW by
Penninghame in Wigtownshire. Its utmost length,
from N to S, is 16§ miles; its utmost breadth, from E
to W, is 13 J miles; and its area is 139| square miles or
89,442J acres, of which 1312 are water. Issuing from
Loch Moan (6J x 3 furl. ; 675 feet), the Cree winds 30£
miles south-westward and south-south-eastward along
the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire border to within 2J
miles of the head of Wigtown Bay, up from which it is
MINNIGAFF
navigable for several miles. During this course it is
joined by the Water of Minnoch, entering from Ayr-
shire, and running 10J miles southward; Penkill Burn,
rising at an altitude of 1970 feet, and running 8f miles
south-south-westward; and Palnure Burn, rising at an
altitude of 612 feet, and running ll£ miles south-south-
westward (for the last If mile along the Kirkmabreck
boundary). The Water of Trool flows If mile west-
south-westward from wooded Loch Trool (1§ mile x If
furl. ; 250 feet) to the Water of Minnoch; and the Dee,
issuing from lone Loch Dee (7x4 furl. ; 750 feet), runs
first £ mile north-eastward through the interior, then
6J miles east-south-eastward along the boundary with
Kells. Lakes, other than those already noticed, are
Loch Grennoch (2 miles x 3 furl. ; 680 feet) at the Gir-
thon boundary, Loch Enoch (6J x 4J furl. ; 1650 feet)
at the Ayrshire boundary, the three Lochs of the Dun-
geon, Loch Neldricken, Loch Valley, etc. ; and streams
and lakes alike afford capital angling. The surface is
everywhere hilly or mountainous, chief elevations from
S to N being Cairnsmore of Fleet (2331 feet), Larg
Hill (2216), Lamachan Hill (2349), Benyellary (2360),
Merrick (2764), and Kirriereoch Hill (2562), of which
Merrick is the loftiest summit S of the Grampians. The
general landscape is described by Sir A. Geikie as ' one
wild expanse of mountain and moorland, roughened
with thousands of heaps of glacial detritus, and dotted
with lakes enclosed among these rubbish mounds. ' In-
deed, with the exception of a warm nook of about 6
square miles in the extreme S, and of some narrow strips
of carse-land along the principal streams in the W, the
whole region is one vast sheep-walk, where ' heath and
moss, rocks and stones without end, and jagged hills,
with here and there bright verdant patches on their
rugged sides, form the chief features of the scenery.'
Large part of this wild district at one time formed part
of the far-reaching Forest of Buchan — a name preserved
in that of Buchan farm, the house of which stands on
the N bank of Loch Trool, and which to the shepherds
is known as the ' Four Nines, ' from its erroneously esti-
mated area of 9999 acres. The prevailing rocks are clay
slate and greywacke, of Upper Silurian age, with intru-
sive masses and boulders of granite; and nowhere in the
South of Scotland are the traces of glaciation to be wit-
nessed on a grander scale than in the Merrick uplands.
Veins of lead ore, from 2 to 5 feet thick, occur on the
estates of Machermore and Kirroughtree; and at East
Blackcraig, on the former property, lead and zinc still
are mined, though in much less quantity than formerly.
The soil of the low grounds along the Cree and Palnure
Burn is mostly a tenacious clay, interspersed with patches
of moss; on the other low grounds is dry and gravelly,
abounding with stones; and elsewhere is very various.
Little more than one-fifteenth of the entire area is in
tillage; some 600 acres are under wood; and the rest of
the land is pastoral or waste. There is an extensive
sawmill and wood work, which employs a large number
of the inhabitants. The chief antiquities are Garlies
Castle, three mote hills, several sepulchral tumuli, a
standing stone, and some cairns. In 1306 Robert Bruce,
with 300 followers, is said to have routed 1500 English
under the Earl of Pembroke near the head of Loch Trool,
at whose foot a small party of Covenanters were sur-
prised and slain by a troop of dragoons on a winter Sab-
bath morning of 1685. Alexander Murray, D.D. (1775-
1813), the self-taught Orientalist, was the son of a
Minnigaff shepherd; Lieut. -Gen. the Hon. Sir William
Stewart, who served in seventeen campaigns under
Nelson and Wellington, and died in 1827, resided for
several years at Cumloden, and is buried in the church-
yard, along with John Mackie, Esq. of Bargaly, and
James, his son, both Liberal M.P.'s for the county; and
Lieut. -Col. Patrick Stewart, C.B. (1832-65), was born
at Cairnsmore. Mansions, all noticed separately, are
Barqalt, Cairnsmore, Cumloden, Kirroughtree,
and Machermore; and the Earl of Galloway owns more
than half of the parish. Giving off a portion to Bar-
grennan quoad sacra parish, Minnigaff is in the presby-
tery of Wigtown and the synod of Galloway; the living