Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

RABBIT ISLANDS
high up Dun Caan, and the Inverarish from Loch-na-
Mna a little to the SSE. Of the latter Boswell tells a
curious legend. Raasay and the adjacent islands be-
longed for about 500 years to the Macleods of Raasay,
cadets of the Macleods of Lewis, often known as
M'Gilliecallum of Raasay, and it was by one of this
family that Dr Johnson and Boswell were so hospitably
entertained in 1773. Raasay was, however, among the
many proprietors ruined in the destitution crisis of 1846,
and the estate passed into the hands of Mr Rainy, who
cleared a considerable portion of the crofter population
in order to lay out sheep farms. His son, who succeeded,
made an early and interesting experiment on the crofter
question. He established himself as a resident pro-
prietor, interested himself in the welfare of the people —
who then included 104 crofters, with an average rent of
less than £5, and 65 cottars — and provided work for
them in fencing, draining, trenching, etc., and at the
end of four years found he had been spending over £400
a year more than his rental, while the condition of the
people was in no way improved. On his death the
estate was sold in 1872 to Mr G. G. M'Kay. The mania
for highland sport having sprung up, it was resold in
1874 to Mr Armitage for about £60,000, to be par-
tially converted into a deer forest; and again, in 1876,
to the late Mr E. H. Wood, who kept more than half
the island in his own hands for sporting purposes, the
rest being in the hands of crofters, lotters, and cottars.
He made a large number of improvements after the
property passed into his possession. The mansion-
house is pleasantly situated near the shore of Church
Bay on the SW; and here is also the Free church of the
island, the clachau, and the post and money order office,
which is under Strome Ferry. The railway steamer
calls here on the voyage between Strome Ferry and
Portree, both going and coming. The distance from the
former place is, in a straight line, 19-^ miles, and by the
steamer route about 25. The interesting ruin of Brochel
Castle on the E coast is separately noticed. Pop. (1841)
647, (1861) 388, (1871) 389, (1881) 478, (1891) 438, of
whom 192 were males and 246 females. — Ord. Sur., shs.
81, 71, 1882-85.
Rabbit Islands, three islets of Tongue parish,
Sutherland, in the mouth of Tongue Bay. The two
largest rise to a height of 100 feet, and all three have
a sandy soil covered with verdure. They take their
name from being occupied by swarms of rabbits, but
they were anciently designated Eilean-na-Gaeil, signify-
ing the island of strangers; and they are said to have
got that name from having been a landing place of the
Danes. They enclose good anchorage for ships of any
burden.— Ord Sur., sh. 114, 1880.
Rachan House, a mansion in Bkoughton parish,
Peeblesshire, near the left bank of Holms Water, 9
furlongs SSE of Broughton station on the Peebles and
Symington branch of the Caledonian railway, and 6J
miles ESE of Biggar, under which there is a post office
of Rachan Mill. A modern two-storey building in the
style of an Italian villa, it has beautiful well-wooded
grounds. During 1838-60 Mr. James Tweedie, the for-
mer proprietor, and his father, spent £80,000 on the.
purchase of Rachan and other properties; and in 1897
it was sold to H. B. Marshall, Esq. for £45,000. Rachan
from at least 1406 till 1752, belonged to the Geddeses, of
whomjames Geddes (1710-48) was author of An Essay on
the Composition of the Ancients. — Ord. Sur. , sh. 24, 1864.
Racks, a village in Torthorwald parish, Dumfries-
shire, near the left bank of Lochar Water, with a
station on the Glasgow and South-Western railway, 3f
miles ESE of Dumfries.
Rackwick, Bow of. See Noop.
Raddery House, a mansion in Rosemarkie parish,
Ross and Cromarty, 4 miles NIW of Fortrose.
Radernie. See Camekon.
Raeberry, a stronghold of the Maclellans on the
coast of Kirkcudbright parish, Kirkcudbrightshire, 64,
miles SSE of the town. It stood on the crest of a terrific
precipice overhanging the Solway Firth; was defended
on the landward side by a strong wall and a deep fosse,
RAFFORD
the latter spanned by a huge drawbridge ; suffered
demolition of its main buildings about the middle of
the 16th century, and of its defensive wall and draw-
bridge about the middle of the 18th; and is now repre-
sented by only the site and the fosse. It was hence
that Sir Patrick Maclellan was carried prisoner to
Thkeave Castle.— Ord. Stir., sh. 5, 1857.
Raehills, a mansion in Johnstone parish, Dumfries-
shire, near the right bank of Kinnel Water, 10 miles
NNW of Lockerbie. A noble castellated edifice in the
Tudor style, with very beautiful grounds, it was built
in 1786 by James, third Earl of Hopetoun, and received
a large addition in 1834. The Earl of Hopetoun in
1792 inherited the estates of his grand-uncle, George,
third Marquis of Annandale; and Anne, his daughter,
and the heiress to those estates, married her kinsman,
Admiral Sir William Johnstone-Hope, G.C.B. Their
great-grandson, John James Hope-Johnstone, Esq. of
Annandale (b. 1842 ; sue. 1876), lays claim to the
Annandale marquisate, was Conservative member for
Dumfriesshire from 1874 to 1880, and is keeper of
Lochmaben Palace. See Annandale, Loohwood, and
Loohmaben. — Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Raemoir, a mansion in Banchory-Ternan parish, Kin-
cardineshire, 3 miles N of Banchory. Its owner is
Alexander Innes, Esq. (b. 1872; sue. 1883).— Ord. Sur.,
shs. 76, 66, 1874-71.
Rafford, a parish, containing a village of the same
name, in the NW of Elginshire. It is bounded N by
Kinloss parish, E by the parishes of Alves and Elgin,
SE by the parish of Dallas, S and SW by the parish
of Edinkillie, and W by the parish of Forres. The
boundary on the SE and part of the S is formed by the
Lochty or Black Burn and the Loch of Romach for a
distance of over 5^- miles to the source of the burn.
The Burn of Altyre also forms the boundary on the S
border for about J mile, and the Findhorn for about f
mile at the extreme W corner above the point where the
parishes of Rafford, Edinkillie, and Forres meet in the
centre of the river. Elsewhere the line is artificial.
The shape of the parish is highly irregular, a long horn-
like projection of the parish of Forres indenting the
western side to a depth of 3J miles, and almost separat-
ing a northern triangular portion from the rest. This
triangular portion, comprising about a third of the
whole area, is united to the more compact southern
portion by a neck, j mile wide, to the N of Bognie. The
northern part is 3 miles from NNW to SSE, and 3 miles
wide along the northern border; the southern part
measures 84 miles from N to S through the village of
Rafford, and fully 6£ miles from the point where the
parishes of Rafford, Edinkillie, and Forres meet on the
Findhorn E by N to the point where the parishes of
Elgin, Dallas, and Rafford meet on the Lochty. The
total area is 12,504 - 106 acres, of which 47'971 acres are
water. The northern border is low, flat, and fertile, the
centre undulating, and the S a rough upland reaching
a height of 533 feet on the E side at the northern
end of the road running NNW of Bognie, 731 at the
middle of the same road, 833 at the top of Burgie Hill,
and over 900, on the shoulder of Romach Hill on the
southern border, at the source of the Lochty. The
upper districts have fine views of the ' Laich of Moray,'
the Moray Firth, and the hills to the rl of it. About
4000 acres in the centre and SW are under wood, and
about as many under tillage, while the rest is mostly
hill pasture or moorland. The soil along the N and
centre is good strong clay or black mould; elsewhere it
is clay, shallow black mould, sand, rough gravel on an
almost impenetrable subsoil, or reclaimed moss. The
underlying rocks are Silurian (S) and Old Red Sandstone
(centre and N). A coarse grey slate in the former was
once quarried, and a gritty sandstone in the latter is
occasionally worked. The drainage in the N goes to a
small stream that flows through Alves parish to Burg-
head Bay; in the SE it is carried off by the Lochty,
and in the W by the streams flowing into the Altyre
Burn, and that burn itself, which flows past Forres and
into Findhorn Bay. On the southern border the whole
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