Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

RAIGMORE
of Komach Loch (J mile long by 100 yards wide) is in
the parish, as is also part of Loch of Blairs (3x2
furl.), the rest being in Forres. Both contain good
trout, especially Loch of Blairs, where the fish weigh
from J to | lb., and are red-fleshed, but they are pre-
served. The parish is an old one, the church having
been the prebend of the sub-chanter of the diocese of
Moray; but the boundaries were altered in 1657, when
a small portion was given off for the new parish of
Kinloss, and again in 1659, when the pre-Reformation
parish of Altyre was disjoined from Dallas and added
to Rafford. Near the northern border the parish is
traversed for 2J miles by the main road from Aberdeen
to Inverness, and near the W side for 3 miles by the
Forres and Perth section of the Highland Railway
system, and by the road from Forres to Grantown.
There are also a large number of good district roads.
The principal residences are Altyre House and Burgie
House, both of which are separately noticed. The
whole district about Altyre House is beautifully wooded.
The antiquities are Sueno's Stone in the extreme NW
of the parish, which has been noticed under Forres, and
Burgie and Blervie Towers, which are separately noticed.
Blervie is identified with the Ulern or Vlern, where,
according to some of the chroniclers, Malcolm I. was
slain in 954. The old name was Blare. Near the
castle are the remains of a stone circle. The site of
Altyre church is on the banks of Altyre Burn, £ mile
N of Altyre House. The only distinguished native
was Dr Alexander Adam (1741-1809), a famous classical
scholar and long rector of the high school of Edinburgh.
The village is by road 2J miles SE of Forres, which is
the nearest railway station, Rafford station having been
discontinued. There is a post office under Forres.
The parish is in the presbytery of Forres and the
synod of Moray, and the living is worth £288 a year.
The parish church, at the village, was built in 1826 after
designs by Gillespie Graham, and is a good Gothic
building containing 600 sittings. There is also a Free
church. Under the School Board are Rafford, Burgie,
and Rafford female schools, which, with accommoda-
tion for 80, 52, and 61 pupils respectively, have an aver-
age attendance of about 45, 50, and 35, and grants of
nearly £40, £60, and £30. There are four landed
proprietors — the lairds of Altyre, Blervie, and Burgie,
and the Earl of Moray. Pop. (1801) 1030, (1831) 992,
(1861) 1005, (1881) 1052, (1891) 982.— Orel. Sur., shs.
85, 84, 1876.
Raigmore, an estate, with a mansion, in Inverness
parish, Inverness-shire, 1 mile distant from the town.
Its owner is iEneas William Mackintosh, Esq. (b. 1819),
Liberal M.P. for Inverness 1868-74.
Rain. See Rayne.
Rait. See Kilspindie.
Rait Castle. See Nairn.
Raith, a mansion in Abbotshall parish, Fife, 1\
miles W of Kirkcaldy. Standing on the eastern face of
a hill, and originally built in 1694, it has received the
addition of two wings and a fine Ionic portico; and is
surrounded by extensive and beautifully- wooded grounds,
containing a picturesque artificial lake (1812) of 21 acres.
Near the summit of the hill, behind the mansion, 400
feet above sea-level, stands square Raith Tower, 54 feet
high, whose top commands a magnificent view of four-
teen or sixteen counties. Sir John de Melville of Raith
swore fealty to Edward I. in 1296 ; and among his
descendants were Sir John Melville, beheaded for
treason in 1548; Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairnie
(1527-1621), created Baron Melville of Monimail in
1616; his younger brother. Sir James Melville of Hall-
hill (1535-1617), well known by his curious Memoirs;
and George, fourth Lord Melville, created Earl of Mel-
ville in 1690. (See Melville House.) After his death
in 1707, the estate was purchased by Robert Ferguson
(1690-1781) ; and Raith House was the birthplace of
the Peninsular hero, Gen. Sir Ronald Craufurd Ferguson,
M.P. (1773-1841), whose grandson, Ronald Craufurd
Munro-Fergnson, Esq. (b. 1860; sue. 1868) is present
proprietor, his father having succeeded to the estates
1362
RANNOCH, LOCH
of Muirton and Novar in 1864. His grand-uncle and
father represented the Kirkcaldy Burghs from 1831 to
1861; and he himself was M.P. for Ross-shire in 1884-
85, and was elected for the Leith Burghs in 1886. A
quoad sacra parish of Raith, formed out of Abbotshall
in 1883, is in the presbytery of Kirkcaldy and the synod
of Fife. Its church is the former Free church of Abbots-
hall, acquired by the Establishment in 1875, and re-
opened after reconstruction at a cost of over £5000 in
1883. There is a post office under Errol. Pop. of q.s.
parish, (1891) 3427.— Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
Ralston, an estate in Abbey parish, Renfrewshire,
If mile E of Paisley. From an early period down
to the beginning of the 18th century it belonged to
a family of its own name, originally called Ralphston
from their ancestor Ralph; and in 1800, with some
exception, it was acquired by "William Orr, Esq., who
had previously purchased from the Earl of Glasgow a
part of the adjacent estate of Ingliston, and who erected
there a handsome mansion called Ralston House. — Ord.
Sur., sh. 30, 1866.
Rammerscales, a modern mansion in Dalton parish,
Dumfriesshire, 3A miles S of Lochmaben. Standing on
a high eastward slope of the Torthorwald Hills, and
surrounded with a fine expanse of hanging wood, it
commands a view of the greater part of Annandale.
Its owner is William Bell Macdonald, Esq. (b. 1845;
sue. 1862).— Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Ramornie, a mansion in Kettle parish, Fife, 7 fur-
longs E of Ladybank Junction. Its owner is Hugh
Veitch Haig, Esq.— Ord. Sur., sh. 40, 1867.
Ramoth, a village in Kilmadock parish, Perthshire,
3 miles ESE of Thornhill.
Ramsaycleugh, a hamlet in Ettrick parish, Selkirk-
shire, on the left bank of Ettrick Water, 18 miles SW
of Selkirk.
Ranfurly Castle. See Kilbarchan.
Rangag, Loch. See Latheron.
Range Castle. See Almaoill.
Rankeillour, Nether, an estate, with a mansion, in
Collessie parish, Fife, 2 miles NE of Ladybank. It
was sold to Mr. M. B. Nairn, of Kirkcaldy, in 1876 for
£43,550.
Rankeillour, Over or Upper, a fine mansion in Moni-
mail parish, Fife, 3 miles W by S of Cupar. It was
built by General John Hope, afterwards fourth Earl of
Hopetoun; and has splendidly wooded grounds. The
estate, which belonged originally to a family of the name
of Rankeillour, at an early period went to a branch of
the Sibbalds of Balgonie; and passing in the time of
Charles II. to Sir Archibald Hope, grandson of the
celebrated Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, is now the
property of H. W. Hope, Esq. of Luffness. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. 40, 1867.
Rankle Burn, a stream of Ettrick parish, Selkirkshire,
rising at an altitude of 1350 feet, within £ mile of
Moodlaw Loch, at the meeting-point of Selkirk, Dum-
fries, and Roxburgh shires, and winding 9| miles north-
• -ward — for 2J miles along the Roberton boundary, and
for f mile along that of Kirkh ope— till, after a total
descent of 635 feet, it falls into Ettrick Water opposite
' Tushielaw Tower. It traverses first a wildly moorish
tract, afterwards a deeply sequestered pastoral glen, is
sung in the ballad of the Maid of the Rankle Bum, and
^abounds in small trout. — Ord. Sur., sh. 16, 1864.
Rannoch, Loch, a lake of Fortingall parish, NW
Perthshire. Extending 9| miles eastward to within
300 yards of Kinloch-Rannoch (21 miles W by N of
Pitlochry), and lying at an altitude of 668 feet above
sea-level, it has a width near its head of only J mile,
but lower down broadens to from 5J to 9 furlongs.
Throughout its greater part, especially towards the foot,
its depth is from 60 to 85 fathoms; and it freezes so
well in hard frost at the W end that persons can cross
there on the ice, though the whole surface is not frozen
over oftener, on an average, than once in 30 or 40 years.
It abounds in small trout and large salmo-ferox, and
receives at its head the Gauir, coming from Loch
Lydoch; at a point 7 furlongs from its head on the N