Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

SALTHOTJSE HEAD
has ceased for a good many years, having heen absorbed
by Ardrossan. It consisted chiefly in the export of
coals to Ireland, and was of such extent that the amount
of local dues yielded by it was about £120 a year. The
harbour is a creek of the port of Irvine. Saltcoats
became a burgh in 1885, and by the Burgh Police Act
of 1892 its affairs are managed by a provost, 2 bailies,
and 6 commissioners. The design for the burgh seal
was fixed by the burgh commissioners in 1894. On the
top of the seal is a fishing smack, in the centre a repre-
sentation of an old landmark — the saltpans — and on
each side a herring. The motto is — ' Per ma/re et per
terram ' (By sea and land). A fair for cattle, pigs, and
hiring is held on the last Thursday of May; and a justice
of peace court sits on the first Friday of every month.
Pop. (1821) 3413, (1841) 4238, (1861) 4780, (1871) 4624,
(1881) 5096, (1891) 5895, of whom 3136 were females,
and 4228 were in Ardrossan parish. Houses (1891) in-
habited 1309, vacant 114, building 25. — Orel. Swr., sh.
22, 1865.
Salthouse Head. See Peterhead.
Salton, a parish of W Haddingtonshire, whose church
stands at East Salton village, in the centre of the parish,
6J miles SSW of Haddington, 5| SE of Tranent, and
2| ESE of the post-town, Pencaitland. Containing also
West Salton village (1 mile WSW), with a post office, it
is bounded N by Gladsmuir, NE by Haddington, E and
SE by Bolton, S and SW by Humbie, and W and NW
by Pencaitland. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 3J
miles; its utmost width is 2§ miles; and its area is 3811J
acres. The Tyne winds 2| miles north-eastward along
or near to all the north-western and northern boundary;
and its affluent, Salton or Birns Water, over the last
3g miles of its course, roughly traces all the southern,
south-western, and western boundary. The surface has
a general southward ascent — from a little below 200 feet
at the northern border to a little over 500 at broad-
based Skimmer Hill. On the SE and E this h:A
ground is, in a certain degree, continued by low uplands;
but on all other sides the surface falls gradually off to
the boundaries, and becomes lost in levels of very
humble altitude. A wood, which covers nearly 1 square
mile, and is continuous with a forest of similar size in
Hnmbie, occupies most of the hanging plain on the SW.
The rocks are carboniferous; and limestone has been
largely worked, whilst coal is believed to lie nnder the
strata of limestone. The soil is very various, chiefly a
deep rich clay, but also a clayey or friable loam and a
light sand. Except the area under wood, and about
150 acres in permanent pasture, the entire parish is
arable. Salton is noted for having been the first place
in Scotland in which pot-barley was manufactured, and
the first in Britain in which the weaving of hollands
was established — both these industries having been in-
troduced from the Netherlands by the lady of Henry
Fletcher of Salton in or soon after 1710. It was also
the first place in which a bleachfield of the British
Linen Company was formed (in 1750), and one of the
earliest in which a paper-mill and a starch-work were
set up. It is further associated with the invention and
improvement of some agricultural machines; but all its
manufactures have long been things of the past. The
parish is traversed by the road from Edinburgh, across
the Lammennuirs, to Duns. In the 12th and the first
half of the 13th century the manor of Salton belonged
to the De Morvilles, lords high-constables of Scotland,
and their successors the Lords of Galloway; but about
1260 the greater part of it seems to have been possessed
by Sir William de Abernethy, whose descendant,
Laurence, in 1445 was created Baron Saltoun (see
Philorth). In 1643 the ninth Lord Saltoun sold the
estate to Sir Andrew Fletcher, a judge of session, with
the title of Lord Innerpeffer, among whose descendants
have been Andrew Fletcher (1653-1716), the patriot
and political writer, and Andrew Fletcher, Lord Milton
(1692-1766), a distinguished judge. The present owner
is John Fletcher, Esq. (b. 1827 ; sue. 1879). His
seat, Salton Hall, on the right bank of Salton Water,
1$ mile WNW of East Salton, was formerly a fortified
1446
SANDAY
place of some strength, but, as modernised and improved
in recent years, is now a fine Elizabethan structure, with
a great square tower, a valuable library (formed by the
patriot, Andrew Fletcher), and a large and well-wooded
park (Jn. Small's Castles and Mansions of the Lothians,
1883). Another mansion, noticed separately, is Herd-
manston. Gilbert Burnet, D.D. (1643-1715), historian
and Bishop of Salisbury, was minister from 1665 to 1669,
and at his death bequeathed 20,000 merks for the benefit
of the parish, to be applied in building a schoolhouse,
clothing and educating 30 poor children, improving a
library for the use of the minister, etc. The proceeds of
this bequest now amount to about £100. Patrick
Scougal, D.D. (1608-82), was minister from 1659 to 1664,
when he was raised to the bishopric of Aberdeen; and
his son Henry (1650-78), author of Life of God in the
Soul of Man, has been claimed — wrongly it would seem
— as a native. Salton is in the presbytery of Haddington
and the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale; the living is
worth £231. The church, which was held by Dryburgh
Abbey from its foundation till the dissolution, was an-
nexed in 1633 to the short-lived see of Edinburgh. As
almost rebuilt in 1805, it is a cruciform Gothic edifice,
with 400 sittings, a tower and spire 90 feet high, and
the family vault of the Fletchers. A Free church for
Salton and Bolton is situated in the latter parish, 1J
mile NKE of East Salton. Salton public school, with
accommodation for 139 children, has an average attend-
ance of about 90, and a grant of nearly £90. Valu-
ation (1885) £6011, 9s., (1893) £4630, 12s. 6d. Pop.
(1801) 786, (1831) 786, (1861) 712, (1871) 647, (1881)
575, (1891) 495.— Ord. Sur., sh. 33, 1863.
Samphrey, an uninhabited island of Delting parish,
Shetland, in the SE entrance of Yell Sound, § mile S
by W of the south-western extremity of Yell island. It
has an utmost length and breadth of 7i and 4J furlongs,
and attains a maximum altitude of 99 feet.
Samson's Ribs. See Arthur's Seat.
Sanda, a small island, belonging to the parish of
Southend, Argyllshire. It lies at the W side of the
entrance of the Firth of Clyde, If mile SSE of the
nearest part of the peninsula of Kintyre, 6| miles ESE
of the Mull of Kintyre, and 10 S by E of Campbeltown.
It has an utmost length and breadth of 1J and f mile,
and a circumference of 4 miles; consists of sandstone
rock; and has a tumulated surface, with an extreme
altitude of 406 feet above sea-level. Moderately high
cliffs form part of its shores; and one of these is pierced
with a very large natural arch, and forms a very pictur-
esque object. The island is covered with good grass,
and is all disposed in sheep-walk, in the tenancy of one
farmer. Two islets, called Sheep Isle and Glunimore,
lie off its NE side, and are also clothed in good grass.
A small, good, natural harbour lies between it and these
islets, and is a place of shelter and rendezvous for the
smaller sort of vessels which navigate the Clyde. This
harbour was a common station of the Scandinavian
fleets during the contests for the possession of Kintyre
and the Hebrides. The island, in this connection, was
then called Avona Porticosa — a name which it still re-
tains, in the abbreviated form of Aven, among the
Highlanders; but it figures, under its more proper name
of Sanda, in the more ancient record of Adamnan's Life
of Columba. There are remains on it of an ancient
chapel which was dedicated to Columba, and of a cir-
cumjacent cemetery which appears to have long possessed
some superstitious celebrity. A dangerous rock, above
a mile in circumference, and bearing the name of Pater-
son's Rock, lies 1 mile E by N of Sanda; and, being
always covered by flood tide, has endangered many a
vessel. A lighthouse, erected on Sanda in 1850 at a
cost of £11,931, and altered in 1881, shows an occulting
light in a SW direction, from NW i W round to SE
by E J E, visible at the distance of 18 nautical miles.
There is also a fog syren. Pop. (1841) 11, (1861) 36,
(1871) 57, (1881) 14, (1891) 36.— Ord. Sur., sh. 12, i
1872.
Sanday, a small island in the Hebridean parish of '
Shall Isles, Inverness-shire, lying on the S side of the