Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland

TORSAY
situated near the lands of Cults, adjoining the parish of
Saline, and comprising 1734 acres; and the parish of
Saline had a detached part situated at Inzievar, adjoin-
ing the parish of Torryburn, and comprising 1154 acres.
The Boundary Commissioners caused the two parishes
to exchange their detached parts. Torryburn is bounded
W and NW by Culross, NE and E by Carnock and
Dunfermline, and S and SW by the Firth of Forth.
Its utmost length, from NW to SE, is 4J miles; its
utmost breadth is 2 miles; and its area is 4415 acres, of
which 3 are water and 998J foreshore. The coast is
mostly low and flat, and the highest point is Shaw Hill
(250 feet). Coal, ironstone, and sandstone have all
been largely worked, and a fine brown clay suitable for
making bricks and tiles is plentiful. The soil of the
arable lands is good and highly cultivated. The Alloa
and Dunfermline section of the North British railway
crosses the extreme north of the parish, and the only
station is that of Oakley. Antiquities are the ruins of
Crombie church and a large stone at Tollzies, supposed
to commemorate an ancient battle. Torrie House, a
little way N of the village, belongs to R. G. Erskine-
Wemyss, Esq. of Wemyss Castle. Dunimarle estate
possesses beautiful grounds and a museum, both of
which are open to the public. Torryburn is in the
presbytery of Dunfermline and the synod of Fife; the
living is worth £177. The parish church, at Torry-
burn village, was built in 1800, and contains about 500
sittings. There is also a Free church; and a public
school, with accommodation for 170 children, has an aver-
age attendance of about 170, and a grant of over £160.
6d. Valuation (1885) £7145, 10s. 10d., (1893) £7206,
9s. 3d. Pop. (1801) 1403, (1831) 1436, (1861) 1229,
(1871) 1051, (1881) 737, (1891) 1032, of whom 827 were
in Torryburn ecclesiastical parish. — Ord. Sur., shs. 40,
39, 1867-69.
Torsay, one of the Slate Islands in Kilbrandon
and Kilehattan parish, Argyllshire. It is separated
by only narrow straits from Seil on the N, the main-
land on the W, and Luing on the E. The strait
between it and Luing offers a communication across,
from ebb till half-tide, by a rocky bar not 100 yards
in breadth; and is rendered so intricate and whirling
by rocks and rocky islets, that the tide sweeps it with
great rapidity, and in a perfect dance of complicated
movement. The island is an irregular ellipsoid, the
longer axis extending NE and SW; and it measures
3 miles by 1, having an area of 275 acres. Its surface
exhibits one smooth green hill, 200 feet high, and a
ridge of still lower elevation on the W, both descending
in gentle slopes to the sea. The whole of its E side,
excepting a few trap rocks, and a little greywacke, con-
sists of the same clay-slate as that for which Luing and
Seil are celebrated. Pop. (1871) 20, (1881) 10, (1891) 7.
Torsonce House, an ancient but renovated mansion
in Stow parish, Edinburghshire, near the left bank of
Gala Water, 7 furlongs S by W of Stow village.
Torthorwald, a village and a parish of SW Dumfries-
shire. The village stands on the face of a long broad
brae, 3£ miles N of Racks station on the Dumfries and
Annan section of the Glasgow and South- Western rail-
way, and 4 ENE of Dumfries, under which it has a
post office.
The parish, containing also the villages of Racks and
Collin, is bounded NW and N by Tinwald, E by
Lochraaben, SE by Mouswald, SW by Caerlaverock,
and W by Dumfries. Its utmost length, from N to S,
is 6J miles; its utmost breadth is 3| miles; and its
area is 6843J acres, of which 12 are water. Sluggish
Lochae Water flows 6J miles south-by-eastward along
all the boundary with Dumfries and Caerlaverock; and
ditch-like Wath Burn traces all the Mouswald boundary,
until, at the southern extremity of the parish, it falls
into Lochar Water. All the parish to the S of Collin
village, with a strip about \ mile broad along all the
upper part of the western border, is part of Lochar
Moss; and at no part exceeds 57 feet above sea-level.
The rest of the surface is mainly the western face or west-
ward brae of the middle portion of the broad-based range
1574
TOUGH
of hill commencing in the N of Tinwald and extending
southward to the S of Mouswald. This brae extends
across a base of from 2 to 1\ miles, to a maximum alti-
tude in Torthorwald of 803 feet olose to the Lochmaben
boundary. It is finely diversified with hillock, terrace,
and waving hollow; presents, as seen from Dumfries,
and from any other part of the Nith'B banks, a very
beautiful section of the eastern hill-screen of Lower
Nithsdale; and from its highest points commands a very
brilliant view of the southern half of Dumfriesshire, the
eastern part of Galloway, the Sol way Firth, and part of
Cumberland and the Irish Sea. Much of the moss dis-
trict has been reclaimed ; and all the brae, excepting a
small extent of pasture, is in tillage. The predominant
rocks are Silurian, and cannot be quarried. The soil,
on a bank contiguous to the E side of the moss, is sandy ;
on the lower and middle parts of the brae is rich and
fertile; and on the higher grounds is cold and moorish.
Torthorwald Tower, in the southern vicinity of Torthor-
wald village, is a curious ruin, with very thick walls,
whose mortar is as hard as stone. It is of unknown
origin, but is supposed to have existed since the 13th
century, and was inhabited by the Carlyles and Kirk-
patricks, as well as by a natural son of the Regent
Morton, who about 1590 was created Lord Torthorwald
by James VI. Vestiges of two ancient Caledonian
camps are on the brow of the brae, and show two or
three concentric trenches. The Marquess of Queens-
berry's estate in both Torthorwald and Tinwald was
purchased in 1884 by James Jardine, Esq. of Dryfeholm;
and Sir Alexander Davidson Grierson of Lag, Bart. , is
another large proprietor. Torthorwald is in the pres-
bytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £292.
The parish church was built, partly in 1730, chiefly in
1782, and was enlarged in 1791 and 1809. Restored
and reseated in 1877, it contains 500 sittings. Two
public schools, Collin and Torthorwald, with respective
accommodation for 136 and 100 children, have an aver-
age attendance of about 115 and 40, and grants of
nearly £130 and £30. Pop. (1801) 703, (1841) 1346,
(1861) 1254, (1871) 1098, (1881) 990, (1891) 921.— Ord.
Sur., sh. 10, 1864.
Torwood, a village in Dunipace parish, Stirlingshire,
2J miles NNW of Larbert station. To the S are the
ruins of Torwood Castle, supposed to have been built by
one of the Baillies about the middle of the 16th century,
and surrounded by the Tor Wood, a remnant of the
ancient Caledonian Forest, and a hiding-place of Sir
William Wallace. The true ' Wallace Oak ' here is gone
for ever, though a shoot of it was thriving so late as
1835. The so-called ' Wallace Oak ' in the Carbrook
policies cannot be more than 300 years old; but an old
thorn near it was very possibly the identical tree beneath
which Donald Cargill excommunicated Charles II., Sept.
1680 (Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soc, 1881, p. 204).— Ord.
Sur., sh. 31, 1867.
Torwoodlee, a handsome and commodious mansion of
1784, in the Selkirkshire portion of Stow parish, near
the right bank of Gala Water, 2 miles N W of Galashiels.
To the W are the ruins of its predecessor, a large and
well-built tower. Held by his ancestors since 1509,
Torwoodlee now belongs to James Thomas Pringle, Esq.
(b. 1832; sue. 1859).— Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
Toskerton. See Stoneykirk.
Touchadam. See Polmaisb Castle.
Touch House, a mansion in St Ninians parish, Stir-
lingshire, near the right bank of Touch Burn, 3 miles
W by S of Stirling. Having come to his grandmother
in 1835, the estate now belongs to Sir Alan Henry Seton-
Steuart of Allanton, fourth Bart, since 1815 (b. 1856;
sue. 1884), who is hereditary armour-bearer and squire
of the royal body in Scotland. — Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.
Tough, a parish in Alford district, Aberdeenshire,
containing Whitehouse station, 2| miles ESE of Alford
terminus, and 26| WNW of Aberdeen. It is bounded
N by Keig, E by Monymusk, SE by Cluny and by Kin-
cardine O Neil, S by Lumphanan, W by Leochel-Cush-
nie, and NW by Alford. Its utmost length, from NNE
to SS W, is 6 J miles; its utmost breadth is 3§ miles; and