Gazetteer of Scotland

KEI
Mil!." Her maiden name is said to
have been Anderson, and a number
of her descendents still reside in the
district. One of the suitors, in an at-
tempt to carry her off, being roughly
handled by her father, commonly cal-
led Black John Anderson, wrote in
revenge an ill-natured song, in which
he says,
• " Y'ell tell the gowk that gets her,
. He gets but my auld sheen."—
Scrimgeour, the high constable of
Dundee, and many of the nobility
who fell in the battle of Harlaw, are
interred in the church-yard. Popu-
lation in 1801, 853.
KEITH-INCH ; a promontory in
the parish of Peterhead, the most
eastern point of land in Scotland.
Vide Peterhead.
KELLS *, a parish in the stewartry
of Kirkcudbright, and one of the four
which form the district of Glenkeris.
It is nearly of the form of an isosceles
triangle, the base of which, at the N.
end, is about 6 miles, gradually di-
minishing for 15 miles to "the point
where the rivers Dee and Ken unite.
These rivers bound it on the E. and
W. sides, arid one of the streams of
the Ken is its boundary on the N.
• forming it info a sort of peninsula.
The surface is unequal and hilly.
Towards the S. there are large rocky
hills covered with heath, and towards
the N. the hills termed Kells range
are elevated still higher. (See the next
article.) The hills are" interspersed
with patches of meadow ground, and
along' the hanks of the rivers are ma-
71 y fertile fields, of which the soil is
partly a rich clay, and partly dry and
thin, but producing good crops of
oats, barley, &c. Husbandry was
much improved in this district by the
example and exertions of Mr. Gordon
of Greenlaw, in introducing marl and
limestone as manures, and the prac-
tice of fallow and green ' cropping.
Along the banks of Loch Ken there
:ire about £?oo acres of the riqhest land
in Scotland, owing to the inundations
of the lake : which lay this ground
under water -twice or thrice a-year,
leaving behind it, like the Nile, those
principles which cause fertility. Be-
sides Loch Ken, there are about 80
;^cres covered with lakes, and 500 un-
}/;r natural wood and plantations.
KEL
The royal borough of New Galloway
is situated in this parish, and near it is
the castle of Kenmure, the seat of Mr?
Gordon, the representative of the
Viscounts of Kenmure. Glenlee Park,
the seat of Sir William Miller (Lord
Glenlee), is also in this parish. There
is a fine slate quarry in the N. end,
which was formerly wrought, but has
fallen into disrepute from mismanage-
ment. There is a rich lead mine on
the Glenlee estate, and within half a
mile of it the appearance of a copper
mine. Near New Galloway, 2 miles
farther S. there is an appearance of
lead, of which the vein is so rich, that
pieces have been found on the very
surface almost of pure lead. Mr.
Gordon, translator of Tacitus, and
author of the Independent Whig, &c.
was born in this parish. Population
in 1801, 778.
KELLS RANGE or RHYNS ; a
ridge of hills in the parish of Kells,
extending in a N. and S. direction a-
bout 8 miles in length, reckoned the
highest in Galloway, being part of
that extensive range in which the An-
nan, the Tweed, 'and the Clyde, the
3 great rivers of the S. of Scotland,
have their sources. Kells Range is
almost entirely composed of granite ;
but one of the hills contains great
quantities of the finest iron ore, which ...
cannot be wrought to advantage at so
great a distance from fuel. On one
of these hills is a rockirg-stone of 8
or 10 tons weight, and so poised on
its centre of gravity, that, although
moveable by the pressure of the fin-
ger, yet the force of many men would
be requisite to move it from its place.
The Rev. Mr. Gillespie reckons it a
" great natural curiosity," and sup-
poses it have been *S formed by nature
just as we see it, and, lying on a stra-
tum of moss two or three inches
thick ; and the rains have washed a-
way this moss, and left the stone rest-
ing on the two or three points ;" but
others are of opinion that it is artifi-
cial, as a considerable number have
been discovered in other parts of the.
kingdom ; at Stonehenge in Wiltshire,
at Balvaird and Dron near Perth, and
another in Kirkmichael parish. It is
supposed to have been of use in the
mysteries of the druids, and, as such s
Mason, in his " Caractacus," has in=