Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

1A6
COLONSAY.
%nA generally consisting of fine enclosed lands,
rising from the Eden to the hills on the north.
Very considerable improvements have been
made on the character of the soil, which in
many places is naturally mossy. On the es-
tate of Mr. Wallace of Newton- Collessie, in
a conspicuous situation, there is a large cairn
of stones, the evidence of a battle in rude
times, which is carefully preserved by its re-
spectable proprietor. Near it some warlike
metal instruments have been dug up. The
village of Collessie lies on the face of the braes
descending to the vale, on the old road from
Auchtermuchty to Cupar. It is a little con-
fused thatched town. About a mile to the west
is the modern hamlet of Trafalgar- Inn, at which
the post stops Population in 1821, 1080.
COLLINGTON, or COLINTON, a pa-
rish in the county of Edinburgh, lying in a
south-westerly direction from the city, at the
base of the Pentland Hills, part of which it
includes. Currie lies on the west. The
parish is five miles in length by four in breadth.
The grounds rise beautifully from the vale of
Corstorphine, and are finely cultivated, enclos-
ed, and planted. The water of Leith passes
through them, and its banks are here romantic
and wooded. The elegant house of Sir John
Forbes, Bart., is the principal seat. The vil-
lage of Collington lies a little westward from
thence in a hollow on the river, at the distance
of four miles from Edinburgh. It possesses
some extensive paper manufactories. Besides
the church, there is a dissenting meeting,
house in the parish. The ancient name was
Hailes, from a Celtic word signifying a moor
or hillock, and on the spot where stood the old
church, when under that name, there is a gen-
tleman's residence, which maintains the same
designation. Prior to the Reformation, the
church belonged to the Canons of St. Anthony
in Leith, but the lands were under the superi-
ority of the abbots of Dunfermline, one of
whom granted them to the family of Forrester.
—Population in 1821, 2019.
COLLIESTON, a fishing village on the
east coast of Buchan, parish of Slaines, Aber-
deenshire.
COLMONELL, a parish in the district of
Carrick, Ayrshire, lying on the sea-coast near
the mouth of the Stinchar, having Ballantrae
on the south-west ; fourteen miles in length by
about six at an average in breadth. The
grounds are hilly and poor, except on the banks
of the streams, where agriculture is well at-
tended to. The district abounds in the re-
mains of ancient forts and cairns. The small
village of Colmonell lies on the north bank of
the Stinchar, about five miles above Ballantrae..
Anciently there were several chapels in this
parish, one of which in the eastern part of the
district was dedicated to St. Ninian, and call-
ed in Gaelic, Kil-an-Ringan. A gentleman's
seat on the spot maintains the appellation.
Such a strange name doubtless, suggested to
the author of Waverley the Kippletringan of
Guy Mannering. The name of the parish is
derived from a Scoto-Irish saint called Col-
monell, who had a cell here. — Population in
1821, 1980.
COLONSA, a flat uninteresting island, ly-
ing betwixt Staffa and Gometra, which feeds a
few sheep.
COLONSAY, one of the western islands
belonging to Argyleshire, lying about seven or
eight miles west from Jura. The smaller is-
land of Oronsay is joined to it at low water, on
its southern extremity. The length of both
together is about seven miles, and the breadth
from one to two. The exterior aspect of
Colonsay is rude and unpromising ; but after
passing a hilly barrier on the west, a fertile
and pleasing valley, containing a fresh water
lake is entered upon. The remains of four
chapels, and monumental stones can be dis-
tinguished. Oronsay possesses no other inter-
est than that which arises from the ruins of its
priory, which was an establishment for canons
of the order of St. Augustine. The dimen-
sions of the church are about 60 feet by 18,
and there are the remains of a cloister which
has formed a square of forty feet. Among
other ruinous buildings, there is a chapel con-
taining a tomb belonging to an Abbot Mac-
DufHe, together with a handsome sculptured
cross. Kelp is manufactured on the shores,
and the interior of both islands affords excel-
lent pasture for a fine breed of cattle.
COLT BRIDGE, a hamlet with a bridge
across the Water of Leith, about a mile west
from the outskirts of Edinburgh on the Glas-
gow road. Here the troops of Prince Charles
Edward encamped in September 1745, prior
to their seizure of Edinburgh, and here they
routed two regiments of dragoons and other
forces, sent to oppose their progress.
COL VEND, a wild, pastoral, and hilly
parish, occupying a sort of peninsula in the