Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

D I R L E T O N.
erly course through Clackmannanshire, falls
into the Firth of Forth below the town of
Clackmannan.
DICHMOUNT HILL, a conspicuous
mountain in the parish of Cambuslang, Lan-
arkshire, elevated about seven hundred feet
above the level of the sea.
DICHMOUNT LAW, a hill near Ar-
broath, elevated 670 feet above the level of the
sea, on the top of which certain barons an-
ciently held their courts.
DICHTY WATER, a small river in the
southern part of Forfarshire, rising from se-
veral small lakes among the Sidlaw hills, pa-
rish of Lundie, and which, after running about
twelve miles in an easterly course, and driving
several nulls, falls into the Firth of Tay be-
tween Broughty and Monifieth.
DILTY-MOSS, a large morass in the
southern part of Forfarshire, parishes of Car-
mylie and Guthrie, giving rise to the Elliot,
a small stream which falls into the sea a little
to the west of Arbroath.
DINART, a river on the north-western
part of Sutherlandshire, rising in Loch Dowl,
and which, after flowing in an irregular north-
erly course of fifteen miles through Strath
Dinart, falls into the sea at the head of Dur-
ness Bay.
DINGWALL, a parish in the eastern and
more champaign part of Ross-shire, lying at the
head of the Cromarty Frith, and having Fod-
derty on the south and west, and Kiltearn on
the north-east. The river Conan runs through
the parish. This is among the richest, the
best cultivated, and most beautiful parts of
Scotland.
Dingwall, a royal burgh, the capital of
the above parish and of the county of Ross,
lies in a low situation at the mouth of a
glen opening into the north side of the Cro-
marty Firth, near the western extremity of that
beautiful estuary, distant 178 miles from Edin-
burgh, 25 S.S.W. of Tain, 20 S. W. of Cro-
marty, and 20 N.N.W. of Inverness. The
town, which is rather neat, and built in the
Dutch fashion, consists of one main street, and
a few smaller ones, or alleys, branching from
it . The town house is a curious old building,
With a spire and clock, near the centre of the
town ; and the church is a plain edifice on the
north side of the town, with an obelisk in its
neighbourhood, fifty-seven feet in height, erected
to the memoryof George, first earl of Cromarty,
who. eccentric in death as in life, was buried
here. The only fault of Dingwall is its im-
perfect police regulations, which permit every
house, even upon the main street, to collect a
small dunghill in front. It possesses a small
harbour, in the neighbourhood of which for-
merly stood the mansion of the powerful fami-
ly of Ross. Of all that princely structure only a
small shapeless fragment is now to be seen, in
the garden attached to a villa which has been
built at the place. Dingwall is surrounded by
some of the most beautiful scenery in Scotland.
The valley of Strathpeffer, at the head of which
there is a celebrated mineral well, recedes to
the westward, and is as lovely as any lowland
vale, while the mountains at its head have all
the grandeur of the Highlands. The hill on
the north side of the town, a beautiful woody
declivity, reminds the traveller of the more
celebrated hill of Kinnoul, near Perth. On
the top of a hill called Knockfarrel, about two
miles from the town, is a very good specimen
of the curiosity called a vitrified fort. Ding-
wall was created a royal burgh by Alexander
II., and its charter was renewed by James IV.,
when it was endowed with the same privileges,
liberties, and immunities as were possessed by
the burgh of Inverness. Its civic governors
are a provost, two bailies, a dean of guild, trea-
surer, and ten councillors. It joins with Tain,
Dornoch, Wick, and Kirkwall in contributing
a member to parliament. Dingwall does not
possess the undivided privileges of a county
town, as district meetings, and the courts of
the sheriff are held also at Tain. There is
a weekly market on Friday, and two yearly
fairs. — Population of the burgh and parish in
1821, 2031.
DIRLETON, aparish in Haddingtonshire,
occupying that part of the county which pro-
jects farthest into the mouth of the Firth of
Forth, and extending about six miles in length,
by four and a half in breadth ; bounded on the
east by North Berwick, on the south by Athel •
staneford, and on the west by Aberlady. The
land is quite low, and, with the exception of
a sandy stripe along the shore, which is used
as a rabbit-warren, is fertile to a degree not
surpassed even in East-Lothian, yielding ex-
cellent green crops and pasture. The village
of Dirleton is delightfully situated at the head
of a low meadow, extending about a mile and
a half towards the sea ; the houses are most-
ly well built, lining two sides of a triangular
green, which is interspersed with trees. On
the third or south »ide of this open space stands