Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

FOCHABERS.
FISH HOLME, a small island of Shet-
land, lying on the south of Samphray, between
Yell and the mainland.
FLADDA, a small island lying six miles
distant from Skye, belonging to Inverness-
shire.
FLADDA, an isle of the Treishnish
group, lying off the north-west headland of Mull .
FLANNAN ISLANDS, a group of small
islands lying twelve miles north-west of Skye.
They are seven in number, and are called by
the islesmen " the Seven Hunters," though
Mucculloch alleges he could count no more
than six. They have a wild rocky appear-
ance, and only support some sheep, and give a
resting and breeding -place to immense flocks
of gannets and other sea-fowl. Towards sun-
set, apparently interminable streams of these
animals are seen pursuing their direct flight to
these desolate isles, and it is asserted by sailors,
that they seek their daily food as far distant as
the south of England. In the present day,
the Fiannan isles are uninhabited by human
beings ; but such was not alwa)-s the case.
They exhibit the ruins of religious houses,
dedicated to their patron, St. Flann, who flou-
rished in the ninth century; a circumstance
illustrative of that wonderful pertinacity of de-
votion exercised by the Culdean and Romish
clergy, prior to the Reformation, which made
them leave every earthly comfort to spend their
lives on such rocky dismal islets far from the
mass of human society.
FLATTA, two small isles of the Hebrides,
separated from the east side of Barra by the
Sound of Ba Hiravah.
FLEET, (LOCH) an inlet of the sea on
the south-east coast of Sutherlandshire, across
the narrow neck of which there is a ferry, on
the thoroughfare along the coast northwards
from Dornoch.
FLEET, (LOCHS) two small lakes in
the parish of Girthon, and stewartry of Kirk-
cudbright, from whence flow two small stream-
lets, which uniting, form the little water of
Fleet. After a course of a few miles, this
stream is joined by a similar small river called
the Great "Water of Fleet, whereby the river
Fleet is formed.
FLEET, the river above noticed, flows in
a southerly course through the lower part of
the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, at an equal
distance between the Dee and the Cree, and
tails into the beautiful estuary called Fleet
Bay, at the large modem village of Gatehouse.
The banks of the Fleet are in many place3
beautiful and picturesque. It abounds with
salmon, and may be navigated to Gatehouse,
where it is crossed by a bridge.
FLISK, a parish in the north side of the
county of Fife, lying on the Tay, and extend-
ing three miles in length by about one in
breadth, bounded by Balmerino on the east,
Criech, part of Abdie, and Dunbog on the
south, and Dunbog and Abdie on the west.
The land rises in finely cultivated fields from
the shore of the Tay to the summit of the
hilly range which bounds this side of Fife.
Within these few years the district has under-
gone extensive " improvements" in the way of
tillage, enclosing, draining, &c. The kirk and
manse of Flisk are situated on an agreeable emi-
nence overlooking the waters of the Tay, and
the richly wooded and cultivated Carse of
Gowrie on the opposite coast. The district
anciently composed the barony of Bambriech,
in the proprietory of the Earls of Rothes,
whose old castle of Bambriech, now in ruins,
stands in a low situation on the Tay, in a west-
ern part of the parish, half way betwixt Flisk
and Newburgh. The barony came into the
noble family of Leslie or Rothes, by a mar-
riage with a daughter of the Lord of Aber-
nethy, its former proprietor, in the reign of
Robert Bruce — Population in 1821, 301.
FLODDAY, an islet lying between Skye
and Raasay.
FLOTA, an island of Orkney, of between
three and six miles in breadth, lying in Scalpa
Flow. It is indented by the bay of Pan Hope,
and has a high rocky shore, but in the interior
yields good pasture.
FOCHABERS, a small town in the pa-
rish of Bellie, Morayshire, lying nine miles
east from Elgin, twelve south-west of Cullen,
and fifty-two east by north of Inverness. It
occupies a rural situation in a deep valley,
through which the Spey passes it at a littte
distance on the west. The houses are
neatly built, lining the sides of the great
north road from Edinburgh to Inverness, and
have arisen as an appendage of Gordon Castle,
the seat of the Duke of Gordon, which is si-
tuated near the Spey amidst an extensive plan-
tation of fine woods and pleasure-grounds.
.Fochabers is a burgh of barony under this fa-
mily, and governed by a bailie of his Grace's
appointment. It is understood to be thriving