Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

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coc
rant trees are dug around annually, kept on a single
stem, and dunged every second year. Many new
varieties of small fruit have been introduced ; and
vast quantities are every year brought to market,
in Glasgow, Paisley, Hamilton, and Lanark, to the
value, it is supposed, of one-third of the large fruit.
The principal orchards are in the possession of their
respective proprietors. The Cambusnethan priory
orchard extends to 26 acres, and generally fetches
on an average £300 per annum. In some years, be-
fore the reduction in the prices of fruit, it has brought
.£1,000. Mauldslie castle orchard, extending to 8
acres, averages £150 ; in 1822 it brought £500; in
1838 only £38. One of the Brownlee orchards, of
12 acres, has sometimes yielded fruit to the value of
£600, and in other years has brought only £10.
The glebe of Dalziel has sometimes yielded £250.
The importation of fruit from Ireland has tended
greatly to reduce the prices of the Clydesdale fruit ;
but some proprietors have recently established cyder-
presses, which may improve the prices. Orchard
ground lets at from £6 to £10 per acre.
Clydesdale is also famous for its breed of horses.
The superlative animal known all over the Lowlands
of Scotland under the appellation of Clydesdale
horse, is not of a pure breed, but is of a kind im-
proved by crossing. This improvement, Mr. Wal-
lace of Kelly says, can readily be traced to the im-
portation of black mares from Flanders, which were
much in fashion, and put to very frequent use in the
coaches of the gentry of Scotland, soon after the use
of such carriages became pretty general. There is
little doubt of this having been extensively practised
in Lanarkshire, and that breeding from black Flan-
ders mares was paid great attention to in that district
about 100 years ago. Mr. Wallace thinks that the
breed of draught-horses in general, over the West
of Scotland, has degenerated; and that due care and
attention, in respect of the qualities of the mares
bred from, is the main cause of this. " Of late
years," lie says, " the breeding of draught-horses
has greatly extended over the West of Scotland, in-
cluding portions of the counties bordering on or in
the Highlands, where very useful but small-sized
mares have been bred from ; and to this inferior
crossing, may not only fairly be in part attributed
the colour complained of, but that want of bone and
strength, and of fine broad shape, which any accu-
rate observer will but too generally discover at our
horse-markets."
The Duke of Hamilton was created Marquess of
Clydesdale in 1643. His eldest son bears the title
of Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale.
CLYNE, a parish on the eastern coast of Suther-
land, of which the inhabited part extends in length
about 24, and in breadth from 8 to 4 miles. It is
bounded on the north by Tongue ; on the east by
Kildonan ; on the south-east by Loth ; on the south
by the German ocean ; and on the west by Golspie.
Loch-Brora is a beautiful sheet of water, which dis-
charges itself into the sea by the river of that name,
at the entrance of which there is a tolerable harbour.
See article The Brora. The inhabitants on the
coast are mostly fishermen. There is plenty of ex-
cellent freestone and limestone, and coal has been
formerly wrought in this parish. Assessed property,
in 1815, £1,900. There are several Pictish anti-
quities ; in particular, a strongly fortified hill on the
south side of Loch-Brora, called Craigbar. Upon
a rock in the Blackwater of Strath-Beg, about 1J
mile north from the junction of that water with
the Brora, stand the ruins of Coles Castle:
which see. Population, in 1801, 1,643; in 1831,
1,711. Houses 410 This parish, formerly a vicar-
age is in the presbytery of Dornoch, and synod of
Sutherland and Caithness. Patron, the Duke of
Sutherland. Stipend £144 15s. 7d. ; glebe £12.
There is a preaching station at Aschorle on Loch
Brora Schoolmaster's salary £36 ; fees £15. There
is one private school in the parish.
CLYTHE-NESS, a promontory of Caithness, in
the parish of Latheron, in 58° 21' N. lat., and 3° 18'
W. long. The castle of Easter Clyth, which was
formerly of great strength, is situated upon a rock
overhanging the sea near this point. It is commonly
called Cruner Gunn's castle. Guhn was Coronator,
or Justiciary of Caithness, and was basely murdered,
with several gentlemen of the same name, in the
kirk of St. Teay near Castle- Sinclair, by Keith,
Earl Marischal, in 1478. At the hamlet of Clyth is
a neat little inn.
COALSTON, an ancient seat of the family of
Brown — now represented by the Countess of Dal-
housie — in the parish and shire of Haddington ; about
2 miles south of Haddington. There is a singular
story connected with the family of Coalston, one of
the ancestors of which married the daughter of his
neighbour, the famous warlock of Gifford, described
in Marmion. As they were proceeding to the church
— so runs the tale — the wizard-lord stopped the
bridal procession beneath a pear-tree, and plucking
one of the pears, he gave it to his daughter, telling
her that lie had no dowry to give her, but that as
long as she kept that gift, good fortune would never
desert her or her descendants. This must have oc-
curred before 1267, in which year, according to Sir
David Dalrymple, Hugh Gifford de Yester died ; and
the pear is still preserved in a silver box. About
two centuries ago, a maiden lady of the family chose
to try her teeth upon it, and very soon after two of
the best farms of the estate were lost in some liti-
gation : the only misfortune that has befallen the
inheritance of the Coalstbns in six centuries — thanks,
perhaps, to the Warlock pear.
COALTOWNS (East and West), two adja-
cent villages in Fifeshire, in the parish of Wemyss,
containing about 400 inhabitants ; 4 miles north-east
of Kirkaldy, and 1 north of West Wemyss.
COATBRIDGE, a village in the parish of Old
Monkland, 2-J miles west of Airdrie, on the Monkland
canal. Population, in 1831, 741. Inhabited houses
107.. — The following statement serves to show the
astonishing increase in the price of landed property,
in the vicinity of Coatbridge, which is mainly to be
attributed to the extension of the iron trade in that
nourishing neighbourhood. Some years ago, the
father of Mr. R. C. Buchanan, the present proprietor
of Drumpeller estate, purchased the lands of Dun-
dyvan, of some 50 acres in extent, for about £3,500.
In the year 1833, the DundyvanTron company feud
part of them from Mr. Buchanan, for which they
pay upwards of £200 yearly feu-duty ; and Mr. John
Wilson, now sole proprietor of Dundyvan Iron works
has purchased another part of them, for which he
pays £14,000. In addition to this, the Monkland
Canal company feued part of the property, which,
taken in connection with other feus to smaller hold-
ers, has raised the value of the whole to somewhere
about £22,000.
COCKBURN-LAW, a mountain in the parish
of Dunse, Berwickshire. It rises from a base of at
least 6 miles in circumference, to a conical top,
which is elevated about 912 feet above the level of
the sea. It is encircled by the Whitadder on three
sides. On the north side, a little below the middle
of the hill, are the ruins of a very old building, called
Woden's or Edwin's hall, or Edinshall. It consists
of two concentric circles : the diameter of the inner-
most being 40 feet; the thickness of the walls 7
feet ; and the spaces between the walls 7 and 1