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

CRA
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CRA
tains some good houses of a massive and antique de-
scription, but the whole place bears evident marks of
having " seen better days." The harbour is small and
incommodious.* Crail used formerly to be a great
rendezvous for boats employed in the herring-fishery,
and immense quantities of herrings were then cured
here ; but scarcely any have been caught here of late
years ; even the white fishing is now neglected.
Formerly they used to cure haddocks in a peculiar
way, without splitting them, which went by the
name of ' Crail capons,' but this mode is now almost
given up. This burgh received its charter from Ro-
bert Bruce, in 1306, which was successively con-
firmed, with new grants, by Robert II. in 1371,
Mary, in 1.553, James VI., and Charles I. and II.
It was formerly governed by 3 bailies, a treasurer,
and from 11 to 15 councillors. It is now governed
by a chief magistrate, 2 bailies, a treasurer, and 17
councillors. It joins with Cupar-Fife, St. Andrews,
Kilrenny, East and West Anstruther, and Pitten-
weem, in returning a member to parliament. Its
parliamentary and municipal constituents were 54
in 1839. Corporation revenue .£228. A fair was
at one time held here annually in the month of
March, but it has fallen into desuetude. About
1810, the magistrates feued to the late Earl of Kellie,
the out-teinds and customs, anchorages, and shore
dues of Fifeness, Cambo sands, and Ringsbarns, for
£5 of yearly rent, which was afterwards reduced to
£2. Crail once possessed an extensive common,
part of which has been feued-off, so that the revenue
of the town is inconsiderable. There is a golfing-
club in this town, who find scope for their manly
game in the adjacent links. Crail, and ' the East
Neuk o' Fife,' figure conspicuously in Drummond's
" Polemidinia." — Balcomie castle, a little to the east
of Crail, now the property of Sir David Erskine, was
the ancient residence of the Balcomies of that Ilk.
During the reign of James IV. it was acquired by the
Lairmonths of Dairsie. In 1705, the estate was
purchased by Sir William Hope ; and it is now, by
purchase, the property of the Earl of Kellie. It has
at one period been an extensive and massive build-
ing. A great part of it was taken down by the late
Earl of Kellie ; but a lofty tower still remains, and
forms a well-known sea-mark.. — Below Balcomie is
a small cave, where, tradition says, King Constan-
tine was beheaded by the Danes in 874. There is a
curious dike, or perhaps natural ridge of stones,
about half-a-mile in length, and stretching from the
frith of Forth on the south-west, to the German
ocean on the north-east, so as to enclose a trian-
gular space of ground forming the Ness. Tradition
attributes this work to the Danes. A few years
ago several rude stone coffins were discovered on
the farm of East Wormiston, within view of the
place where the skirmish between the Scots and
Danes took place in 874 ; and, from its being with-
out ' the Danes' dyke,' it is supposed these coffins
may have contained the relics of the Scottish war-
riors who fell in this engagement. They were 25
in number, and were arranged side by side, the
skeletons being divided by only a single stone, which
thus formed the side of two coffins.
* A creek, a quarter of a mile eastward of the present har-
bour, called the harbour of Roome, could, at a comparatively
small expense, be converted into an excellent harbour capable
of containing 200 sail of vessels ; having, in ordinary tides, from
20 to 22 feet water, and at high spring-tides 29 feet; which
would admit ships of war. This harbour is sheltered from all
winds but the south ; and may be entered, with the wind atany
point, at 1$ hours flood, by vessels drawing 10 feet water. It
would also be of the most essential service to the trade in the
frith, and the whole eastern and northern coast of England and
Scotland, as, from its central situation, it would always be a
place of safety during storms from the north and east ; and in
case of stroug westerly winds, vessels might run in here so as
to aroid being blown out of the frith.
CRAILING, a parish in Roxburghshire, of a
somewhat circular form, lying on both sides of the
Teviot. It is bounded on the north by Roxburgh
parish ; on the east by Eckford ; on the south by Jed-
burgh ; and on the west by Ancrum and Roxburgh.
Its extreme measurement, from north to south, is
4 miles ; and, from east to west, 3J. The Teviot
divides it into two nearly equal parts, flowing in
beautiful windings from west to east, and impressing
upon the district the general feature of a rich basin,
deeply stained with green, and ornamented with most
of the softer forms of beauty. Oxnam water again
divides its southern section into two not very un-
equal parts, flowing down upon it from the acclivity
of the border-mountains, and threading its way
through verdure and plantation till it falls into the
Teviot. Another streamlet, after sweeping round
from the east upon its south-eastern extremity,
turns northward on its touching the parish, and
forms, till its confluence with the Teviot, the boun-
dary between Crailing and Eckford. Nearly the
whole of the land is arable, rich, and well-culti-
vated, consisting generally of a light loam ; and with
the interspersion of 300 acres of plantation, the
shadowing on the west of three isolated and con-
siderable hills, and the brilliant movements and
opulent dress of the intersecting Teviot, it presents
to the lover of landscape pictures delightfully attrac-
tive. On the central one of the three hills, that
called Piniel-heugh, there rises to the height of 150
feet, a fine cylindrical column, which commands a
view of nearly all the richly picturesque valley of
the Teviot, and overlooks some of the most golden
scenes on the Tweed, and lifts the eye upward
among the grand acclivities and varied outlines of
the Cheviots, and away north-eastward over all
Berwickshire to the German ocean. This column
is ascended by a spiral staircase, and was built by
the sixth Marquis of Lothian, in commemoration of
the battle of Waterloo. t On the summit of Piniel-
heugh are also vestiges of two encampents which are
conjectured to have belonged to the Romans.
Through the west of the parish formerly passed a
Roman road or causeway, the course of which can
still be traced. The great road through Teviot-
dale traverses the southern section of Crailing, at
about mid-distance between the Teviot and the
boundary of the parish, passing all the way along
under a delightful shading of beech, ash, and elm.
The northern section — all the property of the Mar-
quis of Lothian — is presided over by the plain but
ancient mansion of Mounteviot, now in the course
of being superseded by an erection in the form of
three parallelograms, romantically situated on the
banks of the Teviot, at the base of Piniel-heugh.
The southern section formerly constituted the estate
of Crailing, long the property of the noble family of
Cranstoun ; but it is now chiefly the property of
Paxton of Crailing, whose mansion stands on a gentle
eminence, overlooking the meanderings and the syl-
van-sloping banks of the Oxnam. Crailing is the
lowest, warmest, and most fertile portion of Teviot-
dale, and is remarkably salubrious. Half-a-century
ago, an inhabitant attained the age of 106 years, and
left behind him several healthy survivors upwards of
80. There are three small villages, Nisbet, Upper
Nisbet, and CraiUng. The last of these was at one
time considerable, but has latterly been falling into
decay. It is situated on the Oxnam, at the point
where it is crossed by the Carlisle and Berwick
road ; and here an elegant bridge was erected in the
i It is strongly constructed of whinstone quarried on the
spot, and bears this inscription : " To the Duke of Wellington
and the British Army, William Ker, VI. Marquis of Lothian,
and his tenantry, dedicate this monument, 30tU June, 1815."