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

CRO
273
CUL
north-east corner of the court; walking five paces
from this we come to a door, semicircular at the
top, 8 feet high and 5 broad, which opens into a
room arched in the roof, immediately below the
Abbot's hall, of the same breadth and length, and
hghted from the east by two small windows. Pro-
ceeding from this room to the south-east corner of
the court, you find a ruinous arch, about 24 feet
long, 10 feet high, and 9 broad, with a stone bench
on both sides ; this seems to have led to a number
of cells, which are now a heap of ruins. Turning
from this arch you walk along the south side of the
court, where there is nothing observable but several
small doors, leading into ruinous cells ; what number
of these there may altogether have been, it is now
impossible to determine, as the greatest part of them
are buried under the rubbish of their own walls.
The Abbot's old house, as it is called, is the only
building of the abbey we have not hitherto men-
tioned. This stands immediately to the south-east
of the ruinous cells above described. It has been
an oblong tower; but the east side, in which the
stair has been built, is now fallen down, which pre-
vents its dimensions from being accurately taken ;
they seem, however, to have been nearly the same
with the dimensions of the Abbot's new house."
CROULIN ISLES, a groupe off the coast of
Ross-shire, near the entrance of Loch Carron. The
largest is about a mile in length.
CROVIE, a small fishing-village on the Moray
frith ; in the parish of Gamrie, Banffshire ; 6 miles
west by north of Aberdour.
CROY, a parish partly in the county of Nairn,
and partly in that of Inverness. The extreme length
is about 21 miles; it is so intersected by the par-
ishes of Petty, Daviot, and In verness, that its breadth
cannot be exactly ascertained, but it reaches in some
points to 9 miles. The river Nairn runs through the
parish for 8 miles, and its strath, with the seats of Kil-
ravock, Holme, and Cantray, forms a scene of true
rural amenity and beauty ; the remainder including
Culloden moor, [see Culloden,] is indifferently
cultivated, and has a bleak and naked appearance.
There is one small loch, called the Loch of the
Clans. Valued rental £2,961 16s. 4d. Scots. As-
sessed property, in 1815, £4,500. Population, in
1801, 1,601 ; in 1831, 1,664. Houses in Nairnshire,
in 1831, 140; in Inverness-shire, 206 This parish,
formerly a rectory with the vicarage of Dalcross an-
nexed, is in the presbytery of Nairn, and synod of
Moray. Stipend £239 3s. lOd. ; glebe £11. Un-
appropriated teinds £240 4s. lOd. Patrons, the
Earl of Cawdor, and Rose of Kilravock. Church
built in 1757 ; repaired in 1829; sittings 527. There
is a catechist in the parish.
CRUACHAN. See Ben-Cruachan.
CRUACH-LUSSA, or Cruach Lusach, that
is, ' the Mountain of plants,' a mountain in the dis-
trict of Knapdale, Argyleshire, It stretches over a
great extent of country, being about 8 miles broad
at the base. It has never been exactly measured,
but is thought to exceed 3,000 feet above the level
of the sea. From its summit, in a clear day, a fine
view may be obtained of Islay, Jura, and other
islands of the Hebrides, and of the island of Rathlin
off the Irish coast.
CRDDEN, a parish situated in that district of
Aberdeenshire called Buchan ; bounded by Long-
side and Peterhead parishes on the north; by the
North sea on the east; by Slaines andLogie-Buchan
on the south ; and by Ellon on the west. It extends
about 8 or 9 miles along the coast, and about 7 or
8 miles inland. An immense quantity of peat-moss
stretches along the northern boundary. There are
4 fishing-villages in the parish, at one of which,
I.
Ward, a tolerable harbour might be made. Slaines
castle, the seat of the Earl of Errol, is in this par-
ish. " We came in the afternoon to Slanes castle,"
says Br. Johnson, "built upon the margin of the
sea, so that the walls of one of the towers seem only
a continuation of a perpendicular rock, the foot of
which is beaten by the waves. To walk round the
house seemed impracticable. From the windows,
the eye wanders over the sea that separates Scot-
land from Norway; and when the winds beat with
violence, must enjoy all the terrific grandeur of the
tempestuous ocean. I would not, for my amuse-
ment, wish for a storm; but, as storms, whether
wished or not, will sometimes happen, I may say,
without violation of humanity, that I should will-
ingly look out upon them from Slanes castle."-iThe
Bullers of Buchan, and other stupendous rocks and
precipices on this coast, are much admired for the
awful grandeur they exhibit. See Bullers of
Buchan. — About a mile west of the church are the
remains of a druidical temple. — In this parish was
fought, in the beginning of the 11th century, a battle
between Malcolm II. and Canute, son of Sueno,
afterwards king of England and Denmark. The site
of the field of battle, about a mile west of Slanes
castle, has been ascertained by the discovery of human
bones left exposed by the shifting or blowing of the
sand. From the circumstance of a chapel having
been erected in this neighbourhood dedicated to St.
Olaus — the site of which has become invisible, by
being covered with sand — the assertion of some
writers that a treaty was entered into with the
Danes — who were then Christians — by which it was
stipulated, that the field of battle should be conse-
crated by a bishop as a burying-place for the Danes
who had fallen in battle, and that a church should
be then built and priests appointed in all time coming
to say masses for the souls of the slain, seems very
probable. Another stipulation it is said was made,
by which the Danes agreed to evacuate the Burgh-
head of Moray, and finally to leave every part of the
kingdom, which they accordingly did in the year
1014. Population, in 1801, 1,934; in 1831, 2,120.
Houses 479. Assessed property £4,634 This par-
ish, formerly a rectory belonging to the chapter of
Aberdeen, is in the presbytery of Ellon, and synod
of Aberdeen. Patron, the Earl of Errol. Stipend
£204 7s. 9d. Unappropriated teinds £651 16s.
lOd There is a neat Episcopal chapel at the vil-
lage of Cruden Schoolmaster's salary £26, with
£18 fees.
CRUGLETON. See Sorbie.
CRYSTON. See Chryston.
CUCHULLIN MOUNTAINS. See Skve.
CUILINTRIVE FERRY. See Killmodan.
CULAG, a rivulet in Assynt, Sutherland, which
rises in a series of small lochs to the north-west of
Canisp, and runs into the sea at Loch-Inver, where
there is an excellent fishing-station, and a small vil-
lage of the same name.
CULHORN CASTLE. See Stranraer.
CULLEAN CASTLE. See Colzean.
CULLEN, a parish in Banffshire, lying between
the districts of the Boyne and the Enzie, and con-
sisting of Cullen-Proper, with an annexation, quoad
sacra, from the parish of Rathven. It is bounded
on the north — about a mile in extent — by Cullen
bay, in the Moray frith ; on the east by Fordyce ;
on the south by Deskford; and on the west by
Rathven parishes. From the sea, southwards, Cul-
len-Proper, intersected by the Cullen burn, extends,
inland, about 2 miles; and from east to west, 1
mile. The annexation from Rathven extends about
3 miles in length and 2 in breadth ; and the whole
parish is in the form of a quadrant, having straight
S