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

FOO
501
FOR
Dunse to Coldstream ; and from north to south-west
by that from Dunse to Kelso ; and it has altogether
about 16 miles of public roads within its limits.
The village, or rather hamlet, of Fogo, stands on
the Blackadder, and is the site of the parish-church
and school-house; but it consists of only 9 or 10
thatched cottages, and has less than 50 inhabitants.
Population of the parish, in 1801, 507; in 1831,
433. Houses 87. Assessed property, in 1815,
£4,777 Fogo is in the presbytery of Dunse, and
synod of Merse and Teviotdale. Patron, the Crown.
Stipend £219 5s. lOd. ; glebe £18 10s. Unappro-
priated teinds £417 3s. 2d. Schoolmaster's salary
£26, with about £20 school-fees. This parish is
ancient, and, under David I., belonged to the opu-
lent Earls of Dunbar. In 1 147, the monks of Kelso
obtained a grant of the church, along with some
appurtenances, from Earl Gospatrick; and they re-
tained possession of it, and had it served by a vicar,
till the Reformation. In 1253 the monks obtained
a grant also of a chapel which had been built on the
manor of Fogo; and, in consideration of accompany-
ing gifts of property, were bound over to provide for
its service either three monks or three secular chap-
lains. In 1296, the vicar of Fogo swore fealty to
Edward of England, and, in return, was reinstated
in his vicarage.
FOOTDEE, or Futtie, a considerable village
at the mouth of the Dee, lying along the river, and
now a suburb of New Aberdeen. It is chiefly in-
habited by ship-owners, fishermen, and persons other-
wise connected with the commerce or shipping of
the port. There is - a handsome church in the vil-
lage : see Aberdeen, St. Clement's parish. A sort
of parochial school is maintained here at the joint
expense of the magistrates and kirk-session. The
school-house was rebuilt and enlarged a few years
ago, and the plan of education extended. The early
site of this village is now covered with streets and
warehouses extending along the Waterloo quay, and
wharfs have been built along the harbour, on the
south-west side of the village.
FORBES. See Tullynessle.
FORD, a small village on the road from Edin-
burgh to Lauder, in Edinburghshire, so curiously situ-
ated as, though tiny in dimensions, to occupy a place
in the three parishes of Borthwick, Crichton, and
Cranston. The village stands near the banks of the
Tyne, 10} miles south-east of Edinburgh. At a
former date, it was prosperous and beautiful, quietly
and thriftily embosomed in a small valley which se-
cludes it from the bustling and intrusive activities
of life; but latterly it has fallen considerably into
decay, and rejoices more in the loveliness of the land-
scape than the prosperity of its condition. Ford is
the seat of an United Secession meeting-house, which
draws numerous worshippers from five or more par-
ishes in its vicinity. A splendid bridge or viaduct
here stretches across the vale of the Tyne. See
Crichton.
FORDOUN, a parish in Kincardineshire; bounded
on the north by Strachan; on the east by Glenber-
vie and Arbuthnot; on the south by Laurencekirk
and Marykirk; and on the west by Fettercairn and
Strachan. It is of an irregular, oblongated, quad-
rangular form, extending in length, from east to
west, about 10 miles ; its greatest breadth near the
middle being about 7 ; square area about 44 miles.
Houses 463. Assessed property, in 1815, £9,010.
Population, in 1801, 2,203; in 1831, 2,238. This
parish forms part of that district, in the valley of
Strathmore, styled 'the Howe-o'-the-Mearns.' It
extends along the southern side of the Grampians,
and the northern side of Strathmore, comprising two
divisions, named 'the How district,' and 'the Brae
I.
district;' the latter of which, to the north, consists
of a range of glens or valleys, watered by rivulets,
fringed, more or less, with picturesque strips of plan-
tation, but possessing a thin soil, far inferior in fer-
tility to the lower, southern, or ' How,' district.
The latter is level; the soil consisting either of ex-
cellent brown gravelly loam or red ferruginous clay.
It is highly cultivated, and presents a rich and fertile
aspect. The arable lands amount to nearly 12,000
acres; and indeed no part of the parish can be called
waste, except the summits of the mountains; for the
Grampians themselves afford pasturage to numerous
flocks of sheep, and the subordinate ridges consist
of valuable land : of these the hill of Strath Finella
is the chief. The only stream of any note is the
Luther, or Leuther, into which several small streams
empty themselves. The Luther rises amongst the
hills, north of Drumtoughty, and runs east, and then
southwards, through the romantic vicinity of Drum-
toughty castle, and by Auchinblae, and the wooded
banks near Fordoun kirk, to the parish of Laurence-
kirk. The river Bervie also rises, by numerous
feeders, from the Grampians, in the northern district
of this parish, and running eastwards to the boun-
dary, divides it from the parishes of Glenbervie and
Arbuthnot, to the point where Garvock parish meets
a point of Fordoun, between Laurencekirk and Ar-
buthnot Fordoun is chiefly remarkable for its an-
cient remains and the traditions connected with it.
In the western part of the parish, and about a mile
north-east of Fettercairn, " there is," says Mr.
Chambers, in his lively 'Picture of Scotland,' "a
small congregation of little tenements, like the out-
houses of an old farm, — the miserable remains of the
former county-town. This hamlet, which is still
called Kincardine, and boasts of having given its
name to the county, contains only about 60 or 70
inhabitants. It ceased to be the chief town in the
reign of James VI., when Stonehaven, as a more
convenient situation for the county-courts, was hon-
oured with that distinction. The situation of Kin-
cardine, though not highly elevated, is yet command-
ing; for, from its low, mound-like ruins, a view can
be obtained of nearly the whole district of the Mearns,
as well as a considerable part of Angus." — In tin;
vicinity of the ' town,' on the farm of Castleton, are
the ruins of the palace or castle of Kincardine, which
was the principal residence of Kenneth III., and that
whence he was inveigled to the castle of Finella,
where he was murdered, as described under article
Fettercairn. Here John Baliol is said to have
pusillanimously resigned his crown to Edward I., in
1296 This parish is remarkable in having been, if
not the birth-place, at least the temporary residence,
and probably the burial-place of John Fordoun,
author of the ' Scotichronicon,' one of the most an-
cient and most authentic histories which have been
published of Scotland. He is thought by some to
have been a man of property in this parish; by
others, with greater probability, to have been a
monk who resided here. This parish also gave birth
to Lord Monboddo, — a man well known in the
literary world by his peculiar writings on ancient
metaphysics, and on the origin and progress of the
human species and of language. Monboddo house is
a respectable old mansion in the parish, surrounded
with fine trees. Near the mansion-house of For-
doun there are distinct vestiges of the prajtorium of
a Roman encampment; and, in Friars' glen, beside
Finella hill, are the ruins of a Carmelite religious
house. Acchinblae is the only village in the par-
ish : see that article On the top of a precipitous and
wooded eminence, overhanging the sequestered and
romantic glen through which the Luther runs, and
opposite Auchinblae, stands the kirk-town of For.
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