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

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606
GAR
cordant sounds which arise ; the piercing note of the
kittiwake (from which its name has been derived) ;
the shrill cry of the tammy norie ; and the hoarse
burst of the guillemot, resembling, as it were, the
laugh of some demon, in mockery of the intrusion of
man amid these majestic scenes of nature; all these
combined, and mingled occasionally with the harsh
scream of the cormorant, are heard high above the
roar of the ocean which breaks at the foot of these
tremendous and gigantic precipices.
GANNACHY BRIDGE. See Fettebcaibn.
GARAN, a small island on the north coast of
Sutherlandshire; 3J- miles east-north-east of Cape
Wrath.
GARAN, or Gaeanhill, the name originally and
for some years given to the village of Muirkirk in
Ayrshire, and borrowed from the rising ground or
eminence on the face of which it stands, but long
since entirely discontinued in popular usage. See
JVIttrkirk
GARDENSTON, a small fishing-village and sea-
port, in the parish of Gamrie, Banffshire, situated
14 miles west of Fraserburgh and 8 east of Banff.
It possesses a tolerable harbour for the accommoda-
tion of small vessels and fishing-boats.
GARGUNNOCK, a parish in the north of Stir-
lingshire ; bounded on the north by the river Forth,
which divides it from Perthshire; on the east by
St. Ninians; on the south by Fintry; and on the
west by Balfron, a small detached part of Perthshire
and Kippen. In figure it approaches the rectangle;
but on the north-west extremity it considerably
expands, — at the south-west extremity it has its
angle much rounded off, — and along its northern
boundary it follows the remarkable and characteris-
tic sinuosities of the Forth. In extreme length,
from a link in the Forth at Nether Kerse on the
north to the point where Burnfoot-burn leaves it
on the south, it measures 5J miles; and in extreme
breadth — at its north and broader end — from an
angle near Redhall on the east to Glenterran mill
on the west, it measures 4 miles. The surface is
naturally distributed into compact districts of moor-
land, dry field, and carse. The moorland, compris-
ing rather more than one-third of the entire area, is
part of the hilly range which extends from Stirling to
Dumbarton, and, down to about half-a-century ago,
was esteemed of no value except for its turf, and
abandoned to sterility and solitude, with only two
miserable huts or shielings to shelter human beings
among its wastes. But it was almost suddenly dis-
covered to be improveable as a prime sheep-walk,
and has passed through a series of georgic operations
which have wholly changed its aspect and made it
a moor only in name. From its various uplands and
northern slopes, magnificent views are obtained of
the luxuriant carse-lands below studded with man-
sions and fretted over with demesnes, of the singular
scenes spread over the moss of Kincardine by the
noted improvements of Mr. Drummond, of the fold-
ings and windings of the Forth as far as the eye can
reach along its level but luxurious bed, and of the
range of varied and blue mountain-land which wends
round the distant horizon. Several rills, flowing
from different parts of the moor, and concentrating
their waters into brooks, fall over craggy precipices,
and form cascades which, after heavy rains, are seen
and heard at a great distance. A fine view of the
slope of the uplands, gemmed with the tinted froth
and spray of the cascades, is obtained at the west
end of the village of Gargunnock. The dry field dis-
trict slopes gently from the moorland to the carse,
and is carpeted with a light sandy soil which quickly
absorbs rain. Till toward the end of last century,
the dry fields, for the most part, lay waste and wild,
overrun with furze and broom, with scarcely a tree
to break the dull uniformity of their surface. But
headed by the proprietor of the estate of Boquhan,
and stimulated by his energetic and skilful example,
all the heritors united or rather vied in such efforts
of draining, ditching, hedging, planting, and other
improving operations, as speedily achieved a complete
and delightful change of both their aspect and their
character. About a mile to the eastward of Leckie,
where the road from Stirling to Dumbarton passes
over a rising ground, the dry fields spread out before
the spectator in a sheet of rich green beauty. The
tufted hill-slopes on the back-ground, — the glens
coming down in dresses of copsewood and of regular
plantation, — the village, the church and manse, — the
chimney-tops of Gargunnock house, just discerned
above the wood, — the well-dressed fields, some for
pasture, and others for various sorts of cropping,
and all enclosed with dikes and hedges in excellent
repair, — form altogether a very fine landscape. The
carse-lands form a level stripe along the Forth, and
are believed to have all been originally under water;
and they have exhibited, in various places, beds of
shells such as those which are now in the frith of
Forth. In later times they seem to have been
covered with part of what has been called the Cale-
donian forest; and, at all events, they afforded re-
fuge, when the Romans were in the neighbourhood,
to the fugitive natives, and occasioned the invaders
no little trouble in denuding them of large trees.
After the forest was cut down, part of them — like
the whole of those of Blair-Drummond on which the
celebrated improvements were made — seem to have
become moss; and toward the close of last century,
about two acres on the property of Boquhan re-
mained in the mossy condition. Less than a cen-
tury ago, they lay almost in a state of nature, un-
profitable to the landlord, and repulsive to the agri-
cultural operator : bad roads, the want of enclo-
sures, the stiffness of the soil, and ignorance of that
species of farming which was suitable to the district,
seemed to place insurmountable obstacles in the way
of improvement. But long before the 18th century
closed, the lands assumed an appearance quite sur-
prising to any one imperfectly acquainted with the
results of skilful experiments in husbandry ; and now
they everywhere bear aloft those luxuriant crops of
prime grain for which the carses of Scotland, parti-
cularly those of the Forth and the Tay, are famous.
The glen of Boquhan, as seen from a road along its
east side, exhibits, on a limited scale, a most roman-
tic view; and as seen from the bottom, at and near
the field of Oldhall, displays, says a writer who de-
scribes it, " a scene perfectly wild, as though nature
were in ruins." Gargunnock house mingles the re-
fined and ornamental architecture of modern times
with the massive masonry of the age of intestine
feuds; presenting a fine front of recent construction
in combination with an east wing of considerable
antiquity, in which there is a sort of tower, origi-
nally fortified by a high wall and strong gate. On
a spot still pointed out on the bank of the Forth,
stood ' the Peel of Gargownno,' or Gargunnock,
which Sir William Wallace, with a few followers,
took by stratagem from an English party stationed
there to watch the passage of the Frew in its vicin-
ity ; and about j of a mile westward are the remains
of the bridge of Offers by which Wallace crossed
the Forth, on his way to the moss of Kincardine.
A little south of the village of Gargunnock is an
artificial conical mound called the Kier-hill, around
which are traces of a circular ditch and rampart, and
which, whatever was the date of its origin, seems to
have been the camp or post of Wallace on the night
of his exploit at the psel. A great quantity of human