Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

RAT
582
RAT
cuddies, and lythe. For the population and ecclesi- I
astical statistics of the island, see Portree ; to
which parish it belongs.
RATHEN, a parish on the coast of Buchan, Aber-
deenshire. It is bounded on the north by the main
body of Fraserburgh and by Fraserburgh-bay ; on
the east by the German ocean ; on the south by Lon-
may ; on the south-west by Strichen ; and on the
west by the detached part of Fraserburgh and by
Tyrie. Its greatest length, in a direction south-
westward from the coast, is about 7 miles; its
breadth, for about \i mile near the interior end, ex-
pands to 4 miles, but elsewhere averages about li ;
and its area is about 6,310 acres. The coast, partly
Hat and sandy and partly consisting of low rocks,
commences 2 miles south of Fraserburgh, runs out
into a headland called Cairnbulg- point, and altogether
has an extent of 2J miles. The rivulet of Rathen
or Philorth drains nearly the whole parish ; and, be-
fore falling into the sea, runs nearly 3 miles on the
boundary with Fraserburgh. Mormond-iiill [which
see] is partly within the south-west limits; ami both
its declivities, and the summits and sides of other
high grounds in its vicinity, are bleak and barren ;
but the lands along the Philorth are low, and, in
general, tolerably productive. The woodlands, the
hill-pastures, and the arable grounds, are, in the pro-
portion to each other, of 2, 27, and 94. Limestone is
plentiful; and, on the estate of Auchirus, it is worked,
and is of excellent quality. Cairnbulg-castle, now in
ruins, has walls of great thickness, and appears to
have been a place of considerable strength. It was
the family seat of the predecessors of Lord Saltoun ;
and till sold, in 1613, by Sir Alexander Fraser to
Fraser of Durris, it bore the name of Philorth, which
was then transferred to another mansion in the family
which still bears it, and is the seat of Lord Saltoun.
Inverallochy-castle, also a ruin, formerly had above
its entrance a stone sculptured with the Comyn's
arms, and inscribed: " I, Jordan dimming, gat this
house and land for bigging the abbey of Deer." Cor-
les-house is a modern mansion, embosomed in wood.
Two contiguous fishing-villages on the coast, Cairn-
bulg and lnverallochy, jointly possessed, in 18o7, a
population of about 900. During the herring-fishing
at Fraserburgh they are almost wholly deserted ; and,
at other seasons, they partake the prosperity which
has so long distinguished the adjacent fishing-grounds.
The parish is bisected by the road from Fraserburgh
to Aberdeen, and partly cut by that which diverges
toward Peterhead. Population, in 1801, 1,588; in
1831, 2,100. Houses 434. Assessed property, in
1815, £4,154 Rathen is in the presbytery of Deer,
and synod of Aberdeen. Patron, Lord Saltoun.
Stipend, £169 14s. 4<1. ; glebe £9. The church is
old, and was repaired in 1767. Sittings 684. School-
master's salary £25 13s. 3£d., with £16 4s. 6d. fees,
and a share of Dick's bequest. Two private schools
were, in 1834, attended by 144 scholars.
RATHILLET. See Kilmany.
RATHO, a parish in the north-west division of
Edinburghshire ; bounded on the north by Kirkliston
and Corstorphine; on the east by Corstorphine and
Currie; on the south by Currie and Kirknewton;
and on the west by Kirknewton and Kirkliston. A
slender oval, stretching east-north-eastward, and
measuring at the axes 4| and 2} miles, constitutes
the body of the parish ; and a projection, 2i miles in
length and about a mile in mean breadth, goes off
south-south-westward from near its middle. The
area is about 10 square miles, or 5,800 acres. The
surface of the eastern half of the main body is a
slightly variegated level ; and, of the western half,
is a congeries of broad-based hillocks, or low table-
land, with gentle swells, rising from 300 to 400 feet
above sea-level. As the position is midway between
the Pentland hills and the frith of Forth, and about
8 or 9 miles west of Edinburgh, magnificent views
are obtained, from the little heights, of the scenery
of the Lothians, the Forth, and the southern slopes
of Fife, with the romantic perspective of the far-
extending Grampians. The surface of the projecting
or southward district rises slowly from a low line of
connexion with the main body to near the southern
extremity; and it there shoots abruptly up in the
bold forms of the Dalmahoy crags, or Dalmahoy and
Kaimes hills, 660 and 680 feet above sea- level.
These two isolated heights form a conspicuous and
picturesque feature of the general Lothian landscape ;
and, like Salisbury crags, the rocks of Edinburgh and
Stirling castle, and various eminences at the north-
east end of the Lennox hills, they break down in
cliffs, or stoop precipitously to the west. As the
arable grounds are enclosed with hedge-rows and
waved over by files of trees, and large pendicles of
the area are embellished into garden-ground and de-
mesne, and the swells and summits ot the low table-
land in the west are striped and crowned with belts
and clumps of plantation, the parish possesses, with-
in itself, not a few materials and groupings of beauty.
About five-sixths of the whole area is either in till-
age or in an arable condition ; and the remaining
sixth is distributed, in not very unequal parts, into
plantation-ground and pasture. The soil is, in gen-
eral, a light loam, with a preponderance of sand ; but,
toward the eastern border, it passes, in a great de-
gree, into clay. Trappean rocks lie beneath-all the
northern district ; in many places they come near
the surface ; and, in four quarries, they are worked.
Sandstone occurs in the south, and is quarried.
Coal is said to have been found, and even mined in
the sandstone district ; yet it has eluded compara-
tively recent search. Gogar-burn, the only stream
of the parish, except the merest rills, forms the
boundary of the main body along all the east and
part of the north. Water for culinary uses is, in
general, obtainable only in artificial wells or by bor-
ings. The only antiquities are vestiges of camps,
both probably Danish, the one on Kaimes-hill and
the other on South Platt-hill, the most commanding
of the little summits on the west. The principal
mansions are Dalmahoy-house, the seat of the Earl
of Morton, built in the early part of last century,
and subsequently augmented with several additions;
Hatton-house, the seat of William Davidson, Esq.,
a baronial mansion, partly of great antiquity ; Ratho-
house, built by the late John Bonar, Esq., and now
the property of his heirs; Bonnington-house, the
seat of William Wilkie, Esq., built in 1622 ; Norton-
house, the seat of Alexander Berwick, Esq., very
recently erected ; Milburn-tower, the property of
Mrs. Liston, and built by the late Sir R. Liston ;
Gogar-bank, the seat of Mr. Ramsay ; and Ratho-
hall, the seat of William Hill, Esq. All these, and
two or three other mansions, are elegant residences.
But Ratho-house arrests special attention by the
splendour and Grecian elegance of its architecture, —
Hatton, by its venerableness of aspect, its extensive-
ness of gardens and pleasure-grounds, and its associa-
tions as an ancient seat of the Earls of Lauderdale, —
and Dalinahoy-house, by its general pre-eminence,
and by its containing some curious heir-looms of the
noble family who possess it, such as the only known
extant complete copy of the original Scottish parlia-
mentary Bible, enhanced by having been the pro-
perty of the Regent Morton, an original portrait of
the Regent, an original portrait of Mary, taken
while she was in Loch-Leven, and the original war-
rant for the Queen's incarceration, with the signa-
tures of the nine noblemen who assumed its responsi-