Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

AIRDKIE-HILL.
30
AIRLIE.
hi wood, and crowns a swelling ground at the dis-
tance of 2i miles from the coast, and comprises an
ancient tower from which a magnificent view is
obtained of the expanse and shores of the frith of
Forth from the ocean to Edinburgh, and of the east
coast of Scotland from St. Abb's Head to the Bell-
Rock Lighthouse.
AIRDRIE-HILL, a property, rich in black-band
ironstone, in the vicinity of the town of Airdrie,
parish of New Monkland, Lanarkshire.
AIRDS, a beautiful district of Appin, in Argyle-
shire. It comprises the peninsula between Loch
Limine on the west and north, and Loch Creran on
the south and east. " I do not know a place," says
Macculloch, " where all the elements — often incon-
gruous ones — of mountains, lakes, wood, rocks,
oastles, sea, shipping, and cultivation, are so
strangely intermixed, — where they are so wildly
picturesque, — and where they produce a greater
variety of the most singular and unexpected scenes."
The promontory of Ardmucknish, richly clothed
with oak-coppice, is a remarkably fine object. The
estate of Airds comprises about 3,881 imperial acres,
of which 792 are arable and 1,171 are under wood.
The mansion-house is within J of a mile of Port-
Appin.
AlRDS BAY, a bay on the south side of Loch
Etive, within the district of Muckairn, Argyleshire.
AIRDSMOSS, or Aiesmoss, a large tract of ele-
vated moorland in the district of Kyle, Ayrshire,
lying between the water of Ayr on the north, and
Lugar water on the south. The road from Cum-
nock to Muirkirk may be regarded as its extreme
eastern boundary, and that from Cumnock to Catrine
as its extreme western. It is chiefly in the parish
of Auchinleck ; but the uncultivated tract of moss
does not exceed 5 miles in length, by 2 in breadth.
A severe skirmish took place here, on the 22d of
July 1680, between sixty-three Covenanters and a
party of dragoons ; and a monument popularly called
Cameron's stone, about half a mile west of the road
from Cumnock to Muirkirk, marks the spot where
vke deadliest of the strife occurred. The present
erection is neat and quite modern ; but the original
monument was a large flat stone, laid down about
fifty years after the event, and marked with the
names of the Covenanters who fell in the skirmish,
and with the figure of an open bible and the figure
of a sword grasped by a hand.
The sixty-three Covenanters were among the
staunchest adherents of the famous Sanquhar decla-
ration, which renounced allegiance to the King, and
were headed by Richard Cameron, who was both
their minister and their chief political leader, and
by Hackston of Rathillet, who acted as their mili-
tary commander. They had lain for some time en-
sconced in the moor, aware of danger being near
them; and, in the afternoon of the 22d of July, they
espied a body of well-armed dragoons, about 112 in
number, under the command of Bruce of Earlshall,
coming rapidly on. They had no alternative but to
smrender unconditionally or make a desperate fight
for liberty and life; and they promptly made ready
to offer a stern resistance. Cameron prayed thrice
aloud, •' Lord, spare the green and take the ripe,"
and then made a brief encouraging address to his
brethren. Hackston rode off to seek an advanta-
geous position, but could not find any ; and returned
to the margin of the morass, and there quickly ar-
ranged his little company in the order of eight
horsemen on the right, fifteen horsemen on the left,
and forty foot, many of them badly armed, in the
centre. A detachment of the foot were sent off to
meet about twenty dismounted dragoons, who ad-
vanced to turn the flank of the Covenanters; and
the main body moved forward to confront the chief
force of the enemy, who were coming on at a gal-
lop. The Covenanters' horse rode right up to the
very face of the dragoons, and were the first to fire,
and broke in among their ranks with desperation
and fury. Hackston himself was foremost, and
rode riotously amongst them, and sustained assaults
from several troopers at a time, and pushed forward
and recoiled by turns, and laid about him for many
minutes like an Achilles; and, his horse at last
sinking in the bog, he sprang to his feet, and was
instantly assailed by a heroic dismounted dragoon,
an old acquaintance of his own, of the name of
David Ramsay, and combated him long and fiercely
with the small sword, without either gaming or
yielding any considerable advantage, and was at
length struck down by three mounted dragoons be-
hind him, and then surrendered himself on quarter
to Ramsay. The other horsemen of the Covenanters
fought almost as desperately as their leader, and
neither asked nor gave quarter; but were soon cut
down or captured. The foot did not adequately
support the horse, but delivered their fire at some
distance; and when Hackston fell, most of them
fled far into the wet and sinking parts of the bog,
where the dragoons could not easily or at all follow
them. No fewer than twenty-eight of Earlshall's
dragoons were either killed or mortally wounded in
this skirmish; and the survivors readily acknow-
ledged the great bravery of their antagonists. Only
nine of the Covenanters were slain. Richard
Cameron himself was among the first who fell, and
was shot dead upon the spot where he stood. A
number of others were made prisoners, and taken to
Edinburgh, and were afterwards either tortured,
banished, or executed. The skirmish of Airdsmoss
is the subject of the well-known beautiful effusion,
beginning,
" In a dream of the night I was wafted away,
To ttie moorland of mist where the martyrs lay;
Where Cameron's sword, and his bible are seen,
Engraved on the stone where the heather grows green."
AIRI-INNIS, a lake, about 2 miles long and \ a
mile broad, in the parish of Morvem, Argyleshire.
AIRLIE, a parish on the west border of Forfar-
shire. It is bounded by Perthshire, and by the par-
ishes of Lintrathen, Kingoldrum, Kirriemuir, Glam-
mis, Eassie, and Ruthven. Its post-town is Kirrie-
muir. Its greatest length, from east to west, is 6
miles; and its breadth varies from \ a mile to 4
miles. The Dean river, a sluggish stream flowing
from the Loch of Forfar, forms the southern boun-
dary ; and the romantic Isla, running in a deep rocky
gorge, bounds part of the north and west. The sur-
face of the southern district is part of the howe of
Strathmore, — alluvial and fertile; and the surface of
the other districts rises, in a series of undulating par-
allel ridges, to an extreme height of about 350 feet
above the level of the howe. The glen of the Isla,
along the northern border, with rocky channel, lofty
and precipitous braes, and a profusion of every kind
of brushwood, is a striking series of close picturesque
views. A bog of 128 acres in area, called Baikie
Moss, once lay on the western border, but has all been
brought under cultivation. There are eight land-
owners of £100 Scots valued rent. Assessed pro-
perty in 1865, £9,838 16s. 6d. Baikie castle, the pro-
perty of the last Viscount Fenton, was once a no-
table object; but not a vestige of it now exists.
Airlie castle, the ancient seat of the Ogilvies, Earls
of Airley, is ' the Bonnie House o' Airlie ' of Scot-
tish song. It occupied a commanding site on the
rocky promontory at the confluence of the Melgum
and the Isla, about 5 miles north of Meigle in Strath-