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

AIRTH.
31
AIRTHREY
more; it possessed great strength of both position
ami masonry, and ranked as one of the proudest and
most massive fortresses in Central Scotland; and,
previous to the introduction of artillery, it must
have been almost if not entirely impregnable. It
had the form of an oblong quadrangle; and occupied
the whole summit of the promontory, with the ex-
ception of a small space at the extremity, which is
traditionally said to have been used for exercising
the horses. The wall which protected it on the
eastern and most accessible side — high and mas-
sive, together with the portcullis entry — still re-
mains in connexion with the modern mansion of
Airlie : and the fosse also continues distinct, but has
been partially filled up, in order to render the place
accessible to carriages. In July 1640, the Earl of
Argyle, acting secretly upon the personal resent-
ment which he had all his life long entertained
against the Ogilvies, but overtly upon an express
commission given him for the public service by the
Committee of Estates, raised a body of 5,000 men of
his own clan, and led them across the Grampians
and down Strathtay to devastate the territories of
the Earl of Airlie. "He is said by an old tradition to
have halted them for the night on the haughs at
the village of Rattray; and, in accordance with this,
though most diminishingly out of reckoning with
regard to the numbers, the old ballad says, —
"Argyle has raised a bunder men,
A hunder men and mairly,
And he's awa doun by tlie back o 1 Dunkeld, '
To plunder tbe bonnie house o' Airlie."
The Earl of Airlie at the time was absent in Eng-
land, whither he had gone as much to avoid the ne-
cessity of subscribing the Covenant, as to render
immediate service to the King's cause. Lord Ogil-
vie, the Earl's eldest son, held the charge of Airlie
castle, and had recently maintained it against the
assault of a party under the Earl of Montrose; but,
on the approach of Argyle's army, he regarded all
idea of resisting them as hopeless, and hastily aban-
doned the castle and fled. Argyle's men plundered
the place of everything which they coveted and
could carry away, and tben proceeded to damage
the castle to the utmost of their power by dilapida-
tion and fire ; and Argyle himself acted so earnest a
pari; in the demolition, that, according to the report
of the historian Gordon, " he was seen taking a
hammer in his hand, and knocking down the hewed
work of the doors and windows till he did sweat for
heat at his work." The modem house of Airlie is
a beautiful and commodious residence. The other
mansions are Lindertes House and Baikie House, —
the former a modern structure in the castellated
style. The railway from Newtyle to Glammis runs
along the southern confines of the parish. Popula-
tion m 1831, 860; in 1861, 845. Houses, 171.
This parish is in the presbytery of Meigle, and
svnod of Angus and Mearns. Stipend, £219 Is. 5d.;
glebe, £12. Patron, the Earl of Strathmore. School-
master's salary now is £40, with £13 fees. The
parish church was built in 1783, has 411 sittings,
and is in good repair. There is a Free church; and
the yearly sum raised in connexion with it in 1865,
was £69 10s. 3d. There is a private school.
AIRNTULLY. See Arxtclly.
AIRSMOSS. See Athdsmoss.
AIRTH, a parish, with a post-office village of its
own name, in the carse district of Stirlingshire. It
is bounded by the upper part of the frith of Forth,
and by the parishes of St. Ninians, Larbert, and
Bothkenner. It extends about 6J miles along the
Forth, and is about 3J miles broad. Excepting two
small hills, the whole surface is a plain. A small
stream which rises near the centre of St Ninians
parish, flows eastward with a meandering course
through this parish, and discharges itself into the
Forth at Higgin's Nook. Stream-tides flow above a
mile up Tiiis rivulet, which is liable to sudden and
extensive floods. On the western side of the parish
were formerly two extensive mosses, — one of nearly
500 acres, called the Moss of Dunmore; and the
other, to the south of it, called the Moss of Letham.
These — which might be remains of the great Cale
donian forest — have almost disappeared before the
progress of cultivation ; and on the side of the frith
also a considerable quantity of rich land has been
reclaimed from the sea. The hills of Dunmore and
Airth are very beautiful wooded eminences, towards
the centre of the parish, both commanding a fine
view of the frith. Coal was once extensively
wrought ; and sandstone is plentiful in the two
hills. There are three small harbours on the coast,
— Airth, Dunmore, and Newmiln; and two femes
across the frith, — one at Kersie, where the frith is
about half-a-mile in breadth, and the other at Hig-
gin's Nook, where the breadth is nearly a mile.
All the low grounds of the parish seem to have, at a
comparatively recent period, lain below the frith;
for they all contain strata of modem shells at no
great depth; and at the forming of the present road
from Airth to Stirling in 1817, the skeleton of a
whale was found at a spot upwards of a quarter of
a mile from the present beach. The mansions are
Airth castle, Dunmore House, Higgin's Nook, and
Powfoulis. Airth castle takes its name from an old
tower adjacent to it which is said to have been the
scene of an exploit of Sir William Wallace against
the English. Dunmore House is an elegant, Gothic,
castellated structure, the seat of the Earl of Dun-
more, amid a beautifully wooded park. The village
of Airth stands near the coast, about 5 miles north
of Falkirk. It has a savings' bank, a circulating
library, two friendly societies, and more than enough
of alehouses; and an annual fair is held on the last
Tuesday of July, chiefly for hiring shearers. Popu-
lation of the village in 1851, 583. There is another
village, — the village of Dunmore. Population of the
parish in 1831, 1,825; in 1861, 1,194. Houses, 221.
Assessed property in 1864, £10,367.
This parish, formerly a vicarage, is in the presby-
tery of Stirling, and synod of Perth and Stirling.
Patron, Graham of Airth. Stipend, £281 12s.;
glebe, £27. Unappropriated teinds, £1,489 3s. 2d.
Schoolmaster's salary, £55, with £40 fees. The
parish church is a handsome structure built in 1 820,
and has 800 sittings. There is aFree church preach-
ing station ; the sum raised at which in 1865 was
£62 3s. lid. There is also an United Presbyterian
chm'ch, with an attendance of from 130 to 140.
There are two private schools. An earldom of Airth
was grafted in 1683 on the earldom of Menteith,
held by the noble family of Graham ; but it became
dormant at the death of the second Earl in 1 694.
AIRTHREY, an estate among the skirts of the
Oehill hills, about 2 miles north of Stirling. It be-
longs to Lord Abercromby, and is graced by his
beautiful residence of Airthrie castle. It is remark-
able for the picturesqueness of its scenery, for the
richness and variety of its minerals and mines, and
most of all in recent years for the celebrity of its
mineral wells. These wells are four in number, but
yield only two waters, called the weak water and
the strong water, for the use of invalids. Accord-
ing to the analyses of Dr. Thomson, one pint of the
weak water contains 37-45 grains of common salt,
34-32 of muriate of lime, and 1'19 of sulphate of
lime; and one pint of the strong water contains
47-354 grains of common salt, 38-461 of muriate of
lime, 4-715 of sulphate of lime, and 0-45 of muriate