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

ARDROSSAN.
73
ARDVERIKIE.
quisite to complete it. The works were for a long-
time suspended; but after the thirteenth Karl came of
age, they were resumed on a scale of less extent,
but still of great value; and now they are complete.
The harbour is at once capacious, commodious, and
well-sheltered; and there is a lighthouse with a fixed
light on the north-oast breakwater. A railway, as
formerly stated, was projected to connect the har-
bour of Ardrossan with the canal at Johnstone; but
it could not be executed farther than Kilwinning,
and served for some years chiefly for bringing coals
to the harbour. But now, under the name of the
Ardrossan railway, and in connexion with the Glas-
gow and Ayr railway, it is one of the busiest lines
In Scotland', and is serving largely and brilliantly,
though in a very different way than was then
dreamed of, some of the very purposes which were
sought to be served by the original scheme of the
canal.
The modern town itself was commenced about the
same time as the harbour, and has been dependent
on it for prosperity. It is built on a regular plan,
with streets wide, straight, and crossing one another
at right angles, and edificed chiefly with neat, well-
finished, two-story houses. The plan comprises also
a crescent, of splendid design, around the fine sweep-
ing bay on the east side of the town toward Salt-
coats. There are many handsome villas, varied in
style, but all more or less tasteful; and there is an
elegant occasional residence of Lord Eglinton, called
the pavilion. There is also a large and good-looking
edifice, built for baths on the tontine principle in
1807, — allowed for a time to go to disuse and decay,
but refitted in 1833. The chief inn is a very com-
modious one called the Eglinton Arms. The several
churches have a fine appearance ; and the whole
place looks cleanly, cheerful, and prosperous. The
town contains the sessional school, a private school,
two ladies' schools, a school of industry, a post-
office, a stamp-office, offices of the Bank of Scot-
land, of the Eoyal Bank, and of the City of Glasgow
Bank, a number of insurance offices, a gas company,
a bowling club, a curling club, a farmers' society, an
artillery volunteer corps, and a total abstinence so-
ciety. Ardrossan possesses great attractions as a
bathing-place, and is now one of the much frequented
summer resorts on the frith of Clyde. Fairs are
held on the Tuesday before Ayr July fair, and on
the fourth Thursday of November ; and a projected
annual tryst of two days in July, for sheep, wool,
and cattle, was begun in 1846, but has ceased. The
harbour, even while lying in the incomplete state in
which the late Earl left it, was capable of accommo-
dating a great number of vessels of almost any size,
and was secure against almost every wind, and was
often crowded in rough weather with vessels which
ran to it for shelter. A considerable coasting-trade
became steadily established at it, chiefly in the ex-
port of coals and cost iron; and since the opening
of the Glasgow and Ayr railway, steamers have
regularly sailed from it to Arran and Belfast.
Within the year 1864 no less than 237,527 tons of
^.ast iron were shipped here. In 1849, when the
route of the Scottish mails to Ireland by way of
Portpatrick to Donaghadee was given up, and a
route was adopted from the Clyde to Belfast, multi-
tudes of persons, who had no particular interest in
the matter, were astonished that Ardrossan was not
made the packet-station; and, as to all the main cir-
cumstances of directness, speed, and safety, it cer-
tainly seems decidedly superior to Greenock. Popu-
lation of the town in 1837, about 920; in 1861 3 192
Mouses 249.
AEDROSSAN (New). See Ardkossas.
AKDEOSSER. See Ardersier.
AKDSII1EL, the seat of a chief cadet of the
Stewarts of Appin, on the southern shore of the
Linuhc-loch, near Kentalen bay, and about 3 miles
from Ballachulish ferry at the mouth of Loch Lcven.
Stewart of Ardshiel was among the foremost who
espoused the cause of Prince Charles in 1745; and,
like many of his brother-outlaws, had to consult his
safety by retiring to a remarkable cave in this neigh-
bourhood. The mouth of the cavern is singularly
protected by a waterfall which descends like a crys
tal curtain in front of it, but through which no
traces of such an excavation are perceptible.
ABDSTINCHAB, an old castle, anciently the
seat of a branch of the Bargany family, on the river
Stinchar, a little above the village of Ballantrae,
Ayrshire. From its situation in a narrow pass com-
manding two entrances into Carrick, — that along
the shore, and that which leads up the river and
across the country to Girvan, — this fortalice must
have been of considerable importance in remoter
ages. Pitcairn, in his History of the House of Ken-
nedy,' gives some curious information respecting it.
AEDTOENISH. See Artornish.
AEDUTHIE, an estate in the parish of Fettei
esso, Kincardineshire. The new town of Stoneha-
ven is built upon it, and was originally called Ar
duthie, and is still sometimes called the Links of
Arduthie. See Stoxehaven.
AEDVASAR. See Aruavasar.
AEDVEEIKIE,ashooting-lodge,builtbytheMar-
quis of Abercorn, on the banks of Loch-Laggan in
Inverness-shire, which has obtained great and un-
expected notoriety from having been occupied by
Her Majesty and suite for a few weeks in the months
of August and September, 1847. It occupies a green
flat at the head of a little bay formed by one of the
wooded promontories which jut into the loch. It
was erected by the Marquis about 1840 ; and is a
plain unostentatious building, rather irregular in its
con struction, — the windows, roof, and chimney-stalks
a good deal in the cottage-style, and the whole suiting
pretty closely one's idea of what quarters for the ac-
commodation of a large shooting-party ought to be.
The lodge is built close to the loch, the water flow-
ing up almost to the walls on three sides of the
building. For a shooting-box, as we have before
remarked, the house is remarkably large and com-
modious. It has the appearance of being built at
different times, as convenience dictated, one addition
succeeding another, until, in the course of time, as
might be supposed, an originally small square cot-
tage had swelled out and covered the whole promon-
tory. Its narrow windows — one hundred in num-
ber, and each of the front windows surmounted with
a deer's head and antlers — add to the impression
that the lodge is an antique structure, but in reality
it is quite modem, and the masonry, though not the
architecture, bears the stamp of yesterday. The
gardens attached to the lodge are extensive and
well managed, producing all the fruits and flowers
of the country; and a fine lawn, with clumps of
trees, gives a baronial aspect to the spot. A num-
ber of marquees were placed on the green, at proper
distances from the lodge, in order to accommodate
the servants of the royal visitors.— The interior of
the lodge corresponds pretty closely with its exter-
nal appearance, — the rooms being more comfortable
than spacious, and their chief decoration being the
antlers of deer shot in the surrounding forest. On
the bare walls of two of the principal apartments
are roughly sketched, by the masterly hand of
Landseer, several of his best known and finest pro-
ductions, and among them 'The Challenge,' and
' The Stag at Bay.' There is a splendid collection
of stags' heads in the long corridor from which the