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

CORSTORPHINE.
303
CORTACHY.
is about 4 miles ; and its greatest breadth is about
2J miles. The surface is in general level, and, over
n great part of its extent, spreads into a smooth
plain. The grounds of greatest elevation are those
which go by the name of Corstorphine-hill, — an ap-
pellation they hardly could have gained unless from
being in a manner insulated in the midst of rich
valleys. This hill, or rather ridge, on the south and
west sides, rises from the plain to the height of 474 feet
above sea-level, by an easy ascent ; on the east side,
it is more precipitate, and runs north, in an indented
cristated form, into the borders of Cramond. There
are no metals or coals mined in this parish ; but
there are very fine quarries of freestone, -which was
formerly much in request for buildings in Edinburgh.
There are also, on the lands of Clermiston, inex-
haustible quarries of trap or blue whinstone. The
parish is watered by the Gogar, and by the water of
Leith. There is a sulphureous mineral spring near
Corstorphine, wiricli once conferred on that village
considerable celebrity. When it was in repute,
about the middle of last century, the village was a
place of fashionable resort for the citizens of Edin-
burgh, and had its balls and other amusements com-
mon to watering-places. The place was then
famous also for a peculiar delicacy called ' Corstor-
phine cream.' The mystery of preparing this is
thus described in the Old Statistical Account: —
" They put the milk, when fresh drawn, into a
barrel, or wooden vessel, which is submitted to a
certain degree of heat, generally by immersion in
warm water ; this accelerates the stage of fermenta-
tion. The serous is separated from the other parts
of the milk, the oleaginous and coagulable ; the
serum is drawn off by a hole in the lower part of
the vessel ; what remains is put into the plunge-
churn, and after being agitated for some time, is
sent to market as Corstorphine cream." There is
growing near the village a sycamore tree, one of the
largest in Scotland, which, in the end of May and
beginning of June, exhibits an appearance of the
most striking beauty. That side which is exposed
to the sun is of the richest vivid yellow hue ; hence
this tree is easily distinguished at a great distance.
Slips which have been taken from it have thriven
very well in other parts of the countiy. A consider-
able extent of land around the village is rich garden
ground, and produces great quantities of straw-
berries, tree-fruit, and pot- vegetables for the Edin-
burgh market. Much of the parish also is adorned
with fine residences ; and a large aggregate of it,
including the greater part of Corstorphine hill, is
covered with wood. There are fourteen landowners.
The real rental is between £13,000 and £14,000. The
middle road from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and the
Edinburgh and Glasgow railway traverse the parish ;
and the latter has stations for Corstorphine and
Gogar. The village of Corstorphine is situated on
the Edinburgh and Glasgow road, 3J miles west of
Edinburgh. It stands at the commencement of the
slow ascent of Corstorphine hill, slightly above a
great expanse of rich alluvial country; and com-
mands a brilliant view across that expanse to the
Craig-Lockhart and Pentland Hills. It has a shel-
tered, pleasant, prosperous appearance, and requires
nothing but draining to make it one of the most
agreeable summer retreats near the metropolis. It
for some time lost its attractions for visitors, and
was going into decay ; but in 1832 it began to re-
new its youth by the erection of a number of neat
cottages ; and since then it has continued to im-
prove, so as once more to get into fame among
the summer-retirers of Edinburgh ; and now it en-
joys communication with that city many times a-day
by the railway trains and by an omnibus of its own.
Population in 1841, 372; in 1861, 688. Popula
tion of the parish in 1831, 1,461 ; in 1861, 1,570.
Houses, 289. Assessed property in 1843, £9,954
0s. 3d. ; in 1860, £13,118.
This parish is in the synod of Lothian and Tweed-
dale, and presbytery of Edinburgh. It includes part
of the ancient parish of Gogar, and also a part of
St. Cuthbert's united to it in 1633. Patron, Sir W.
H. D. Cunyngham, Bart. Stipend, about £200 ;
glebe, £30. The church is an ancient building, of
Gothic architecture, in the form of a Jerusalem
cross. The present church was founded near the
parish-church of this place, by Sir John Forester of
Corstorphine. Lord-high-chamberlain of Scotland, in
1429, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, for a
provost, 5 prebendaries, and 2 singing-boys. It was
a collegiate church, to which belonged those of Cor-
storphine, Dalmahoy, Hatton, Cramond, Collinton,
&c. The teinds of Ratho, half of the teinds of Ad-
derton, and of Upper-Gogar, were appropriated to
the revenues of this college. The first provost was
Nicholas Bannatyne, who died in 1470, and was
buried in the church, where his epitaph still remains.
The coat-of-arms of the family of Forester is every-
where dispersed over the building ; and within the
church, in niches, are several monumental remains
of this family, with effigies cut in stone as large
as life. The male figures are covered with com-
plete armour, and the female appear richly orna-
mented according to the fashion and dress of the
times. The roof is supported by strong arches ; and
the whole building seems to have suffered little by
the waste of time. The number of sittings in it is
470. The stipend of the parish-schoolmaster is
£50, with about £31 fees. He has amongst other
emoluments, a small piece of ground or glebe, near
the extent of an acre, contiguous to the village ; and
besides this, an acre of ground upon the side of the
water of Leith, near Coltbridge, which is called the
Lamp-acre ; its proceeds having been destined for
defraying the expenses of a lamp which hung in the
east end of the church of Corstorphine. There are
various conjectures concerning the use this lamp was
intended to serve. Some say that it was in honour
of the Virgin, before whose statue it was lighted up;
others, and with more probability, think that it
served as a beacon to direct travellers from Edin-
burgh, along a road which, in those times, was
swampy, difficult, and dangerous. A small ancient
chapel stands at Gogar, but it does not appear to
have been used as a place of worship since the Re-
formation. A burying-ground around it is still in
use. There is a Free church in the village of Cor-
storphine : attendance, 300 ; the yearly sum raised
in 1865 was £256 9s. 1 1 id. There is one private
school.
CORTACHY and CLOVA, an united parish in
the north-west of Forfarshire; bounded by Aber-
deenshire, and by the parishes of Lochlee, Lethnot,
Tannadice, Kirriemuir, Kingoldram, and Glenisla;
and stretching south-eastward, Clova uppermost and
Cortachy lowermost, from the sources of the South
Esk along the course of that river to within 3 miles
of Kirriemuir, which is the post-town. Clova is
nearly 10 miles long and 7 broad; and Cortachy is
about 13 miles long and from 2 to 8 broad. The
South Esk rises in a multitude of small streams in
the north-west of Clova ; flows south-east through
that district, and enters Cortachy about 1 J mile below
the kirk-town of Clova ; receives numerous tribu-
taries, chiefly on the northern side, while flowing
through Cortachy ; and from Cross Bog till its
junction with the Prosen water, divides Cortachy
from Tannadice. The soil is in general poor with a
wet and cold bottom. A part, however, of the haugh-