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

CULLEN.
329
CULLEN.
CULHORN. See Stranraer.
OULLALO. See Auchtertool.
CULLKAN. See Colzean.
CULLEN (The), a rivulet of Banffshire. It rises
among the hills at the southern extremity of the
parish of Deskford, and runs about 8 miles through
that parish and the parish of Cullen, chiefly in a
northerly direction, to the Moray frith at Cullen hay.
It is a rapid stream, drives the machinery of several
works, has pure clear water well suited for bleach-
ing, and forms a series of fine features, in a deep
channel of 20 feet in breadth through the noble
grounds of Cullen House.
CULLEN, a parish, containing a post town of the
same name, on the coast of Banffshire. It lies be-
tween the districts of the Boyne and the Enzie, and
consists of Cullen-Proper, with an annexation, quoad
sacra, from the parish of Rathven. It is bounded
on the north — about a mile in extent — by Cullen
bay; on the east by Fordyce; on the south by Desk-
ford ; and on the west by Rathven. From the sea,
southwards, Cullen-Proper, separated from Rathven
by Cullen Water, extends, inland, about 2 miles ;
and from east to west, 1 mile. The annexation from
Rathven extends about 3 miles in length and 2 in
breadth ; and the whole parish is in the form of a
quadrant, having straight lines on the north and
east, and a segment of a circle on the west and
south. The surface commences in a breastwork of
bold, grand rocks at the coast, — rises gently thence
athwart the ancient barony of Ogilvie, whose mo-
dem name of Seafield gives the title of Earl to the
noble proprietor of the whole parish, and of many
lands besides, — swells aloft near the centre into the
fine high conical hill of the Bin of Cullen, to an ele-
vation of 1,076 feet above the level of the sea, — and
rolls or undulates everywhere else into a series of
finely featured landscapes, richly adorned with en-
closures, woods, and farm-culture. Some spots in
Seafield command magnificent prospects ; and the
Bin serves as a far-seen strong-featured landmark
to mariners. The soil near the shore, is sand with
gravel; elsewhere, a few fields are strong clay;
others, light loam upon a tilly bottom ; but in gen-
eral the soil is a fine rich loam upon a bottom of soft
clay. It is well-drained and cultivated, and is suit-
able to the production of any kind of crop, except
perhaps flax, which, though grown here, has always
been a precarious crop on the east coast of Scotland.
The hills in the adjoining parishes of Rathven and
Deskford so steadily attract the clouds and vapours
from the sea, that the air of Cullen is dry, pure, and
extremely salubrious. Most of the fields have a
gentle slope towards the north and east. Previous
to 1744, the Bin was covered with heath, but it was
then richly planted to the very summit by the Earl
of Findlater and Seafield. Cullen House, the low-
land seat of the present Earl of Seafield, — an an-
cient but princely mansion, rich in valuable paint-
ings — stands in the low grounds, behind the town
of Cullen, having a beautiful prospect to the south,
and a fine view of the .Moray frith to the north. It
is picturesquely elevated on a perpendicular rock,
along the southern base of which, Cullen Water,
which animates the beautiful landscape, passes in
a hollow rocky channel 64 feet deep beneath the
mansion walls. Over this stream an excellent
single-arched stone-bridge of 82 feet span, connects
the woods, parks, gardens, and pleasure-grounds,
with the mansion. The plantations, within the um-
brageous recesses of which the mansion is embow-
ered, consist of lofty ash, and a great variety of
other valuable wood, beneath the shady foliage of
which a good bridle-road, besides many delightful
serpentine footwalks, wind, by the easiest acclivi-
ties, to the summit of the Bin, whence the surround-
ing country may be viewed, to a wide extent. Great
additional improvements have been made on these
beautiful policies since their first formation; and in
particular the gardens and parks have been extended
by the literal removal of the old town of Cullen. Not
far from Cullen House is the vestige of a building
in which Elizabeth, queen of Robert the Bruce, is
said to have died. Near the town of Cullen, and
overhanging the sea, is an eminence called the Cas-
tlehill, where are the remains of an ancient fort —
without historical record — whencenumerous vitrified
stones have been extracted. In this quarter of the
parish there are three remarkable masses of flinty
rock, lofty and spiring, named ' the Three Kings of
Cullen,' so called from a legendary tale that a Da-
nish king, a Norwegian king, and a Scottish king
met here to decide their feuds by personal combat.
Partly about the mouth of Cullen Water, but chiefly
at a moorish place called the Baads of Cullen, a
short distance to the west, where are a great many
tumuli, a fierce battle, called the Battle of the Baads,
is said to have been fought in 960 between an army
of Danish invaders and a Scottish army under their
king Indulfus, wherein the Danes were routed and
the Scottish monarch killed. Manufactures of linen
and damask, together with bleaching, were set a-
going in the parish, about the middle of last cen-
tury, and seemed for a time to succeed, but have en-
tirely died out. The herring fishery off the coast
has greatly fluctuated, but other fisheries are more
steady. The total value of the raw produce of the
parish was estimated in 1842 at £3,020 in the rural
departments, and £4,523 in the fishery departments.
Assessed property in 1860, £2,001. There are on
Ciulen Water within the parish a meal-mill, a flax-
mill, and a saw-mill; and there is an extensive dis-
tillery at Tochieneal. Boat-building is always car-
ried on to a considerable extent, and sbip-building
occasionally. The parish is traversed by the road
from Banff to Elgin. Population exclusive of the
Rathven annexation, in 1831, 1,593; in 1861, 1,975.
Houses, 359.
This parish is in the presbytery of Fordyce, and
synod of Aberdeen. Patron, the Earl of Seafield.
Stipend, £156 5s. 8d.; glebe, £27. Schoolmaster's
salary £52 10s., with fees, and a share of the Diek
bequest. The parish church is a cruciform building
of great antiquity, situated only 40 yards from Cul-
len House, and nearly a mile from the present town
of Cullen, enlarged about the year 1798, and con-
taining 800 sittings. It was founded as a chapel
by King Robert Bruce, and refounded as a collegiate
church, for a provost, six prebends, and two singing
boys, by the ancestor of the Earl of Findlater, and
other parties, in 1543. A chapel of ease, called
Seafield church, was built in the Rathven district,
under the impulse of the church extension move-
ment, in 1839, and contains 450 sittings. The
patron of this also is the Earl of Seafield. There is
a Free church in Cullen, whose attendance in 1851
was 500, and whose receipts in 1865 amounted to
£198 5s. 11 Jd. There are also an Independent chapel
and four non -parochial schools. The parish of Cul-
len was disjoined at a remote period from the parish
of Fordyce.
The Town of Cullen stands on the road from
Banff to Elgin, near the head of Cullen bay, and
adjacent to the east bank of Cullen Water, 6 miles
west of Portsoy, 121 north-east of Fochabers, 14
west by north of Banff, and 58J north-west by
north of Aberdeen. From its situation at the mouth
of the Cullen or Culan Water, it was anciently
called Inverculan. That part of the town nearest
the mouth of the stream, however, is at present