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

DOURA.
396
DOWN-HILL.
prisons on the ground floor on each side of the entry,
all of them of the same frightful description. The
building was formerly covered with stones or slates ;
but no part of the roof now remains. Doune castle
was occupied for the last time as a place of defence
in 1745, by the adherents of Prince Charles, who
planted a twelve-pounder in one of the windows, and
several swivels on the parapets. John Home, the
author of ' Douglas,' and Dr. Witherspoon, after-
wards distinguished as a presbyterian divine, were
confined along with other prisoners taken by the
Pretender's forces. Many of our readers will re-
member the graphic account of their escape, given
by Home in his ' History of the Rebellion.' Sir
Walter Scott passed some of his younger years in
the neighbourhood of Doune castle; and, besides
directly introducing it into his story of Waverley, he
no doubt drew suggestions and delineations from it
into some of his other productions. It is mentioned
also in the ballad which relates the death of the
" Bonnie Earl o' Moray."
Doune was formerly celebrated for the manufac-
ture of skins, Highland purses, and Highland pistols.
But now it is sustained mainly by the cotton-mills
of Deanston, and by the general business of miscel-
laneous handicraft and retail trade. Fairs are held
on the second Wednesday of February, the second
Wednesday of May, the last Wednesday of July,
the first Tuesday and Wednesday and fourth Wed-
nesday of November, and the last Wednesday of
December. The November fairs are great ones,
that on the first Tuesday for sheep, that on the first
Wednesday for black cattle, and that on the fourth
Wednesday for both sheep and cattle. The town
has an office of the Union Bank, an office of the
Eoyal Bank, a gas company, a free masons' lodge,
a free gardeners' lodge, and a curling club; and it
has likewise a station on the Callander branch of
the Scottish Central railway. About a mile north-
west of Doune stands Doune-Lodge, a seat of the
Earl of Moray, formerly belonging to the Edmon-
stones, and then called Cambus- Wallace. Popula-
tion of the town in 1841, 1,559 ; in 1861, 1,25G.
DOUNIES. See Banchory-Devenick.
DOUN-EEAY. See Reay.
DOURA, a collier village in the parish of Kil-
winning, Ayrshire. The coal-works in its vicinity
are of great extent, and are connected with the Ar-
drossan branch of the Glasgow and Ayr railway by
a single-line railroad. Population of the village in
1861, 295.
DOVAN (The). See Devon.
DOVECOTHALL, a village in the south-east of
the parish of Paisley, Renfrewshire. Its inhabitants
are employed chieflv in the print-fields of the Levern.
DOVECOTLAND, a village in the East-church
parish of Perth, suburban to the city of Perth.
Population in 1861, 529.
DOVERAN (The). See Deveron.
DOVESLAND, a thickly peopled district of the
southern part of the parish of Paisley, Renfrewshire.
It is inhabited chiefly by weavers.
DOWALLY, a parish, containing a small village
of its own name, in the Strathtay district of Perth-
shire. It was originally a chapelry of Caputh, but
was constituted a separate parish in 1500, and is
now united to Dunkeld. It consists of a main body
and a detached district. The main body has the
outline of a parallelogram, extending 6 miles down
the left bank of the Tay, to the Pleybum, about a
mile from the town of Dunkeld, yet is bounded at
that end by a small interjected portion of Caputh ;
and it marches with Kirkmichael on the east, and
with Logierait on the north. The detached district
is the barony of Dulcapon, situated on the left bank
of the Tummel, three-fourths of a mile in length,
and separated from the main body by Logierait.
The entire parish is estimated, in the New Statistical
Account, to comprise 1,200 acres of arable land, 300
of pasture, 10,200 of woods, and 200 of lakes, — in
all, 12,000 acres. The main body consists of a nar-
row band of low ground along the Tay, and a grand
forest-clad range of overhanging heights. Some ol
the heights, however, are pleasantly pastoral, while
others are abundantly stocked with roe deer, and
with various kinds of game. The rocky hills oi
Craigie Bams and Craigiebenean, on the lower
boundary, present a very precipitous and picturesque
appearance. The King's pass, between Craigie
Bams and a large rocky, wooded hill, called the
King's Seat, derives its name from the circumstance
of its having been the place where the Scottish mo-
narchs placed themselves, in order to direct their
shafts with advantage at the flying deer, when driven
that way for their amusement ; and, according to a
story told by William Barclay in his treatise ' Contra
Monarchomachos,' a chase of this kind had very
nearly prevented the future miseries of the unhappy
Mary Stuart. The road, which passes through Dow-
ally to Athole, has been cut with great labour and
expense along the bottom of the King's Seat, which
overhangs the river so closely, and at such a height,
that the timid traveller, who looks over the wall
that has been built to support it, is little disposed to
linger on his way. A lake of about half a mile in
circumference lies on the summit of the hill of
Duchray, at an elevation of nearly 1,900 feet above
sea-level. Loch-Ordie, a much larger lake, lies at an
elevation of about 700 feet. There are also the two
lakes of Rotmel, whence issues the Dowallyburn,
which drives two saw-mills, and runs into the Tay.
The village of Dowally stands on this bum, 4J miles
north by west of Dunkeld. Population of the par
ish in 1861, 971. See Dunkeld.
This parish, notwithstanding its entire union
politically and ecclesiastically with Dunkeld, is
nearly as distinct in the religious connections of its
people, as if it were formally separate. It is a
Gaelic district, while Dunkeld is an English one;
and it has its own minister, church, and school-
master. The minister, indeed, is only the Dunkeld
incumbent's assistant, but he resides in Dowally, and
officiates both in English and in Gaelic. The for-
mer church was built at the time of the separation
of the parish from Caputh, and was a long, narrow,
inelegant structure. The present church was built
in 1818. and contains 220 sittings. Schoolmaster's
salary, £50, with fees.
DOWALTON (Loch), a fresh-water lake on the
mutual border of the parishes of Kirkmuir, Glass-
arton, and Sorbie, Wigtonshire. It has its name
from the family of M'Dowall, the proprietor of the
lands in which it is embosomed ; but is also some-
times called Longcastle Loch. On the north, it
sends out a stream, which, flowing eastward over a
course of 4J miles, and intersecting the parish of
Sorbie, falls into the sea at Garlieston. The lake is
about 3 miles in circumference, and from 5 to 20 feet
deep. On its western side it has an island of about
30 acres in area, on which are traces of an old build-
ing called Longcastle.
DOW-LOCH. See Douloch, Ci.tjnie, and Penpont.
DOWN -HILL, an eminence, rising 580 feet
above sea-level, on the boundary of the parish of
Dunbar, Haddingtonshire. It is remarkable as the
place of the Covenanters' encampment, previous to
their defeat by Cromwell ; and it sometimes gives
to that action the name of the battle of Downhill,
to distinguish it from the battle of Dunbar of the
13th century.