Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

LOC
t>05
LOC
nervous disorders, and exceedingly light and very
diuretic. Limestone occurs, but of inferior quality.
Shell-marl has been dug up in large quantities from
the mosses. On a hill in the extreme east there is
a Druidical circle of 9 stones and about 170 feet in
diameter. The spot commands one of the richest
and most extensive prospects in the east of Gallo-
way. Vestiges exist of several peel-houses, some of
which appear to have been surrounded with a fosse.
One of them very ancient, and called Castle-of-hills,
in a Scottish Chronicle of the reign of James VI., is
still entire. On the corner-stone of a porter's lodge
attached to it, as a modern excrescence, is the date
1598. The Dumfries and Portpatrick mailroad
runs across the parish near the northern boundary ;
and other excellent roads traverse it. Population,
in 1801,514; in 1831,050. Houses 114. Assessed
property, in 1S15, £4,174.— Loehrutton is in the
presbytery and synod of Dumfries. Patron, the
Duke of Buccleuch. Stipend £182 6s. 4d. ; glebe
£15. Schoolmaster's salary £30, with £10 10s.
fees, and £5 10s. other emoluments. There is a
private school — The parish was anciently a vicarage
under, first, the nunnery ; and next, the collegiate
church of Lincltiden.
LOCH-RYAN. See Ryan (Loch).
LOCHS, a parish in Ross-shire, in the island of
Lewis, so named from the great number of small
lakes which are interspersed over its surface. It is
about 18 miles in length, exclusive of numerous in-
lets which extend its line of coast to upwards of 90
miles; the average breadth is about 9 miles. A
great part of it is a peninsula, called the Forest of
Lewis, formed by Loch-Seafort and Loch-Erisort.
Along the coast it has a bold and rocky appearance ;
in the interior, the surface is moory and inhospitable,
and there is no soil fit for culture, except what has
been forced into some kind of cultivation in the
creeks by use of sea-weed as a manure, and the in-
dustry of the inhabitants. The Shiant or Holy
Islands belong to this parish : see Shiant. Popu-
lation, in 1801, 1,875; in 1831, 3,067. Houses 630.
— This parish is in the presbytery of Lewis, and synod
ofGlenelg. Patron, the Crown. Stipend £158 6s.
7d. ; glebe £20._Schoolmaster's salary £2S.
LOCH-SPULANDER. See Kirkmichael.
LOCH-STROAN. See Kells.
LOCH-T AY-SIDE. See Ardeonaig.
LOCHTIE (The), a rivulet tributary to the
Lossie, in the parish of Dallas, Morayshire : which
LOCHTOWN. See Longforgan.
LOCH-TURRET, a lake in the parish of Moni-
vaird, Perthshire, about a mile long, and a quarter
of a mile broad.
LOCHTY (The), a small river in Fifeshire,
which takes its rise in the parish of Kinglassie, and,
after an easterly course of 8 or 9 miles, falls into the
Orr a little above its junction with the Leven.
LOCHWINNOCH,* a parish in Renfrewshire,
bounded on the north by Kilmalcolm ; on the north-
east by Kilbarchan ; on the east by the Abbey par-
ish of Paisley and Neilston ; and on the south and
west by Beith and Kilbirnie in Ayrshire. It ex-
* The name is vulgarly pronounced Lochinoch. tlie accent
being laid on the first syllable, and the gutturals being sounded.
It was spelled in from 30 to 40 different ways before the present
orthography was fiually adopted. Iu Semple's work, published
178-.?, it is ' Lochiniocll.' The first syllable of the name evi-
dently refers to the lake or loch iu the neighbourhood of the
village, but the derivation at the remainder is doubtful : it may
either be innich, the genitive of the Celtic word innis, a small
island referring to an islet in the lake ; or Winnoc, a saint to
whom it is said a chapel was here dedicated. There appear to
have been three different saints of that namp, — one, if not two
of whom, was a native of Britain; another was an Iri-h saint.
Other derivatives have been suggested, but they are quite
fanciful.
tends about 12 miles from east to west, and, where
broadest, about 6 miles from north to south ; and
contains 19,219 English acres, of which 9,000 are
cultivated, or capable of cultivation; 9,119 are in
pasture, of all sorts ; 700 are covered by wood ; 300
by water; and 100 by gardens and orchards. The
value of raw produce is about £14,000. In aspect
this parish is greatly diversified. Part consists of
high and bleak hills in the back ground; and part of
a low winding valley of great fertility and beauty.
This valley, with the shelving country towards it on
both sides, contains nearly the whole population.
In its centre is a fine lake, and it is also ornamented
with plantations, whilst the houses of its numerous
small proprietors are each set down under the shade
of a few old trees in the midst of well-cultivated
spots of ground. The whole strath has a warm and
cheerful appearance, insomuch that worthy George
Robertson, in his description of 1818, waxing poeti-
cal for once, justly pronounced it " the very Vale of
iTempe of Renfrewshire." The highest hills in the
county are situated in the western extremity of this
parish. One of these heights — appropriately called
Misty-law — is about 1,240 feet above the level of
the sea ; and another, the hill of Staik, is a few feet
higher. The prospect from Misty-law extends over
12 counties, including the frith of Clyde and its
islands. This hill is surrounded by moorlands,
which abound with game, and afford tolerable pas-
ture for sheep. Another range of high land, mostly
arable, passes through the eastern part of the parish.
The lower grounds are clay and loam ; the higher,
exclusive of moor, are a light dry soil, on rotten rock
or whinstone. Coal is wrought at Hallhill, and lime-
stone at Howwood. Freestone and other kinds of
stone for building abound, and quarries are opened
when they are required. About 2 miles north-west
of Castle-Semple house is a magnetic rock, of which
the following description was given in the Statisti-
cal Account of 1795: "The compass was sensibly
affected all round the rock to the distance of 150
yards. The effect was most remarkable on the east
and west side of it, and, in every direction, it was
greater as the compass was nearer to the rock itself.
In its immediate vicinity, or nearly in a perpendicu-
lar direction above it, the position of the needle
was very unsteady and irregular, and as the compass
was gradually brought nearer the ground, the devi-
ation from the magnetic meridian was more remark-
able, and the vibrations more rapid. When the
compass was set on the ground, the north pole of
the needle invariably directed itself to one small
space of the rock, on whatever side of it the needle
was placed." f The lake already mentioned is pro-
perly called Loch- Winnoch, but more commonly from
the estate it adjoins Castle-Sebiple loch: which see.
When covered with ice, it forms an excellent arena
for the invigorating game of curling, which is keenly
prosecuted by the parishioners. Here, upwards of
half-a-century ago, a famous bonspiel was played be-
tween Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, popularly called
'the Sporting Duke,' and Mr. Macdowall of
Castle-Semple, and their respective tenantry, when,
after a long protracted contest, his Grace's party
gained the day by one shot. In the north-west of
the parish is a sheet of water called Queenside-
loch, containing about 21 acres; and in the opposite
extremity is one much less, called Wa's-loch, which
is remarkable for the quantity of water-lilies it pro-
duces. The river Calder runs wholly within the
parish. It rises on the north-west, on the borders
of Ayrshire, and pursues a winding course towards
Castle-Semple loch, which it enters near the vil-
f Iu the New Philosophical Journal for July — October, 1831,
there is an article respecting such rocks.