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

RATHVEN.
583
bility.. — The village of Ratho stands in the centre of
the main hody of the parish, 8 miles west by south
of Edinburgh, 4 east-north-east of Mid-Calder, and
2$ south-south-east of Kirkliston. Its site is on the
slope or eastern declivity of the gentle uplands of
the west. It consists of a single two-sided street,
coming down the declivity from west to east, and
bending northward, near the end, to terminate upon
the Union canal. Most of its houses are neat and
recently erected cottages, walled with whinstone,
lintelled with sandstone, and roofed either with tiles
or with slate ; and wearing, in common with the
roadway, a tidy appearance. The village has a small
library, a savings' bank, three friendly societies, a
masonic lodge, and seven or eight drinking-houses.
Population of the village 550 — Bonnington, a hamlet
or small village, consists of about twenty thatched
cottages, and is situated 1J mile to the south-west.
Population 100 Norton figured 50 years ago as a
village, but, in that capacity, is now nearly extinct.
The parish is traversed westward by the Union
canal, the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, and the
Edinburgh and Glasgow turnpike by way of Mid-
Calder ; and it has ample number and extent of other
means of communication. Population, in 1801, 987 ;
in 1831, 1,313. Houses 222. Assessed property,
in 1815, £11,746. — Ratho is in the presbytery of
Edinburgh, and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale.
Patron, the Trustees of Dr. Davidson. Stipend
£264 15s. 2d. ; glebe £16. Unappropriated teinds
£54 Is. 8d. Schoolmaster's salary £34 4s. 4jd.,
with £45 fees, and £6 2s. 6d. other emoluments.
The ancient church of Ratho — the British Rath-au,
' a cleared spot,' ' a bare place,' ' a plain ' — was dedi-
cated to the Virgin Mary; and in the immediate
neighbourhood of the present church there is a foun-
tain still called the Lady's well. The parish was a
rectory till 1429, and it then became a prebend of
the collegiate church of Corstorphine. In 1315 the
barony and patronage of Ratho were, along with
much other property, granted by Robert I. to the
Steward of Scotland, as the dowry of the Princess
Marjory; on the accession of Robert II. to the
throne, they became part of the property of the
King's eldest son, as Prince of Scotland ; and, in
1404, they were, with the other estates, erected into
a principality for the Prince, with regal jurisdiction.
Among eminent persons connected with the parish
were Dr. William Wilkie, ' the Scottish Homer,' one
of its ministers in the last century ; Sir William
Liston, the British ambassador at seven foreign
courts, the proprietor of Milburn-tower ; and Sir
William Fettes, a resident and heritor, whose vast
property was bequeathed for the establishment in
Edinburgh, of the great Fettes institution.
RATHVEN, a parish on the coast of Banffshire ;
bounded on the north by the Moray frith ; on the
east by Cullen and Deskford; on the south by
Keith ; and on the west by Belly. Its length from
east to west is 10 miles ; its breadth varies from 3 to
5 miles ; and its superficial extent is estimated at
27,000 Scottish acres. The surface is variegated
with hills and eminences, streams of water, and fer-
tile plains. The Binhill, in the south-east, is nearly
all mantled with wood, and lifts its summit suffi-
ciently high to be a landmark visible at 15 leagues
distance from the coast Maud and Adie hills, con-
tiguous to it, are clothed in russet, and of less eleva-
tion, and stretch away westward to the confines of
the parish. Most of the parochial surface declines
to the north-west, and suffers from the frequent and
bitter north-westerly storms. Yet the climate is
attempered by the vicinity of the sea, and the wind-
ings along its margin of 12miles of coast-line ; and, on
the whole, is favourable to vegetation, and eminently
promotive of health. The soil is very various; in
one corner a light and extremely rich loam superin-
cumbent on clay; in another corner, a thin yet fer-
tile loam on a red soft earth ; in some places, a light
sand; in other places, a stiff clay ; and almost every-
where, except in the sandy districts, a soil powdered
all over, and profusely intermixed with small water-
worn stones. The distribution of the lands, at the
date of the Old Statistical Account, was into 16,200
acres of hills, moors, and mosses; 4,700 of arable
grounds; 4,500 of woodlands ; and 1,600 of meadow
and artificial pasture. Limestone, sandstone, and
slate abound, and are quarried. A beautiful whitish
sand, affirmed to be almost equal in fineness to any
in Holland, occurs in great quantity near Litchie-
ston. Three medicinal wells formerly attracted
some notice. A large heap of stones, called the
King's Cairn, and crowning an eminence near Wood-
side, is pointed out by tradition as the grave of King
Indulphus of Scotland, who is said to have been
slain in the vicinity after obtaining a complete vic-
tory over the Danes. Abercromby places this vic-
tory in the year 961 ; Buchanan, in 967. Not far
distant is a great number of small cairns, alleged to
be the burial-places of the Danes who fell in the en-
gagement. Numerous cairns occur also on the farm
of Westerside. Two ruins, called Green and Tro-
nach castles, crown two hills which screen the sides
of the harbour of Portnockie. The villages of the
parish — all upon the coast, and upheld chiefly by
fisheries — are Buckie, Porteasv, Finbochtie,
Portnockie, and Port-Gordon. See these ar-
ticles. The parish is traversed near the coast by
the road from Fraserburgh to Fochabers. Popu-
lation, in 1801, 3,901; in 1831, 6,484. Houses
1,352. Assessed property, in 1815, £7,336 .
Rathven is in the presbytery of Fordyce, and synod
of Aberdeen. Patron, Hay of Ramies and Leith-
hall. Stipend £206 12s. 7d. ; glebe £12. Unap-
propriated teinds £1,082 4s. 6d. The parish-church
was built in 1794. Sittings 1,000. A portion of the
parish at its eastern extremity, and containing the
village of Portnockie, has long been united quoad
sacra to Cullen : which see. Another portion, at
the middle of the coast district, was recently erected
into the quoad sacra parish of Buckie : which also
see. Another portion, at the eastern extremity, and
containing the village of Port-Gordon, forms part of
the quoad sacra parish of Enzie. That parish was
erected out of Rathven and Bellie, in 18j6, and
measures between its extreme points nearly 6 miles
by about 4. Its church was built in 1785, and en-
larged in 1815 and 1822. Sittings 400. Stipend
£62, derived from a fund set apart by a private in-
dividual, and placed under the charge of the com-
mittee for managing the royal bounty. Population,
in 1836, 1,814; of whom 1,060 were churchmen,
673 Roman Catholics, and 81 Episcopalians. —Rath-
ven, after deducting the Cullen and Enzie portions,
but including the whole quoad sacra parish of
Buckie, measures, between its extreme points, 5
miles by 4, and was estimated, in 1837, to have then
a population of nearly 4,000 A Scottish Episcopa-
lian chapel was built, about 54 years ago, at Arra-
doul. Sittings 210. Stipend £150. A Roman
Catholic chapel, with 800 sittings, was built, in 1 788,
at Presholm ; and the congregation who use it as-
semble also in a hall at Buckie, which has 400 sit-
tings, and is rented at £5. — In 1834, the parish-
school was attended by 56 scholars ; and 15 other
schools were attended by 633. Parochial school-
master's salary £32 Is. 7d. ; with £10 3s. 6d. fees,
and £37 5s. 6d. other emoluments. The property
of a lazar-house, founded about the year 1226, by
John Bisset, still yields each of 6 bedesmen half an