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

TAR
74.3
TAR
village has a subscription library, two mason lodges,
several benefit societies, a horse race in August,
and annual fairs in June and October. In 1671, by
a charter of Charles II., it was erected into a free
burgh-of-barony, with the privilege of holding a
weekly market. Population, in 1811, about 750;
in 1821, 1,350. Tarbolton, and its immediate vicin-
ity, abound with reminiscences of the poet Burns.
On the farm of Lochlea, in the neighbourhood, he
resided from his 1 7th to his 24th year as an inmate
of his father's family. In 1780, the village became the
scene of a club which he organized. " The Tarbol-
ton -lodge of Free-masons," to which he addressed a
well-known " Farewell," inserted among his works,
still exists, and derives from his notice of them a
notoriety which men of different views will regard
as highly flattering, or as deeply the reverse. His
extraordinary piece entitled ' Death and Doctor
Hornbook,' is said to have been written after attend-
ing a meeting of this lodge, and with the view of
burlesqueing a person of the name of Wilson, who
united the vocations of parish schoolmaster and a
vender of medicines. Coilstield-house, J of a mile
south-east of the village, is the " Montgomery-
castle " of Burns, the waters around which he pathe-
tically desiderated might "ne'er be drumlie," and it
was at the time when the bard wrote, the residence
of Colonel Hugh Montgomery, who, in 1797, be-
came 12th Earl of Eglinton; and Mary Campbell,
the dairy-maid or " byres- woman " at Coilsfield, was
the personage whom, primely with the aid of one of
the most thrilling of the rich melodies of Caledonia,
and one borrowed from uses of a previous damsel
of the name of Catherine Ogie, he sang into notice
under the well-known name of " Highland Mary." —
The small village of Faileford stands If mile east-
south-east of Tarbolton, at the confluence of the
Faile and the Ayr ; and, commanding an ample sup-
ply of the famous Water-of-Ayr stone, is the seat
of a considerable manufactory of razor hones and
strops.
TARF (The), a beautiful rivulet of Kirkcud-
brightshire. Of two principal head-waters, one
called Anstool-burn rises in the parish of Balmaghie,
and the other called Glengap-burn issues from Loch-
Whinyeon, on the boundary between Girthon and
Twyneholm. These, flowing respectively south-
south-eastward and eastward, form the Tarf, 3 and
4 miles below their respective sources ; and their
united stream, afterwards augmented by seven or
eight small burns, runs southward through the inte-
rior, and along the western edge of Tongueland, to
the Dee, 1| mile above Kirkcudbright. The rivulet
has at the utmost a run of only 11 miles; yet it pos-
sesses some comparative importance as a stream ; it
has frequent inundations, and brings down enriching
deposits to low grounds on its banks; it abounds
with trout and salmon ; and it is, in many places,
adorned along its margins with natural wood and
fertile meadows.
TARF (The), a rivulet of Athole forest, in the
parish of Blair-Athole, Perthshire. But for the
prevailing usage which designates a stream from any
great loch which it may traverse, or any minor loch
or lochlet which may send to it a feeder, the Tarf
would have been recognised as in reality the Tilt.
It rises on the west side of Benvrackie, and flows 9
miles eastward to a point 2 miles south of Loch-
Tilt ; and there it is joined from the north by the
brief stream which is misnamed the Tilt, and from
the east by a_ stream of 5 miles run called Glenmore-
water. The whole course of the Tarf is among the
savage but sublime scenery of the most towering and
impervious part of the great central mountain-range
of Scotland, — that which extends from Bennevis on
the west to Mount-Battock on the east, and thenre
forks to the German ocean.
TARFF (The), a rivulet of about 7 miles length
of course, in Inverness-shire. It rises near the great
glen between Lochs Oich and Ness, and circles round
the south-west end of Stratherrick to the head of
Loch-Ness at Fort-Augustus.
TARLAND and MIGVIE, an united parish,
consisting of four detached districts, in the south-
west division of Aberdeenshire. The most impor-
tant district, or that which contains the village,
measures 2 J miles by 2; and is bounded on the north
by Cushnie ; on the east and south by Cou! ; and on
the west by Logie-Coldstone. The second district
lies a mile west of the former, or li mile north-west
of the village ; measures 2 miles by 1 ; and is bounded
on the north by Towie, and on all other sides by
Logie-Coldstone. The third district lies 5^ miles
north-west of the village; measures 2i miles by 1£;
and is surrounded by Glenbucket, Towie, Logie-
Coldstone, and Strathdon. The fourth district lies
9 miles west-north-west of the village ; measures 6^
miles by 3i ; and is bounded on the west by Banf£
shire, and on all other sides by Strathdon. Owing
to contractions in form, and irregularities of outline,
the entire area is only about 22 square miles. The
first and fourth districts constitute the parish of Tar-
land ; and the second and third, the parish of Migvie.
A rivulet, an affluent of the Dee, traces the south
side of the first and second districts ; and often, in
winter, lays extensive low grounds around the vil-
lage under water. The Don touches, for a consider-
able way, both the third and the fourth districts; and
affluents of it, the Deskry, and the Earnan, respec-
tively traverse them to a confluence with it, — the
former imposing on the district the name of Deskry-
side. Cushnie-hill is partly within the northern
boundary of the first district; and mountains and
pastoral heights occupy much of the area of the other
districts, thin in soil, heathy in dress, and bleak in
aspect. The lands around the village are mostly
low and level ; and aggregately possess a fertile soil.
Plantations are extensive and thriving. The chief
mansions are Skellator, Inverearnan, Candacraig,
and Edinglassie. — The village of Tarland stands
nearly in the centre of the subdivision of Mar, called
Cromar, 9 miles north-east of Ballater, and 31 miles
west by north of Aberdeen. It is a burgh-of-barony,
and has a population of about 340. Here are branch-
offices of the Aberdeen Banking company, and the
North Banking company. A weekly market is held
on Wednesday ; and annual fairs are held on the last
Wednesday of February, old style, the Wednesday
before the 26th of May, the Friday after St. Sairs'
in June, the Friday of the week after Old Rayne in
August, and the Tuesday and Wednesday after the
22d of November, old style. A fair is held also at
Migvie on the 2d Tuesday of March, old style. The
Highlanders of Strathspey, Glenaven, and Mar, re-
sorted for centuries to the fairs of Tarland as the
grand mart for the sale of their cattle ; and they so
exacerbated the inhabitants by their cateran propen-
sities, as to provoke numerous bloody encounters
with staff and steel. The first district is traversed
by the north road from Aberdeen to Ballater and
Braemar ; but the parish in general has limited faci-
lities of communication. Population, in 1801, 922;
in 1831, 1,074. Houses 227. Assessed property,
in 1815, £1,943. — This parish is in the presbytery
of Kincardine O'Neil, and synod of Aberdeen. Pa-
tron, the Crown. Stipend £177 3s. 9d. ; glebe
£14. Unappropriated teinds £101 13s. 7d. The
church of Tarland is situated in the first district,
and was built in 1762. Sittings 4U0. The church
of Migvie is situated in the second district, and was