head of the Kyle, yet on the boundary with Durness,
in the sublime Ben-Hope. See Ben-Hope and
AIoiN. On its east side, it consists of a series of
rounded and comparatively soft and gentle hills,
whose inner declivities and skirts have been exten-
sively tracked and embellished with cultivation. Ir.
its transverse part across the head of the Kyle, it
consists of the body and arms of Benlaoghal, one
of the most magnificent and picturesque mountains
in the Highlands. " At the southern extremity of a
low extensive valley," the valley of the Kyle, says
the writer in the New Statistical Account, "it starts
up majestically to the height of 2,508 feet, present-
ing towards its base an expanded breast of 2 miles
in breadth, and cleft at its top into four massy, tower-
ing, and splintered peaks, standing boldly aloof from
each other. The highest stands proudly forward to
occupy the foreground ; the rest recede a little, as if
each were unwilling to protrude itself, from a con-
scious inferiority to its predecessor. As a graceful
finish to its outlines, it stretches forth an arm on
either side, as if to embrace condescendingly the
other mountain ranges, which may well acknowledge
it as chief, and which may readily be fancied as do-
ing it homage." The summits of ti.is pinnacled and
almost perpendicular mountain-mass present to the
fancy, at one point of view, the outline of a lion
couchant, and, at another, a close resemblance to the
outline of the whole royal arms. At its base lies a
lake about a mile in length, and a fine wood of birch ;
and immediately below rises a low hilly ridge from
the plain, and extends northward to the shore of the
Kyle, at a point 2^ miles from its head, and there
shoots up in a conical, precipitous promontory,
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762
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crowiiefl I'y tlie picturesque old ruin of Castle- Var-
rich. About a mile further north, a point or tongue
of land runs nearly 1^ mile right into the Kyle, and
almost bisects it. At the commencement of this
slender and beautiful peninsula, overhung by the
craggy mountain-height of the promontory, stands
the fine old baronial mansion of Tongue-house, its
garden walls washed by the waves, and its environs
shaded with noble old trees. This edifice is an an-
cient aggregation of successive structures, the work
of many generations, a grotesque collection of ma-
sonry formed and run together in defiance of all archi-
tectural rule or taste; and, though now the property
of the Duke of Sutherland, it has all the associations
of having been the principal seat of Lord Reay, the
chief of the clan Mackay, and he from whom a large
section of Sutherlandshire has the name of Lord
Reay's country. So rich is the great amphitheatre
of the parish in the pictures and power of choice
landscape, that even Dr. Macculloch, amidst his
general dissatisfaction with the north, desiderates
nothing more than wood on the Moin in order to its
being one of the richest museums of scenery in the
Highlands. Wood, natural and planted, covers
about 700 acres. The lands in tillage comprise only
about 1,000 acres; but might be profitably extended
to 3,000. The soil of the arable grounds is occa-
sionally a light loam, or a rich black loam, but pre-
vailingly a compound of moss, gravel, sand, and clay.
Gneiss is the principal rock, and is capped, on some
hills, with conglomerate; sieuite forms Ben-Laoghal;
mica-schist forms part of the range on the western
border; and a fine conglomerate and the old red
sandstone constitute Eilean-na-roan. The mica-
schist is quarried, at two places, into respectively
slates and ilags. Garnets occur in the gjieiss ; black
manganese ore on Ben-Laoghal ; and bog-iron in
numerous localities. Moss, capable of being cut for
fuel, and imbedding much fir, covers an extensive
area. The village of Tongue or KirkiboU is plea-
santly situated on the slope of a hill, about a mile
south of Tongue-house, 44 miles from Thurso, 71
from Bonar-bridge, and 83 from Dornoch. It con-
sists of only a few scattered cottages, the church,
the manse, and a neat and comfortable inn; but it is
the seat of a post-office, and a key-point of commu-
nication with all the extreme north-west of Scot-
Lind. A mail-coach runs thrice a-week between it
and Thurso; and a mail-gig, with seats for three
passengers, runs twice a-week between it and Gol-
spie. Parliamentary and county trust-roads traverse
the parish to an aggregate extent of about 26 miles.
The Tongue road — so named from an inlet of the
sea where it terminates on the north coast of Suther-
land — has its southern extremity at Bonar-bridge;
from which place, passing along the north side of the
Dornoch-fVith to the river Shin, it ascends to Loch-
Shin, and then proceeds up Strath-Tarne till it at-
tains its summit at a place called the Crask. In its
descent to the northward, after touching upon Loch-
Naver, it penetrates Lord Reay's Country, near Loch-
Layghall or Loyall, and reaches the North sea at
Tongue, thus entirely dividing Sutherland by a line
almost 50 miles in length. Population, in 1801,
1,348; in 1831,2,030. Houses 3o0. Assessed pro-
perty, in 1815, £1,529 — Tongue is the seat of a
presbytery, in the synod of Sutherland and Caith-
ness. Patron, the Crown. Stipend £158 6s. Sd. ;
glebe £35. The church is supposed to have been
erected before the Reformation, and was enlarged
in 1680. Sittings 495. A catechist is appointed
and paid by the parishioners. A mission in the
Melness district is maintained by the Society for
propagating Christian knowledge. The church,
situated at Tulnune, was built in 1836 at the ex-
pense of the Duchess of Sutherland. Sittings 300,
with capacity for an additional 200. Stipend £50,
with a manse. In 1834 the parish school was
attended by 60 scholars; and 5 other schools by
307. Parochial schoolmaster's salary £34 5s. 6d.,
with about £10 fees, and £6 10s. other emoluments.
The parish was erected, in 1724, out of Durness and
Edderachylis. Traces of an old chapel and ceme-
tery exist on the Eilean-na-naoimh.
TORLTJM. See Muthil.
TOROGAY, an Hebridean islet of probably 2
miles in circumference, between North Uist and
Bernera.
TOROSAY, a district and parish in the island
of Mull, Argyleshire. The district is comprehended
in the parish, gives it its name, and lies along the.
east coast of the island, opposite Loch-Linnhe and
Lorn. The parish extends from north to south 12
miles, by the shortest road, but in consequence of
the great sweep which the island here makes to
the east, it extends along the coast, irrespective of
sinuosities, about 22 miles; and it stretches from
east to west quite across the island, measuring in
one place 18^ miles, and in another only 3^. The
large sea-lochs — Buy on the south, and Spewe and
Don on the east — are within its limits. The bays
of Duart, Cougnahenach, Macallister, and Penny-
gown, also indent the east coast. The long broad
liay of Loch-na-Keal washes part of the west.
There are 10 or 11 fresh-water lakes; but oidy 2 of
considerable size. The general surface of the parish
is heath-clad mountain. The loftiest summit is the
grand and far-seeing Benmore : which see. Ben-
taluidh, or the prospect mountain, called by marin-
ers ' The Sugar-loaf,' in allusion to its shape, com-
mands on all sides a very extensive view. There
are several woods, chiefly birch, with some oak and
ash. On a lofty promontory overhanging the sound
of Mull, stands Duart-Castle : whicli see. On a
small eminence near Beimiore, and at the head of
Loch-na-Keal, stands the mansion of Mr. Campbell
of Knock, amidst a considerable extent ot cultivated,
planted, and embellished ground, which, at a very
recent date, was bleak and barren. For topographi-
cal, geological, and other details, see article Mull.
The chief ferry from Mull to Kerrera and Oban, has
its station at Achnacraig, on the south side of the
entrance of Loch-Don ; and there are three other
stated ferries respectively to IMorven, to Lismore,
and to Nether-Lorn. One line of good road runs
along the whole east and south coast of the parish ;
and another traverses the interior. Population, in
1801, 1,764; in 1831, 1,889. Houses 321 — Torosay
is in the presbytery of Mull, and synod of Argyle.
Patron, the Duke of Argyle. Stipend £172 18s.
4(1.; glebe £!l. Schoolmaster's salary £15, with
£5 fees. — Districts of the parish have been erected
into the quoad sacra parishes of Salen and Kinloch-
Spelvie. Salen is separately noticed. Kinloch-
Spelvie has a Government church, with the usual
stipend of £120; and is in the patronage of the
Crown. Schoolmaster's salary £15 8s. lOJd., with
£8 fees. There is a Society's school.
TORPHICHEN, a parish in the extreme west ol
Linlithgowshire, projecting, for some distance, be-
tween Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire. It is an elon-
gated band of country, stretching from north-east to
! south-west; and it is bounded on the north-west
side by Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire, and Linlithgow ;
on the north-east end by Linlithgow; on the south-
east side by Bathgate and iianarkshire ; and on the
south-west end by Lanarkshire. Its greatest length
is nearly 10 miles ; its greatest breadth is nearly 3
miles; and its superficial extent is 163 square miles.
Polness-burn, a tributary of the Avon, and after-
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763
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wards the Avon itself, jointly trace nearly the whole
of the north-western boundary; and the former ex-
pands at one place into a lochlet, about half-a-mile
in circumference ; Barbauchlaw-burn and Ballencrietf-
water trace most of the south-east boundary ; and,
at their union, they form the Luijgie, and send it
across the narrowest part of the parish to the Avon.
A lake, 1^ mile north-east of the village of Tor-
phichen, and measuring about a mile in circumfer-
ence, contains pike, perch, and eel. The surface of
the parish sends up the highest land in West Lothian ;
and, compared with the general aspect of that fine
champaign county, is markedly tumulated, and, at
the north-cast end, boldly hilly. The south-west
district is naturally moorish; and the north-east dis-
trict, besides containing other marked heights, sends
up Cairn-Naple 1,498 feet above sea-level. Yet,
making abatements for cold wet moor toward the
west, and some little aggregate extent of hill-pasture
on the east, the parish is generally fertile, and has
an enclosed, well-cultivated, warm, and wealthy ap-
pearance. A judicious distribution of planted trees
has materially served both to shelter and to beautify.
Five or six mansions, and their environing lawns and
woods, are also embellishing. Coal occurs, but not,
as it would seem, in much abundance. Ironstone of
good quality occurs in two seams, each 5 inches thick.
Sandstone and whinstone are quarried for the con-
struction both of houses and offences. The village
of Torphichen stands on the north-east end of the
parish, 2k miles north by west of Bathgate, and i^
south-south-west of Linlithgow. It is situated on
a sheltered plain, away from all post-roads or tho-
roughfares, and was once a place of great importance,
as it is of high antiquity; but it now consists of only
a few cottages, and has a straggling and deserted
appearance. The village or haudet of Blackridge
stands on the Barbauchlaw-burn, and on the middle
road between Edinburgh and Glasgow, near the
southern extremity of the parish, 5k miles west by
south of Bathgate. Population of the parish, in
1801, 1,028; in 1831, 1,:JU7. Houses 250. Assessed
property, in 1815, £5,300. — Torphichen is in the
presbytery of Linlithgow, and synod of Lothian and
Tweeddale. Patron, Lord Torphichen. Stipend
£163 13s. 7d. ; glebe £12. The parish-church was
built about 1756-8, and has not ^ince been altered.
A quoad sacra parish-church was built in lH38 at
Blackridge, at a cost of £4b0. Sittings 402. The
district, parochially attached to it by the presbytery,
includes all within a radius of 2 miles round the
village; comprehends parts of the parishes of Shotts,
Bathgate, Slarnannan, and New Monkland; and has
a population of about 900. Torphichen, quoad ci-
vilia, contained, in 1638, according to ecclesiastical
census, 880 churchmen, 414 dissenters, and 3 non-
descripts, — in all, a population of 1,299. There are
3 schools, 2 of them parochial, and the other private.
Salary of the first parochial schoolmaster £34 4s.
45(1., with £14 fees, and £4 or £5 other emoluments;
of the second, £25 lis. l.^d., with £11 17s. 8d.
fees A little north-east of the village of Torphi-
chen are some remains of the hospital or preceptory
of Torphichen, the principal residence of the knights
of St. John of Jerusalem. Of the church of the pre-
ceptory, the chancel and the nave are entirely gone,
and only the choir and the transepts now remain.
The nave is traditionally reported to have been of
great length; but is now satirically represented by
a plain edifice, of the size, form, and appearance, of
a barn, — the modern parish-church. The Gothic
window of the southern transept makes some wrin-
kled pretensions to faded beauty, and tiie four i)il!ars
which support the central tower display some archi-
tectural grace ; but the other parts which remain of
the edifice do not prove it to have been either capa-
cious or very ornamental. The belfry or steeple is
ascended by a narrow spiral stair; and has such com-
parative meanness of altitude and aspect as to be
not altogether unsuitably now occupied as a dove-
cot. Within the choir are the baptismal font, a
curious recess where corpses were laid during the
celebration of the funeral service, and the monument
of Sir Walter Lindsay, the second last preceptor.
Fragments of old massive buildings in the village,
and the stones in the fences over the face of the
adjacent country, indicate how great and magnificent
a seat of population once surrounded the church. A
stone, resembling a common mile-stone, but with a
cross carved upon its top, and situated in the church-
yard near the west end of the present church, marked
the centre of a privileged sanctuary-ground attached
to the preceptory ; and similar stones are said to
have stood at the extremities or corners of that
ground, each a mile distant from the centre. All
the space within the circle drawn round these extreme
stones, was as much a legal sanctuary as the church
at its centre, and afforded protection against the law
to every criminal or debtor who entered and remained
within its precincts. The knights were introduced
to this establishment by David I., and had many
possessions conferred on them by him and his suc-
cessors; and afterwards when the Knights-Templars
were unfrocked and put under ban, they inherited the
extensive property of that great rival order. In
1291 and 1296, Alexander de Wells, " prior hospi-
talis sancti Joharniis Jerusalomitani in Scotia," swore
fealty to Edward I.; and in 1298, he was shun in
the battle of Falkirk. From precepts which Edward
issued to the sheriffs to restore the property of the
knights, the preceptory or the order seems, even at
that early period, to have had estates in almost every
shire except Argyle, Bute, and Orkney. Radulph
de Lindsay was preceptor under Robert I. Sir
Henry Livingston was preceptor under James II.,
and died in 1463. Sir Henry Knolls, the next pre-
ceptor, governed the order in Scotland during half-
a-century, and was commonly called Lord St. John.
He was treasurer to James HI. from 1468 to 1470;
he joined the party who hunted down that monarch
to his unhappy end; he was appointed in 14i9-90,
to collect the royal revenues in Linlithgowshire; and
after being much employed by James IV., he fell
fighting by his side on the field of Flodden. Sir
George Dundas, his successor in the preceptorship,
was the school-fellow ot Hector Boece, and is praised
for his learning. Sir Walter Lindsay, the next pre-
ceptor, was a knight of no small fame, and rose to
be Justice-general of Scotland. Sir James Sandi-
lands, the last on the list, joined the Reformers in
1560; and, on his paying down 10,000 crowns, and
engaging to pay an annual rent of 500 merks, he
received the remaining estates of the order as a
temporal barony, and was raised to the peerage under
the title of Lord Torphichen. His descendants,
whose family -seat is Calder-house, in Mid-Lothian,
continue to enjoy the title.
TORRANCE, a village in the parish of Campsie,
Stirlingshire. Population 672.
TORRIDON (Loch), a large inlet of the sea,
between Gairloch and Applecross, on the west coast
of Ross-shire. It consists of three compartments,
connected by narrow straits. The outer loch ex-
tends 6^ miles south-eastward, with a mean breadth
of about 2k miles; the middle loch is identical with
SHiELDAG"[which See] ; and the inner loch extends
neai-ly 3 miles eastward, with a mean breadth of
about 1 i mile. The united loch is, as a whole, the
most striking in the magnificent and frequently in-
dented coast which it intersects; but though iin-
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764
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pressive for its grandeur, and imposing for its extent,
it is not remarkable for beauty. In 1840, there were
upwards of 3,001) persons employed in the herring-
fisher} in this loch, and upwards of 10,000 barrels
per week were cured while the fishing lasted. Tor-
ridon is of easy access both by land and sea. The
Great Parliamentary road from Dingwall to the West
coast passes through the village of Jeantown of
Lochcarron (distant from Dingwall about 50 miles),
from which a district-road extends al)out 15 miles to
the village and loch of Shildaig, which communicates
directly with Loch-Torridon. There is also a dis -
trict-road striking off from the main road at Auch-
nasheen (which is (iistiuit from Dingwall about 30
miles), leading direct to the Mansion-house. A
steam-packet from and to Glnsgow pa-ses weekly
through Lochalsh, a few honrs' sail or drive from
Torridon.
TORRISDALE. See Tongue.
TORRY, a fishing-village in the parish of Nigg,
Kincardineshire. It stands on the right bank of the
river Dee, opposite the city of Aberdeen, and 1^
mile west of the point of Girdleness. It has a to-
lerable harbour, and a pier for small vessels. Its
fishermen carry haddocks and other fish to the mar-
ket of Aberdeen ; but they are now fewer than for-
merly, and have at present not more than 3 or 4
boats. Population 370.
TORRYBURN, a parish in Fifeshire, formed by
the union of the baronies of Torry and Crombie ;
the former anciently belonged to the family of Ward-
law, the other to the Colvilles of Cleish. It is
bounded by Culross and Carnock on the west and
north; by Dunfermline on the east; and by the Forth
on the south. It lies in the western extremity of
the county, upon the coast of the frith of Forth,
extending about 5 miles in length, and 1^ in breadth:
the soil in general is good, and well-cultivated.
Valued rent £5,255 Scots. Assessed property
£5,009. In the parish are several seams of coal.
Near the village is the mansion-house of Torry, the
seat of Captain James Erskine. Population, in 1801,
1,403; in 1831, 1,436 The village of Torryburn
is 9 miles west of North-Ferry, 4 south-west of
Dunfermline, and 2 east of Culross. It is situated
on the coast, and was once the port of Dunfermline.
Making of salt and some cotton-weaving are the
only manufactures carried on in it. There is another
harbour at Crombie This parish is in the presbytery
of Dunfermline, and synod of Fife. Patron, Stuart
of Carnock. Stipend £179 9s. 4d. ; glebe £10 13s.
4d — The schoolmaster has the maximum salary.
There is a subscription-school at Crombie.
TORS A, one of the slate islands, off the coast of
Nether-Lorn, Argyleshire. It is separated by only
narrow straits, from Seil on the north, the continent
on the west, and Luing on the east. The strait
between it and Luing offers a communication across
from ebb till half-tide, by a rocky bar not 100 yards
in breadth; and is rendered so intricate and whirling
by rocks and rocky islets, that the tide sweeps it
with great rapidity, and in a perfect dance of com-
plicated movement. The island is an irregular el-
lipsoid, the longer axis extending north-east and
south-west; and it measures about 3 miles by I.
Its surface exhibits one smooth green hill, scarcely
2U0 feet high, and a ride of still lower elevation on
the west, both descending in gentle slopes to the
sea. The whole of its east side, excepting a few
trap rocks, and a little greywacke, consists of the
same clay-slate as that for which Luing and Seil are
celebrated.
TORTHORWALD, a parish in the debateable
district between Lower Nithsdale and Lower An-
nandalo, Dumfries-shire. It is bounded on the
I north-west and north by Tinwald; on the north-
1 east by Lochmaben ; on the east by Lochmaben and
I IMousewald ; on the south-east by Mousewald; on
the south-west by Caerlaverock and Dumfries; and
on the west by Dumfries. Its extreme length from
north to south is 6.^ miles ; its extreme breadth near
I the north, or over Torthorwald village, is 3^ miles ;
j its mean breadth over 4 miles on the south, is only
I about a mile, and there it tapers to a point ; and its
superficial extent is 8| square miles, or 5,600 Eng-
lish acres. The sluggish Lochar traces the whole
I western boundary ; and a sluggish tributary to it,
called Wathburn, traces 4J miles of the eastern
boundary. A belt half-a-mile broad along all the
upper part of the Lochar, and the whole of the pen-
I insulated ground for 3 miles between it and Wath-
! burn, are sections of Lochak-Moss : which see.
Stripes of these, immediately upon the streams, have
been reclaimed into fine meadow; but all the rest is
a boggy wilderness. The northern and broader dis-
trict, east of the belt of moss, is part of the western
face of a ridge, which runs down from the north of
Tinwald to the south-east of Mousewald, and whose
summit-line is the boundary with Lochmaben. This
brae ascends so gently as to attain an altitude of 600
or 700 feet, only over a base of from 2 to 2^ miles ;
and it is finely variegated into hillock, bank, and
waving hollow; and, as seen from Dumfries or any
point near the Nith, forms a very beautiful part of
the fine eastern hill-screen of Lower Nithsdale. Its
highest ground. Beacon-hill, on the boundary with
Lochmaben, commands, with the single exception of
Criffel, the most extensive view obtainable of the
brilliant scenery of the southern half of Dumfries-
shire, the eastern part of Galloway, the Solvvay frith,
Cumberland, and the Irish sea. Nearly all the braes
are in tillage ; and the small remainder is verdant.
The amount of the parochial area under cultivation
is about 2,600 acres ; 600 of which are regularly
sown with hay. Of the 3,000 remainmg acres, about
3lJ0 are natural meadow, about the same number are
waste ground or upland pasture, only 4 or 5 are
under wood, and all the rest are um-eclaimed por-
tions of Lochar-inoss. Immediately east of the moss
is a fine sandy bank of various breadths ; along the
central declivities of the braes is a rich and fertile
soil ; and, on its eastern border, the ground becomes
cold am! moorish. Marl has been found in great
abundance. Almost the only rock is greywacke.
Vestiges exist of two British camps, each about 90
feet in diameter, and surrounded with, in some places
two, and in others three, concentric trenches — An
old castle, surmounting a small bank on the face of
the braes, and in the vicinity of the village-church
and manse of Torthorwald, is a conspicuous object.
Its walls are very thick ; its mortar is as hard as
stone; its ancient fortifications seem to have been
great; and its form as a ruin, especially as seen
against some particular back-grounds, is decidedly
picturesque. It is traditionally said to have been
built by a shoemaker of the parish, named Skrimple
or Skriry-hard-scraes, by means of a treasure which
he found whilst digging his garden ; and anciently
imbosomed among trees, it seems to have given name
to the parish, the Anglo-Saxon Tor-wald, signifying
' the Tower in the wood.' There are three villages,
— RoucAN [which see], Torthorwald, and Collin.
Torthorwald stands half-way up the brae, on the
road between Dumfries ami Lockerby, 4 miles east-
north-east of Dumfries, and the same distance south-
west of Lochmaben. It is quite an irregular cluster
of cottages, with scarcely 200 inhabitants. Collin
is modern, large, and tidy; but occupies low ground
on the margin of Lochar-moss. It stands on the
L^uinfries and Carlisle mailroad, 3| miles east of
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765
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Dumrries, and 1^ south by west of TorUiorvvald.