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Further progress on Great North Road— Village of Milnathort— Parish of
Orwell—Castle of Burleigh and its proprietors—History of the Balfour
family—Road from Milnathort to Damhead—Church of Arngask—Glen Farg and the
Bein Bin—Old road from Damhead to Perth—The Wicks of Baiglie—Sir Walter
Scott's account of distant view of Perth from that neighbourhood—Old
drove-road to the Kirk of Dron— The Rocking-stone— Mill and hamlet of Dron,
Kinross is 16 miles from
Queensferry and 17 from Perth. Quitting the town at its north extremity, and
continuing along the Great North Road for two miles, we reach Milnathort, a
large village, or rather small town, containing several woollen factories,
and forming a centre of convergence from several roads, which here join the
Great North highway. One of these branches off to the north-east, leading to
Cupar, through the opening between the Ochil and Lomond hills; another goes
round the head of Loch Leven, and, as already described, skirts its eastern
shore, passing through the Balgedies and Kinnesswood to Scotlandwell,
Auchmoor Bridge, and Leslie; and a third leads west from Milnathort to
Dollar, a distance of 12 miles, through Cambo and the Yetts of Muckhart.
Milnathort (Hotels: The
Thistle and The Royal), though not particularly attractive in itself, is a
thriving manufacturing place, with some good villas in the vicinity. The
name seems to be the Gaelic muilcan-a-thairt, the "cross mill" or " mill on
the farther side," the town being divided into two portions by a rivulet
from a mill on which the appellation would arise.1
It is the principal place in the parish of Orwell, the church of which —a
plain building—is situated on an eminence immediately behind the town, on
the north. Milnathort displays, moreover, a grand recently erected U.P.
church, with a spire; a Free church; and a town hall, with a spire and
clock; whilst on the road between it and Kinross an Episcopal chapel has
recently been erected.
The parish of Orwell
comprises the chief part of the north of Kinross-shire, and is separated
from Strathearn in Perthshire by the Oehils. These stretch across the north
border of the county from west to east, but decline considerably in height
from what they attain to in the counties of Stirling and Clackmannan, and
have only an elevation of from iooo to T500 feet. One of these heights,
north-north-west from Milnathort, is termed Cairnavain, from an tnmense
collection of stones which once existed on its summit, but are now greatly
reduced in number, in consequence of having been carried away many years ago
by the then proprietor, to the amount of hundreds of cart-loads, for the
purpose of building field-dykes. A legend clung to the cairn, as embodied in
the following popular rhyme:—
"In the Dryburn well, beneath
a stane,
You'll find the key of Cairnavain,
That'll mak a' Scotland rich ane by ane."
When the stones were carted
away, as above stated, great expectations were formed by the labourers as to
what they might find in the way of treasure-trove. But nothing more valuable
was discovered than a stone coffin in the centre of the cairn, containing an
urn of bones, partly charred. This affords a demonstration of what is coming
now to be pretty generally received among antiquaries as the raison d'etre
of most of these cairns, standing-stones, and so-called druidical circles.
It seems to be satisfactorily ascertained that the erection of these has in
almost all cases been for sepulchral purposes, and rarely either as stones
of commemoration or places of religious worship. Besides that found at
Cairnavain, urns filled with burnt bones have been found on the farm of
Holeton, and at other places along the sides of the Ochil Hills.
From Milnathort to Damhead by
the Great North Road is a distance of four miles. Just after quitting the
former there will be seen on the right-hand side of the way, about a quarter
of a mile off, the ruins of the castle of Burleigh, situated about a mile
from the north shore of Loch Leven. They consist of the square donjon or
keep, of which the basement storey is vaulted, and access may be gained to
the first floor by a dangerously frail trap or ladder, which I would warn
the traveller to be very cautious in ascending. Above this have been three
other storeys, but the wooden floors have disappeared. A courtyard extends
to the south of the keep, and had evidently formerly been surrounded by
buildings, of which nothing now remains but a circular tower at the
south-west extremity, connected with the keep by a wall pierced by a fine
arched gateway, and surmounted by a sort of rampart or gallery. The round
tower consists of three storeys, the two upper of which are occupied by the
foreman of the adjoining farm of Burleigh.
The castle has evidently at
"one time been a place of considerable size and importance. It may be
reached also from the road from Kinross to Scotlandwell, by turning aside
into afield at Burgher Bridge, which crosses the North Queich a mile to the
west of the old kirk of Orwell. From Burgher Bridge by this bypath Burleigh
Castle is half a mile due north; and from the former place a long straight
road leads west past the mansion of Lethangie to the Great North Road, which
it turns a little to the north of the town of Kinross.
The lands of Burleigh were
erected into a barony in the fifteenth century by James II. in favour of its
proprietors, the Balfours, who in 1606 received a further accession of
dignity in being raised to the peerage. Charles II., on the occasion of his
expedition to Scotland in 1650, was entertained at the castle, whilst on his
way from Perth to Dunfermline, by Lord Balfour of Burleigh. He inspected,
Sir James Balfour informs us, his host's "cabmett of varieties, and at his
departure my lord presented his majestie with a falcon."
A sad disgrace overtook the
Burleigh family in the beginning of the last century. Robert Balfour, only
son of the then lord, and heir-apparent to the estate and title, had
conceived a violent passion for a young woman in a rank of life beneath
himself, and to cure lnm of the attachment he was sent abroad to travel.
Returning after a year or two's absence to his native country, he sought
again the object of his affections, and to his rage and dismay found that
she had become the wife of Mr Henry Stenhouse, schoolmaster of Inverkeithing.
Lying in wait for the unfortunate husband, young Balfour shot him dead at
his own door, was arrested subsequently, and sentenced by the High Court of
Justiciary to be beheaded. He escaped from prison by changing clothes with
his sister, concealed himself for a while in an old tree at Burleigh Castle,
and' succeeded at last in retreating to the Continent. He returned from
thence, and took part in the insurrection of 1715, for which he incurred the
doom of forfeiture—though, having previously been outlawed for the crime of
murder, it remained a question whether any further attainder attached to the
estate and title. Contriving again to escape to the Continent, he died
abroad without leaving issue. Of his two sisters, one died unmarried, but
the other married Brigadier-General Bruce of Kennet. As the Burleigh peerage
is transmissible to females, it was maintained that the right to it remained
vested in Mrs Bruce. It was never taken up, however, by her or her family
till about twenty years ago, when it was successfully claimed by her lineal
descendant, Mr Bruce of Kennet, the present Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
Burleigh Castle and its lands
are now the property of Sir Graham Montgomery, having been purchased by his
ancestor, Mr Graham of Kinross. There used to be a great deal of fine old
timber about the castle, but this has almost all either decayed from old
age, or been blown down by storms. Till within the last seventy years the
old ash-tree which had furnished concealment within its hollow trunk to
young Balfour, the proscribed outlaw, was in existence, about twenty yards
westwards of the great tower. It had already received considerable damage,
and was completely destroyed by a tempest on Old Handsel Monday in 1822.
At the point where Burleigh
Castle comes into view, the old road to Damhead and Perth branches off to
the left, keeping first due north, and then proceeding in a direction nearly
parallel with the present one, but carried along a sort of rising ground or
terrace. In point of distance this is the shorter route to Damhead by nearly
a mile, and though somewhat hilly, it is still maintained in excellent
order. Near the same point another road proceeds by the mansion of
Hattonburn (Henry J. Montgomery, Esq.), across the Ochils by the Path of
Condie to Invermay.
The Great North Road between
Kinross and Damhead, after leaving Milnathort and losing sight of Loch
Leven, «s of a very dreary character, being bleak and solitary, without any
of those grander features which often impart an interest to a wild and
unfrequented country. It cannot indeed be said on the whole that Kinross is
an attractive county, and the interest attaching to it may be said to begin
and end in Loch Leven. Its greatest length from the western extremity of
Cleish parish to the eastern border of Portmoak is about twelve miles, and
from Kelty Bridge on the south to Damhead on the north its greatest breadth
is about ten. It has an extent of 44,800 imperial acres, or about seventy
square miles; and though it contains a large amount of level ground, much of
this is very poor soil. Like Fife, it used to be noted for its great number
of small proprietors, almost every farm in the county having been at one
time a separate lairdship. And the Kinross lairds, like their congeners in
Fife, enjoyed ail extended reputation ift the way of convivial and bibulous
proclivities. It should be remembered also, however, that among the people
generally the leading characteristics were a deep and fervent devotional
feeling, and the Covenanting element was in former days especially strong.
During the last century the western district of Fife and the county of
Kinross were the cradle In a great measure of the Secession Church, and
furnished most of the ministers and people who originally cast in their lot
with that movement.
Damhead, four miles from
Milnathort, and six from Kinross, is a village in the parish of Arngask, and
the meeting-place of three counties—Perth, Kinross, and Fife—to all of which
Arngask belongs in nearly equal portions. The parish church is situated in
Fife, at the top of the hill, near Arngask House, and about half a mile from
the village. It was originally a chapel, belonging to the Abbey of
Cambuskenneth, and was erected into a parish church in 1527. The present
building is of the plain economical type, which characterises generally the
country churches in Scotland erected subsequent to the Reformation.
There is a little inn at
Damhead, called the Damhead Hotel, where the hungry and not too fastidious
traveller may obtain a good plain meal at small cost. The river Farg, a
clear stream, coming down from the Ochils, here turns north-north-east, and
flows through Glen Farg, separating the counties of Perth and Fife, and
falling into the Earn at Culfargie. The Great North Road skirts the Farg as
it descends between the wood-clad sides of the magnificent glen of the same
name into Strathearn. This is certainly the finest portion of the journey,
and perhaps the only bit of grand scenery that is to be met with on the road
between Queensferry and the Bridge of Earn. A railway is in course of
construction through this beautiful glen, which will shorten considerably
the distance between Perth and Edinburgh. Half way down Glen Farg, in a
romantic situation, about three miles from Damhead, four and a half from
Bridge of Earn, and eight miles from Perth, is the small but comfortable
Bein Inn, much frequented by excursion parties from the Fair City. In the
old coaching days this was the third and last stage on the road from
Queensferry to Perth, but the building which then formed the inn is a little
farther down the hill than the present caravanserai. The other
stopping-places for change of horses were Cowdenbeath and Kinross.
About three-quarters of a
mile from the Bern Inn, on the side of Damhead and a little to the right of
the road, is a large stone, known as the Rocking-stone of Balvaird, and
capable at one time of being moved by the slightest pressure. The pivot,
however, on which it rests has long been choked Bp with earth and gravel,
and it is now consequently as firmly set as one of the Ochils.
The present road through Glen
Farg to the Bridge of Earn was constructed in the years 1808-10, but the
portion from Damhead to Milnathort was not laid down till 1832. For a little
distance beyond Damhead the old highway has been suppressed as far as the
lodge of the avenue leading to the mansion of Paris, now known as West
Fordel. From this last point a new cut leading down hill to the east
connects the old. Perth road with the present Great North Road through Glen
Farg. The junction with the latter is effected at the distance of about a
mile from Damhead and two miles from the Bein Inn. The road from West Fordel
then crosses first the Great North Road, and almost immediately afterwards
the river Farg by the biidge called Paris Bridge. From this it continues up
hill in an easterly direction, but its further course is beyond the scope of
the present work.
The old road from Damhead to
Perth leads over the pass through the Ochils known as the Wicks of Baiglie.
As Sir Walter Scott has rendered this locality classical from his reference
to it in the introduction to the ' Fair Maid of Perth,' and the splendid
prospect which he states as obtainable from thence of the Fair City, I shall
perhaps be pardoned for treating the subject a little more at length than
might otherwise be deemed necessary.
Most people who have been
induced to visit this spot in the hope of enjoying the prospect of Perth
which Sir Walter has described in such glowing terms, have also concluded
naturally enough that it is the present old road to that town to which he
refers, in contradistinction to the one made in the beginning of the present
century through Glen Farg. Proceeding on this premiss, they have all
returned declaring that it is a complete mistake to assert that Perth can be
seen either from the Wicks of Baiglie or any other point on the old road
from Kinross, and that the Great Magician must have been thinking of the
view from Moncrieff Hill on the south bank of the Tay. In one respect they
are quite right; the city of Perth is visible from no point of the road,
either over the Wicks of Baiglie or through Glen Farg, till the crest is
reached of Moncrieff Hill, from which the traveller looks down upon the
city.
But may Sir Walter not have
been misunderstood? Let it be remembered that the point from which he says
Perth can be seen is one on the old road leading from Kinross to the Kirk of
Dron, a place which the old road to Perth does not pass through but leaves
on its left. And let it also be kept in mind that what is now called the old
road is, comparatively speaking, a new one, and was certainly so in Sir
Walter's younger days, when he witnessed the prospect with which he
represents Chrystal Croftangry as so much delighted.
Now it happens that the old
road from Kinross to Perth by the Kirk of Dron is what is known as the
"Drove-road," and which, though still perfectly practicable in many places,
has yet in others been almost completely effaced. It crosses the old Perth
road from Damhead about two miles from the latter place, and one mile from
the top of the steep hill or brae which marks the locality of the Wicks of
Baiglie. If the traveller has any curiosity in following up such matters,
let him turn aside here,1 through a gate on the left-hand side of the way,
and follow the windings of the Drove-road through a field to the top of the
rising ground. Here he will see two shepherds' houses, situated nearly in a
line with and about two hundred yards from each other. From either of these
he will be able to obtain directions for guiding him to the Kirk of Dron,
and from either of them he can reach that place, though by different routes.
From the western habitation he can follow, through two grass fields, the
old, almost obliterated track of the Drove-road ; then descending the hill
by a third shepherd's house, he will clearly and unmistakably regain the
track; and lastly, continuing his journey down a beautiful defile, or "glack,"
as it is called in that part of the country, he will shortly find himself at
the attractive hamlet of the Kirk of Dron. Should he elect to proceed by the
easter of the shepherds' houses, he will follow a tolerably well-defined
path which leads due north from this, and then trending round to the left by
the famous rocking-stone, makes the circuit of the hill, and leads down to
the Kirk of Dron by the Mill. The other road just described lies on the hill
to the west of this, and there is a valley between.
On either of these roads the
traveller will at more points than one obtain a glimpse, if the day be
clear, of the town of Perth through the gap on the crest of Moncrieff Hill
above the railway tunnel. I can testify myself, though the day on which I
walked over here was none of the brightest, to having at least seen the high
chimneys of public works at Perth through the opening in question, which is
just above the city. The point of view to which Sir Walter refers is
probably from the Drove-road, a little beyond the third or northmost
shepherd's house, and just before descending to the beautiful defile or "glack"
above Dron. And as Chrystal Croftangry is represented as obtaining the view
whilst seated on a pony, he must have come by the Drove-road—the path over
the hill by the rocking-stone being only accessible to pedestrians. At best
the view of Perth can never be very magnificent from this point, considering
the remoteness of its position, and that the appearance presented by any
town at a great distance is generally insignificant. Yet I can conceive that
to Sir Walter's youthful imagination this view of the Fair City through the
opening in the crest of Moncrieff Hill, with the beautiful foreground of the
vale of Strathearn, may have recalled, more especially if witnessed at early
morn or dewy eve, when the rising or setting sun was gilding the town with
his rays, John Bunyan's description of the Celestial City as seen from the
Delectable Mountains. Another way of obtaining this view is by proceeding to
the Wicks of Baiglie either from the side of Damhead or the Bridge of Earn,
and then ascending the eminence or ridge immediately to the west.
Over this eminence a
footpath, already partially described, leads from the old Perth road to the
Kirk of Dron, and is occasionally used as a short cut by people travelling
in this direction from Damhead. The rocking-stone alone, already alluded to,
is well worth the fatigue of a much longer walk. It lies on the hillside,
about 200 yards due north of the caster of the two shepherds' houses above
mentioned, and about 40 yards from the footpath leading across the hill. It
is a large irregular mass of dark whinstone, about 9 feet long by 5 broad,
and sloping from east to west. At the very least it must weigh three tons,
and yet I could move it qt ite perceptibly by merely pressing it at the
higher end with my ringer and thumb. The history of these stones is
enveloped in mystery, and the only reasonable conclusion that can be come to
is that they were placed there in remote ages in expiation of some crime or
fulfilment of some vow. Possibly, also, the aboriginal priesthood found
their account in the wonderful properties which the populace would be
inclined to ascribe to masses so enormous and yet so easily set in motion.
It is extremely unlikely that any such stone could have been placed in such
a position from natural causes.
The hamlet of the Kirk of
Dron, called also East Dron, is charmingly situated in a recess on the north
side of the Ochils, about a mile to the south of the Bridge of Earn, and
five miles from Perth. The parish of Dron, however, from its situation, used
to suffer considerably in the depth of winter from the want of light and
warmth, both natural and artificial. Many of the bouses were popularly said
never to see the sun from November to February, whilst the distance from any
coal-field and the absence of peat caused fuel to be both scarce and
expensive. In summer has the aspect of a veritable Arcadia. The church is a
handsome structure in the modern Gothic style, and stands on a knoll
overlooking the lower basin of the Tay. The Mill of Dron lies n the hollow
to the south-west of the church, and in the plain between the village and
the Wicks of Baiglie is Balmanno House, the principal mansion in the parish.
Having now arrived in
Strathearn, on the north side of the Ochils and within five miles of Perth,
the limits of my course in this direction have been reached. The Great North
Road and tracts immediately adjoining have been surveyed from North
Queensferry to the Bridge of Earn, and my direction is now "Westward ho!" |
