A topographical Dictionary of Scotland ... and an elegant sheet map

Front matter

A TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY Of SCOTLAND, CONTAINING A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE KINGDOM, WITH A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE COUNTIES, PARISHES, ISLANnS, LAKES, RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, VALLEYS, CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, OBJECTS OF NATURAL HISTORY, SCENERY OF THE COUNTRY, MINERALOGY, ANTIQUITIES, SsC SfC. SsC. TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES OF EACH COUNTY, THE REVENUES OF TOWNS, AND OF ALL THE BEL1GI0US HOUSES AT THE TIME OF THE KFFOKMATION, <§C AND AN Clegant §>tjeet St^ap. BY DAVID WEBSTER, EDINBURGH: MINTED FOE D. WEBSTER, NO. 6, HOESE WYKD, THE FUB J.I. STUCK, AND SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS. U. SCHAV,-, LAWN MARKET, PRINTER. 1817.

Preface

. ]So apology, we presume, is necessary for presenting to the Public the following work. The increasing demand for Gazetteers and Geographical Dictionaries is a sufficient proof of their utility ; and their value will be in proportion to the quantity of correct information they contain. No knowledge is of more importance to any man, than that of the country in which he lives, and of that community of which he is a member. To facilitate the knowledge of our own country is the object of the present work. Two editions of the Gazetteer of Scotland have already appeared. In that work, no doubt, a great deal of valuable information is contained ; but it contains also a great number of errors and inaccuracies, which later and better information has discovered. These we have corrected as far as our knowledge extended.

At the same time, the Editor does not pretend that his own work is faultless. In a book containing several thousand articles, and the matter so multifarious, it is almost impossible to avoid inadvertencies; these, we trust, are however not numerous. In describing the boundaries of parishes, we may have made some mistakes, as there are no actual surveys of several counties, at least, that we had access to; also in giving the distances between country villages, they are understood to be computed miles in many cases : The great towns, &c. are all from actual measurement. The population for 1801 and 1811 are both given, but 1811 is not repeated, as the last number always refers to that year. The abbreviations will be easily understood, as E. for east, W. for west, N. E. for north east, &c. In the Introduction will be found an account of our Scotish money and coinage, which the Editor flatters himself will be found accurate: this he has given a little more in detail, as it is a subject not generally understood, and of considerable importance in understanding mir history, and the ancient state of the country.

PREFACE.

. IV In this work is given an accurate account of all the counties, parishes, and islands5<in the northern part of the united kingdom; their situation, extent, and boundaries ; the nature of the soil and climate, the state of agriculture, trade, and manufactures ; together with the natural history, mineralogy, and scenery, peculiar to each district : also a particular description of all the cities, towns, and villages ; an account of their public buildings ; the trade, commerce, and manufactures of each ; their distances from the neighbouring towns; their municipal government and revenues. Likewise, a description of all the mountains, with their elevations ; the lakes, the rise and course of the rivers, and their auxiliary streams. Ob jects of antiquity are particularly described, and an account of the revenues of all the religious houses as they stood at the Reforma tion: also an account of the weights and measures peculiar to e.ich county.

In the description of places, notice is taken of me morable events, battles, &c. and of the birth of eminent men. : In short, neither expense nor pains have been spared to render the work as complete and useful as possible. Agricultural surveys and county maps have been carefully examined, and every other source of information attended to that could in any way contribute to the accuracy ofthe work. And, finally, the Editor hopes he has given to the Public a work containing far more authentic informa tion respecting Scotland than has ever appeared in one volume, and at a very moderate price. E D 1 N b u n G II, > April 1817. \