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34. Boat of Garten. 101 miles from Aberdeen. 43,, Nethy Bridge. Four miles and three quarters from Nethy Bridge brings us to the end of the Strathspey Railway at its junction with the Highland Railway at Boat of Garten. On leaving Nethy Bridge, the line turns sharply to the north, and once more crosses the Spey, running alongside the Highland Railway for a considerable distance before the junction is reached. There is now a small inn here with three beds. 'About a mile from the station, the Queen and the late Prince Consort rested a few minutes at the roadside inn (now closed) of Dunmullie in 1860, where mine host' still exhibits the glass out of which the Prince drank mountain dew. In August 1872 the ex-empress of the French alighted at this station at one o'clock on a Sunday morning, expecting, as is surmised, to find suit

still "The Iron Mill Croft," where in
the beginning of the last century the
York Buildings Company established
ironworks. They purchased in 1728
£7000 worth of the forest of Abernethy,
and continued to work it till 1737. In
the Statistical Account, the Rev. Mr.
Grant, the minister of the parish, says
of them: "They were the most profuse
and profligate set that ever were heard
of in this corner. Their extravagance
of every kind ruined themselves and
corrupted others. Their beginning was
great indeed, with 120 working horses,
saw-mills, iron-mills, and every kind of
implement and apparatus of the best
and most expensive sorts. They used
to display their vanity by bonfires,
tar-barrels, and opening hogsheads of
brandy to the common people, by
which five of them died in one night.
They had a commissary for provisions
and forage at a handsome salary, and
in the end, went off in debt to the pro-
prietors and the country." Notwith-able quarters.
standing all this, they made roads,
introduced saw-mills, and taught the
people how to transport wood. They
brought iron-ore from the hills of Lecht,
near Tomantoul, and smelted it; but
after their break-up, all traces of such
work seem to have disappeared. The
flood of 1829, however, having scooped
out a new channel for itself through
the Croft, exposed the framework of a
gangway across the water, with a plat-
form that seemed to have been the
foundation of the mill-house. The
deep fertile soil had accumulated to a
depth of eight feet, and is now a waste
of sand, gravel, and stones, and but for
the discovery made by the flood, the
exact site of the ironworks would in
all probability never have been known.

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The outlandishness of

the spot, and difficulty arising from the absence of any accommodation beyond that of the refreshment-rooms, was related in the newspapers as an amusing scene.' -(Murray.) Round Boat of Garten the country is flat and uninteresting, but there is always the background of the wild, snow-patched, cloud-capped, Cairngorm Mountains.

The Great North Railway goes no further in this direction, but from this point you can, by the Highland Railway, go south by Athole, the Pass of Killiecrankie, and Dunkeld, to Perth, or north by Forres to Inverness.

We shall retrace our steps to Craigellachie, and explore the line of the Morayshire Railway to Elgin and Lossiemouth.

683

SECTION III.

THE MORAYSHIRE RAILWAY.

35. Dundaleith.

mile from Craigellachie.
Aberdeen.

We have already spoken of the view from Craigellachie, from the bridge above the station buildings. To the left you look up the Spey, spanned by Telford's beautiful iron bridge. To the right you look down the river, spanned here also by another bridge, or viaduct as it is called, carrying the railway to the other side. Looking beyond it, the fine haugh of Dundaleith stretches out to the left, while the grand slope of Ben Aigan to the right is covered with the woods of Arndilly, the mansionhouse itself forming a prominent feature in the foreground. But these objects come in beyond the station.

The viaduct is worthy of a passing notice. "The viaduct and the embankment together crossing the haugh from bank to bank is about half a mile in length, and the greater part of the embankment is about eight feet high. The viaduct consists of four openings, three of them fifty-seven feet each. These are on the Morayshire side of the river, and over the water there is one span of two hundred feet, beneath which the whole river flows when unflooded. This gives a clear water-way of three hundred and seventy-one feet, sufficient to allow a flood like that of 1829 to pass through the viaduct, for the girders on which the platform rests are at least twenty feet above the ordinary level of the water. The abutments and piers are of solid ashlar masonry, founded in such a way, one

would think, as to make assurance doubly sure. The abutment on the Banffshire side, and also the two piers of the great span, have been founded upon cast-iron cylinders, and the land pier and abutment were founded upon a thick bed of concrete, also at a great depth below the bed of the river. These cylinders are each four feet in diameter, and thirteen feet six inches long. They are in two lengths of six feet nine inches each, and are strongly bolted together. Their lower edges were made sharp, so as to penetrate the ground more readily. The main pier was founded upon eighteen of these, the abutment on the Banffshire side upon fifteen, and the small-water pier upon eleven cylinders. They were all placed as close together as their circular form would admit, and were sunk until their bottom edges were fourteen feet below the lower part of the bed of the river, where they rest in gravel and clay. When the cylinders were sunk to their proper depth, all loose earth and stones were carefully removed from them, and they were filled with concrete, and the open spaces between the tops of them were firmly packed in with strong pitching. The lower foundation course of masonry was then laid upon these cylinders, and consisted of broad blocks of stone two feet in thickness, which were so laid that every stone took hold of two or more cylinders, and this course was followed by one of sixteen inches in thickness, breaking joint with the one beneath it.

"Such is the substantial foundation upon which the piers of the viaduct

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The girders are braced together by means of malleable-iron diaphragms of elliptical form on the internal outline; they are placed fifty feet apart, and brace the lattice girders together at the top, bottom, and sides.

"The fifty-seven feet girders and the

were founded. The piers are not perpendicular, but contract towards the top, or have, as a contractor would say, a slight batter, which at once adds to their strength and gives them a light, airy appearance. Each pier has a cutwater facing up the river, and the tops of all the piers and abutments are sur-large lattice girders are securely riveted mounted with a bold ornamental coping together at the main pier, thus formwhich adds beauty to the masonry. ing one continuous girder from end The stones are of various colours and to end of the viaduct. The girders from different quarries, but the whole rest direct upon granite saddle-blocks outside of the piers is built of a at the main piers, and are bolted down strong, dark-coloured freestone from the firmly with strong bolts, built ten feet Middleton quarry near Arbroath, and into the solid masonry. This is the the interior from Lossiemouth, Spynie, only point where the girders are perBishopmill, and other quarries which manently fixed; at the remainder of supplied the rest of the material. the piers and abutments the girders simply rest on turned rollers encased in a properly secured malleable-iron frame. This arrangement is to allow freedom of expansion and contraction in the iron-work."

Dundaleith is a very fine farm. Further down is another called Dundurcus, and below that again Dipple. Higher up we have already seen the haugh of Dalvey. There is a rhyme referring to these:

66

Dipple, Dundurcus, Dundaleith, and
Dalvey,

Are the four bonniest haughs on the
run of the Spey."

36. Rothes.

2

miles from Dundaleith.

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71

Craigellachie.
Aberdeen.

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The bridge consists of malleableiron girders. Plate girders, five feet deep, are used for the three spans of fifty-seven feet, and are placed at a distance of seventeen feet from centre to centre. Malleable-iron cross girders are riveted at four-feet centres to these principal girders, and longitudinal | timber balks bolted down to receive the permanent way. The large framing consists of two malleable-iron lattice girders of two hundred feet clear span. These girders are seventeen feet six inches deep, and are placed seventeen feet apart from centre to centre, the railway being carried upon the lower portion of the girder. The permanent way is supported upon malleable-iron cross girders and longitudinal timber balks, as in the small spans. That portion of the girder immediately Leaving Dundaleith, the Spey bends over the main pier and abutment is to the right and (comes rapidly back to rounded off on the top, both for the a point on which is situated Arndilly purpose of saving material and to im- House, long Grant of Arndilly, now prove the general appearance. The top his niece's, Mrs. Kinloch Grant. ́ ́ Arnand bottom members of the lattice dilly was built on a high mound about girders consist of plates and angle the middle of the last century, and it irons firmly riveted together, the sizes has received considerable additions. It and sections varying according to the contains some good pictures. One of position and relative strain of the the "sculptured stones" is to be met several parts. The lattice bars are all with here. It is built into the wall of formed of angle iron, single or double, the mansion-house, and being about of varying thickness, according to the 2 feet on each side it is nearly square. strength required, and securely riveted It is figured on plate 15 of vol. i. of at the intersections. The spaces or "The Sculptured Stones of Scotland." lattice-bar openings are about two feet It was taken from the wall of the six inches clear, the lattice-bars being old church of Artendol, which formerly placed at an angle of forty-five degrees. I occupied the site of the mansion, and

must have existed in the neighbourhood previously to the erection of that church, which was given to the See of Moray about the beginning of the 16th century. On the stone is a circular ornament which is regarded as a "mirror," with an unknown hieroglyphic, and a figure like the letter Z ornamented at the ends. A little further on we open the vale of Rothes, name which some derive from a Gaelic word meaning the "blending of the water," while others trace it to another Gaelic word, meaning the "red water," so called from the red banks of the river.

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The village of Rothes lies at the foot of a steep bank rising to our left as we pass towards the sea, while on the right stretches out one of those fertile haughs which are features in Strathspey. This is bounded again a little lower down by the high projecting headland of Aikenway, forming the pass of Sourden. This pass is on the Orton branch of the railway, a branch which, leaving the main line of the Morayshire at Rothes, passes down the west bank of the Spey, and joins the Highland Railway where it crosses the Spey at Boat of Bridge.

At this point of Aikenway the distance from the promontory to the opposite hill is only 237 feet, but through this narrow gorge, the road, the railway, and the river find their way. Here, during the flood of 1829, the river rose twenty feet ten inches above its ordinary level, and fifteen inches above the mark made to record the much-talked-of flood of 1738.

The

ruins of the ancient castle of Aikenway may still be traced on the top of the rock.

The Glen of Rothes, north from the village, trends away to the north-west, while from this point the Spey keeps to the north-east. Geologists have the idea that this glen at one time formed the bed of the Spey, discharging its waters at Lossiemouth, before the barrier at the pass of Sourden had given way. We leave the Spey here, our line passing down the Glen of Rothes.

The village lies at the foot of one of those high banks which suggest that

they were once washed by an arm of the sea, which probably filled this valley long ago. The town began to be laid out in 1766, on land belonging to the Earl of Seafield. Its principal industry is the Glen Grant Distillery, commenced in 1840 by Messrs. J. and J. Grant, and situated on the side of Glen Grant burn, near the north end of the village. This distillery is capable of turning out 1600 gallons of whisky weekly.

In the immediate vicinity of the village are the ruins of the fortalice of Rothes, one of the most ancient castles in the country, though the period of its erection is uncertain. In 1238, Eva de Mortach, daughter of Muriol de Poloc, was Domina de Rothes, and in that capacity, she in 1263 bestowed the lands of Inverlochtie on the Cathedral of Moray. Rothes Castle stands on the top of a round and precipitousfaced hill on the north-west side of the vale, and the neck of land that connects its site with the fields, had been cut by a ditch, and crossed by a drawbridge. The keep of the castle was several stories high, and vaulted to the top. A number of lower buildings had been connected with it, and the whole enclosed by a lofty wall,portion of which is the only remnant now standing of the ancient castle. It was burned down by the country people early in this century to prevent thieves from harbouring in it. From Polocs or Pollocks it descended to Leslies, whose chief had the title at one time of Duke of Rothes; then to Grant of Elchies, Earl of Findlater, and it is now the property of the Earl of Seafield.

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"A little to the west rises the Conerock, a considerable hill covered with fir trees. It is principally composed of quartz, variously streaked, and containing angular fragments of other rocks, if they are not sections of crystals of quartz. In the crevices or drusy cavities of loose masses scattered over the hill may be seen numerous small crystals. On climbing to the highest point the labour will be fully recompensed by the splendour of the view. Below lies the village, calmly reposing amid its cultivated fields,

served) the Episcopal See was translated from Spynie to Elgin.

The town is built upon a rising ground to the north of the station; the Lossie flowing at a short distance further on. The castle is at the west end of the main street; and the ruins of the cathedral are at the north-east side of the town, or city as it claims to be called. Its population is 7340. The climate being very salubrious, the natural advantages of the situation great, and educational facilities valuable, it has become a great centre for the residence of people of independent

stretching to the side of the river, that | steals along the opposite side of the valley, at the foot of the well-wooded Ben Aigan, -now lost behind a clump of trees, now shining in the silver beams!' Looking northward, we have a striking view of the Pass of Sourden, and smile at the supposed difficulty of the Spey finding her way through the glen; beyond we can see like a snowwhite thread the suspension bridge, uniting the counties of Moray and Banff, close by the railway viaduct (at Boat-o'-Brig), and the diminishing hills closing the distant view. To the west of the Conerock stretches a wild un-means, whose "suburban villas, with cultivated moor, that gives rise to the streams that cross the streets of the village. One of these streams has cut its channel so deeply as to give the rugged ravine a gloomy aspect, which bears the name of Doony, and in its day has had the honour of being the haunt of fairies."—(Longmuir.)

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"Elgin was a toon,

A toon to live an' dee in."
W. HAY.

The name is supposed to have been derived from Helgy, a victorious general who overran the country about the year 927, and possibly made a settlement at Elgin. At any rate, the word "Helgyn" is still used in the inscription on the Corporation seal. It was a royal burgh in the reign of David I.; and in the reign of Alexander II. (who granted a royal charter in favour of the burgh, which is still carefully pre- |

their tastefully-kept gardens surrounded by tall poplars or shady beeches, denote the affluence and cultivated taste of the inhabitants."

The great feature, however, of Elgin, is the ruined Cathedral, a description of which we quote in abstract from "Morayshire Described," and from Black's Guide. Elgin Cathedral, the church of the Holy Trinity, was founded in 1224 by Bishop Andrew Murray, on a beautiful spot on the side of the river Lossie, the ground being granted by popedom of Honorius, and it is said Alexander II. This was during the that the site was that of a formerly existing church. It is stated to have been completed in eighteen years, under this bishop's despatch. In the days of its pristine grandeur it was no less the glory of Elgin than the boast of Moray and the pride of the north. Like most buildings of its kind, it suffered both from accident and violence. In 1390 it was burned by the "Wolf of Badenoch," a natural son of Robert II., in revenge for a sentence of excommunication issued against him. rebuilding was in progress in 1414, and completed some time after, in a style inferior to few buildings of that age, in the form of a Jerusalem Cross, ornamented with five towers, two of which were at the west end, two at the east, and one in the centre. The church remained entire till 1506, when the great steeple fell down. The stately edifice escaped the violence of the mob at the Reformation, only to be dilapidated in a more deliberate manner.

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