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Ballantrae
BALLANTRAE, a large parish forming the
south-east corner of Ayrshire. It is bounded on the north and
north-east by the parish of Colmonell; on the east and south-east by
the parish of New Luce in Wigtonshire; on the south by that of Inch in
Wigtonshire; on the south-west by Loch Ryan; and on the west by the
Irish sea. The extent of sea-coast is about 12 miles. The shore,
excepting for about 2 miles opposite to the village of Ballantrae, is
in general high and rocky, having a tremendous surf or swell beating
against it when the wind blows from the west or north-west. Opposite
to this coast the sea appears land-locked: for a most spacious bay of
nearly 25 or 30 leagues diameter is formed by part of the coast of
Galloway, part of the two counties of Down and Antrim in Ireland, the
east coast of Argyleshire, part of Dumbartonshire, and the whole
stretch of coast along the shire of Ayr for about 80 miles. All this
vast extent of coast is easily discernible by the naked eye in a clear
day, together with the islands of Sana, Arran, Bute, and the two small
islands of Cumbrae. The land rises with a gradual slope from the shore
to the tops of the mountains forming part of that extensive range of
hills which stretches across the south of Scotland almost from the
Irish sea to the frith of Forth beyond Edinburgh. The highest hill is
that of Beinerard, about 6 miles south-east of Ballantrae, which,
according to Thomson's atlas has an elevation of 1,430 feet. The
surface is much diversified with heights and hollows, intersected by
little streams of water descending from the hills. All beyond the
mountains towards the east is soft mossy ground covered with heath and
ling {common Old World heath}. The principal river is the ARDSTINCHAR:
see that article. There is another stream called the App, which flows
in a south-west direction through Glenapp into Loch Ryan. Mr. Aiton
estimated the superficial area of this parish at 49,000 Scots acres;
in the Statistical report of 1838 it is estimated at between 24,000
and 25,000 of which about 7,000 are arable. The valued rental is
£3,551 1s. 6d. Scots; the real rental in 1790, about £2,000, but, in
1838, nearly £7,500. The want of roads, complained of in the
Statistical report of 1791, has now been remedied; there is a good
turnpike-road from Stranraer to the village of Ballantrae, a distance
of 17 miles, and also from Ballantrae to Girvan, a distance of 12½
miles; besides numerous branch-roads. The village of Ballantrae
consists of about 84 houses, with a population of 456. It now enjoys
regular steam-communication with Glasgow at least three times a-week.
Population of the parish, in 1801, 837; in 1831, 1,506. Houses 263.
Assessed property, in 1815, £4,684. - The parish
of Ballantrae is in the presbytery of Stranraer, and synod of
Galloway. Both the parish of Ballantrae, and the neighbouring parish
of Colmonell, were originally connected with the presbytery of Ayr,
and synod of Glasgow and Ayr; but were disjoined in 1699, on account
of their great distance from the seat of presbytery, and annexed to
the presbytery of Stranraer and synod of Galloway. Patroness, the
Duchess De Coigny. Stipend £258 1s. 3d., with a manse, and a glebe {A
plot of land belonging or yielding profit to a parish church or an
ecclesiastical office.} of the value of £15 10s. Church built in 1819;
sittings 600. Parochial schoolmaster's salary £31 4s., with £16 school
fees, and £16 other emoluments. Average number of pupils 40. There are
three private schools in this parish, which were attended, in 1834, by
about 80 pupils. There is a chapel and a school in Glenapp. — Chambers
says: "The inhabitants of this part of the country were, till within
the last twenty or thirty years, almost as wild and rude as the remote
Highlanders of Ross-shire, though no doubt a great deal wealthier. And
what the natural circumstances of the district gave rise to, was
greatly influenced, at one period, by the lawless state into which
much of the population was thrown by smuggling. It is not yet more
than forty years, since the immense bands of people, who, in this
district, attend funerals, would fall out on the road to the parish
town, where the church-yard is situated, and without regard to the
sober character of their duty, set down the corpse and fight out to
quarrel, with fists, sticks, and such other rustic weapons as they
happened to be possessed of, till, in the end, one party had to quit
the field discomfited, leaving the other to finish the business of the
funeral. Brandy, from the French luggers that were perpetually
"hovering on the coast, was the grand inspiration in these polymachia,
which, it is needless to say, are totally unknown in our own
discreeter times. Another fact may be mentioned, as evincing the state
of barbarity from which Ballantrae has recently emerged, that previous
to the end of the eighteenth century, there was not a single
individual connected with the three learned faculties, not so much as
a justice of the peace, in the whole district, nor within twelve miles
of it." — The only antiquities within the parish are the remains of an
old church at the north-east extremity of the parish, which seems to
have been formerly the parish-church, and to have been deserted for
the present one as being more commodious for the inhabitants; and the
remains of a large old castle adjoining the village, and situated upon
a high rock now within the minister's glebe, which about a century ago
belonged to the Lords of Bargeny.
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