URIE, THE
picturesque drives within the gates. On the principal
approach there is a high-level bridge over the Cowie,
which cost upwards of £2000. The first known pos-
sessors of the estate were the Frasers, a family of renown
in early Scottish history, whose chief was designated
Thane of Cowie. Through the marriage of Margaret
Fraser with Sir William Keith, it passed to the
Marischal family. The barony of Urie, which then
included the lands of Elsick and Muchalls, was sold in
1413, along with other possessions, to William de Hay,
Lord of Errol. It remained in the possession of the
Hay family till 1640, when the estate of Urie was
purchased by William, Earl Marischal, Elsick and
Muchalls having in the interval passed into other
hands. About 1647 it was sold to Col. David Barclay,
third son of Barclay of Mathers, the representative of
the ancient De Berkeleys. Col. Barclay, ' having reli-
giously abdicated the world in 1666 and joined the
Quakers,' at his death in 1686 was succeeded by his
son, Robert Barclay (1648-90), the famous Quaker
apologist. His great-grandson and namesake (1751-97)
in 1777 married the heiress of Allardice (see Aebuth-
nott), and improved the estate, granting feus, from
which the New Town of Stonehaven has arisen. His
son, Capt. Rt. Barclay- Allardice (1779-1854), was famous
as an agriculturist, and still more for his pedestrian
feats, having in 1903 walked 1000 miles in 1000 con-
secutive hours. At his death the estate was purchased
by the late Alex. Baird, Esq. , ironmaster at Gartsherrie,
who was succeeded in 1862 by his brother, John Baird,
the father of the present laird, Alex. Baird, Esq. (b.
1849; sue. 1870). With the adjacent estate of Rickak-
ton, purchased in 1875, the lands extend to about
10,000 acres, and yield a rental of about £7500. Other
estates owned by Mr Baird are Drumkilbo in Perth and
Forfar shires (1400 acres; rental £2000), and Inshes in
Inverness-shire (2000 ; £3000).— Ord. Swr., sh. 67, 1871.
See W. R. Fraser's History of Laurencekirk (Edinb.
1880).
Urie, The. See Uey.
Urigill, Loch, a troutful lake of Assynt parish,
Sutherland, If mile SW of Altnakealgach Inn. Lying
515 feet above sea-level, it extends 1J mile north-
eastward, varies'in breadth between 1\ and 5J furlongs,
contains four islets, and sends off a stream If mile
north-north-westward to Cam Loch. — Ord. Swr., sh.
101, 1882.
Urquhart (oldest known form Urqwhard; present
form dating from the early part of 16th century; Gaelic
form Urchadain, but the derivation is uncertain), a
coast parish, containing a village of the same name, in
the NE of the county of Elgin. It is bounded NNE by
the Spey Bay portion of the Moray Firth ; at the NE
corner it is separated from Banffshire for If mile, partly
by the present and partly by the former course of the
river Spey ; * and it is bounded SE by the parish of Spey-
rnouth, and SW by the parishes of St Andrews-Lhanbryd
and Drainie. Except for 2g miles at the NW corner,
where the river Lossie forms the whole boundary, from
Arthur's Bridge at Inchbroom to the sea, along the NNE
side, and at the mouth of the Spey, the boundary line is
almost entirely artificial. In shape the parish is tri-
angular — one side lying along the coast from the mouth
of the Lossie to the mouth of the Spey ; another from
the mouth of the Lossie in an irregular line south-east-
ward to the point on the extreme S where the parishes
of Urquhart and St Andrews meet ; and the shortest
side from this point in an irregular line north-eastward
to near the present mouth of the Spey. The first side
measures 74, the second 8£, and the third 5$ miles, all in
straight lines ; and the area is 13,660765 acres, of which
70-988 are water, 501-810 foreshore, and 22-174 tidal
water. The coast is low and sandy, and rising from the
sand are a series of bent-covered hillocks and pebble
beaches, the peculiar features of which have been already
noticed under Elginshire. Part of these to the NW,
extending over an area of from 2 to 3 square miles, and
* Some authorities hold that the line ought to follow the pre-
sent channel of the Spey entirely.
470
URQUHART
covered with heathy scrub, forms a flat tract very
little above sea-level, and known as the Links of Innes.
The rest of the surface is undulating, but nowhere
reaches any great height, the highest point being
the Bin Hill or Black Hill of Moray (223 feet), close
to the sea-coast W of Garmouth. The small Loch of
Cotts (400 x 200 yards) was at one time much larger,
but has been reduced by drainage. In the NW the drain-
age is carried off to the Lossie by means of the Innes
Canal, and elsewhere by small streamlets to the Spey or
the sea. Much of the surface is well wooded, but more
than half is under cultivation, though towards the NW
there is a good deal waste. The soil is light and sandy,
but kindly, and the climate is early and warm. The
underlying rocks are Old Red Sandstone, but the beds
are deeply covered by alluvial deposits, and mixed with
the soil and clay there are in many parts large numbers
of small fragments of rocks belonging to different beds
of Jurassic age. There is a well-preserved though small
stone circle on the farm of Viewfield, N of the village,
and on the side of the road leading from it to the E gate
of Innes House ; and at many points cists and flint
and stone implements of neolithic age have been found,
as well as some fine gold armlets. A particularly large
and interesting find of these was made in 1870 on the
farm of Meft near the SW border. The place seemed
to be an abandoned manufactory of flint implements.
All the best of the specimens found are now in the
Antiquarian Museum in Edinburgh, and an interesting
account of some of them and of all the pre-historic
antiquities of the parish will be found in a paper by the
Rev. James Morrison in the Proceedings of the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland for 1871. It seems to have
been in this parish that Malcolm IV. defeated the
Mormaer of Moray and his followers in 1160, when the
lands of Innes between Lossie and Spey were granted
to Bereowald of Flanders, and large settlements of
'peaceful' Flemings introduced. Prior to this David I.
had attempted to introduce civilisation among the Celtic
natives of the district, by the foundation of a priory,
which stood on low ground to the ENE of the village.
No remains of the buildings have existed since 1654,
when the material was carried off and used for the con-
struction of a granary at Garmouth and the repair of
the manse and churchyard wall. The site can still be
traced. Founded in 1125, the priory was a cell of
Dunfermline Abbey, the Benedictines who were its first
inmates coming from Canterbury. It was united to
Pluscarden by a bull of Pope Nicholas V. in 1453, and
the buildings seem thereafter to have fallen into decay.
In 1866 some oak beams and a curious bronze vessel were
found on the site. The former are in the Elgin Museum,
and the latter is at Duff House. The possessions of the
priory were extensive, and included the lordship of
Urquhart, Fochabers, lands in Durris, Auldearn, and
Dalcross, and fishings on the Spey. The S and E
parts of the parish were in 1591 erected into a temporal
lordship in favour of Alexander Seton, Commendator of
Pluscarden, Baron Urquhart, afterwards Earl of Dun-
fermline. They were purchased by the Duke of Gordon
in 1730, and in 1777 passed by excambion to the Earl
of Fife, who had acquired the estate of Innes in 1767.
An old ruined church, dedicated to St Margaret, wife
of Malcolm Ceannmor, which stood at the village, is
said to have been pulled down and the materials used
in the construction of the present Free and Established
churches in 1844. The village of Urquhart, in the SW,
1 j mileNE of Lhanbryd station, is a small place, occupied
mostly by crofters and labourers. The parish, which con-
tains also the villages of Kingston and Garmouth at
the mouth of the Spey, is traversed for 1 j mile on the
S by the Forres and Keith section of the Highland rail-
way, and for 4 miles near the centre by the Elgin and
Buckie section of the Great North of Scotland railway,
with stations at Urquhart village and Garmouth, the
former 5 and the latter 8 miles E by N of Elgin ; and
there are a number of good district roads. The parish
is in the presbytery of Elgin and the synod of Moray,
and the living is worth £350 a vear. The villages of