Hide

KIRKLISTON - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

hide
Hide

The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]
"KIRKLISTON, (or K'liston), a parish partly in county Edinburgh and partly in county Linlithgow, Scotland, 9 miles W. of Edinburgh. It is intersected by the Falkirk and Edinburgh turnpike road, and by the Edinburgh and Glasgow railway, which latter has a station at Winchburgh, and a viaduct of thirty arches across the river Almond, in this parish. It comprehends a village of its own name and the villages of Newbridge, Niddry, and Ninchburgh. Its length is 5½ miles, and its greatest breadth 4½. The surface is varied by rising grounds.

The soil, which is rich, is well cultivated, and produces excellent crops. Here Lord Stair first introduced the culture of cabbages in the open fields. The river Almond bisects the parish, which is also watered by Brox-burn. The Edinburgh Union canal passes through the district. Stone is quarried here to a large extent. Near the village are mineral springs.

The parish is in the presbytery of Linlithgow, and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, in the patronage of the crown. The minister's stipend is £285. The parish church is an ancient and commodious structure. It contains the graves of the Earl of Stair, of Kirkliston, and of his grandmother Dame Margaret, the original of Lady Ashton, in Sir Walter Scott's "Bride of Lammermoor". The church formerly belonged to the Knights Templars, hence the ancient name of the place, Temple Liston. Here are also a Free church and several schools.

Within a field on the E. bank of the Almond stands a remarkable monument of antiquity called the "Catstane", supposed to be a corruption of Constantine. This stone is believed to commemorate the slaughter, near this spot, of Constantine the usurper, in a battle fought in 955 with Kenneth, the brother of King Malcolm. In a field in this parish King Edward I. is said to have encamped on his way to Falkirk, in 1298.

Hallyards, Newliston, Clifton Hall, Ingleston, and Foxhall are the chief seats. An ancient structure called Eliston, on the Earl of Hopetoun's estate, is supposed to have been at one period a hunting seat of the kings of Scotland. At Niddry Castle, a seat of the Earls of Wintoun, Mary Queen of Scots is said to have passed a night, whilst on her flight from Lochleven to Hamilton. A fair is held at the village on the last Tuesday in July.

"NEWBRIDGE, a village in the parish of Kirkliston, county Edinburgh, Scotland, 10 miles W. of Edinburgh. It is situated on the Glasgow railway and Almond water."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]


© Copyright Colin Hinson, GENUKI and contributors, 1999-2006, &c.