ault of such size that it contains 10,000 feet of com- Antiquities. pressed air. Before quitting the subject of mineralogy, it may be added, that some strata of uncommonly pure fireclay have been found in this district.

The tract of country now under consideration contains Antiquities. no great number of vestiges of antiquity. In the parish of Tillicoultry, amidst a thicket of Scots firs, is a druidital circle of rude stones, about five feet and a half in length each, above the ground; the diameter of the circle is about sixty feet. The church of this parish is dedicated to St Servanus or St Serff, whom we formerly mentioned St Serf. as the instructor of St Kentigern. He performed many miracles in this neighbourhood, of which a particular account is given in Winton's Chronicle, an excerpt from which has been published by Mr Pinkerton. In parti cular, he raised two persons from the dead.

In Tillicoultry till a wif

Two sonys he raiset frae ded to lyf.

But his most extraordinary miracle was performed on the occasion of the theft of a favourite ram that was accustomed to accompany the saint. The thief, on suspicion, was brought to the saint; but having denied the crime, the ram, which he had killed and eaten, bleated out of his belly, and thereby convicted him of the offence. The story is thus told.

This holy man had a ratn
That he had fed up of a lam;
And oysit him till folow ay,
Quherever he passit in his way.
A theyf this scheppe in Ackan stal,
And et hym up in pecis smalle.
Quhen Sanct Serf his ram had myst,
Quha that it stal was few that wist

On presumption nevertheless
He that it stal arestyt was; ·

Antiquities

Castle

Campbell, or Castle

Gloom.

Ant till Sanct Serf syne was he broucht,
That scheppe ne said that he stal noucht;
And tharfor for to swer an athe
He said that he walde nocht be laythe e
But sone he werthit rede for schayme,
The scheppe that bletyt in his wayme;
Swa was he tynctyt schamfully
And at Sanct Serf askyt mercy.

Above the village of Dollar, within a recess of the mountains, are the ruins of Castle Campbell. A fine view of them is obtained from a bridge over a small brook that runs through the village. Its situation appears peculiarly wild and inaccessible. It stands on an insulated mount of rock, formed by nature, but partly finished by art. It has a deep ravine or glen upon each hand, with very steep banks, which commence from the foot of the walls. In the bottom of the glen are rivulets, which form beautiful cascades, and unite immediately below the castle. The mount on which the castle stands is connected on one side only with the neighbouring grounds, but disjoined from them by a deep trench, over which there must formerly have been a drawbridge. Excepting at one point, the castle is surrounded by lofty mountains towering to the clouds. On the southern or steep side, however, towards the village of Dollar, is an opening of the mountains, forming a natural vista, through which the adjacent country and the banks of the Forth are seen. The glens on each side of the castle are adorned with natural woods, which nearly cover the rooks interspersed over this romantic scené. The lofty mountain to the north is verdant to the summit.

The history of this castle, or the period of its construction, is not known. It was originally called Castle Gloom; but having become the property of the family of Argyle as far back as the year 1465, its name was

altered to that of Castle Campbell. At the time of the Antiquitin reformation it was the ordinary residence of Archibald Earl of Argyle. This nobleman was the first of the Scottish nobility who publicly ventured to profess the reformed religion; and thereby, in all probability, by the turn which he gave to the character of his clan and descendants, laid the foundation of their misfortunes under the later princes of the house of Stuart, and of the great popularity which is attached to the name of Argyle among the people of the low country of Scotland. In this stronghold the celebrated John Knox found a retreat, and was allowed to preach. In 1644 Castle Campell was burned by Montrose; and since that time it has been suffered to remain in ruin. The tower is still tolerably entire, but the rest of the building is hastening fast into total ruin. Montrose's army, when they burned this castle, destroyed every house in the parish of Dollar, and in the adjoining parish of Muckart in Perthshire, because the inhabitants were Argyle's vassals. By mistake they left a single house in the parish of Muckart unconsumed by fire, from the supposition that it stood on the property of another baron. The castle was anciently supplied with water, in cases of emergency, by means of a secret stair which penetrates downwards, through the solid rock, to one of the adjoining rivulets. The passage is six feet wide, and appears to have been cut with steps, which are now covered with rubbish: partly from the situation, with the trees and impending rocks which overhang the passage, it has become frightful even to look into. It is called Kemp's Score or Cut, from having been formed, as tradition relates, by one of that name, to whom the fortress anciently belonged. He is said to have been a man of gigantic stature and strength, and a robber of such enterprise, that on one occasion he entered the palace at Dun

16

Antiquities.fermline and carried off the king's dinner; but a young

Tower of

Alloa.

Tower of

Яan.

nobleman pursued, and fought and vanquished him, and

cast his body into a pool of the Devan, which is still called, from the name of the victorious champion, Willie's Pool.

Among the antiquities of the county may be noticed the tower of Alloa. It was built prior to the year 1300, and was the residence of the Erskines, Earls of Marr, and is now possessed by the representative of that family. The walls are eleven feet in thicknesss, and the highest turret is eighty-nine feet from the ground. It has been repaired by the present owner, and is inhabited.

The old tower of Clackmannan also merits attention. It Clackman is pleasantly situated on the summit of a hill, commanding an extensive and beautiful prospect over the adjacent tract of country. It was long the seat of the chief of the Bruces. The large square tower is called Robert Bruce's Tower. His two-handed sword and helmet were not long ago preserved here. Near the tower stands the little town of Clackmannan. The Bruces are said to have had a file or string of castles, of which this and another in Stirlingshire were two; they were all within sight of each other, so that they could communicate by signal. When Clack mannan first belonged to the Bruces is uncertain. There is a charter quoted by Douglas as early as the time of King David the Second, dated the 9th of December 1359, wherein that king grants to Sir Robert Bruce (whom he therein styles his dearly beloved relation) the castle and manor of Clackmannan, with divers other lands lying within the sheriffdom of Clackmannan. The royal family of Bruce terminated in a female, who by marriage transferred the crown to the steward of Scotland, giving ire to the royal family of Stuart. According to the an

ties.

tient notion of clanship, the chief was always the nearest Antiqui male representative, and Bruce of Clackmannan, by the failure of the male line in the royal family of Bruce, became chief of the Bruces. Henry Bruce, Esq. last laird of Clackmannan, died in 1772, leaving no male represen tatives; and it is now considered as a question of much difficulty, though perhaps of little importance, whether the Earl of Elgin or Bruce of Kennet is now the chief of that race. The widow of the last laird of Clackman nan died in 1791 at the age of ninety-five. She had in her possession a helmet and a sword of a monstrous size, both said to have been used by King Robert Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn. Both of these she bequeathed to the Earl of Elgin. Adjoining to the old tower of Glackmannan is the house in which the family resided till the direct line became extinct. Both the tower and this old mansion are rapidly falling into ruins. In the same neighbourhood are the remains of some other ancient towers: one in particular at a place called Heart aw, which be longed to the Stewarts of Rosyth, from whom Oliver Cromwell is said to have been descended by the fe male line. Little of it remains; as the proprietor, early in the late century, pulled it down to erect some farm buildings. On the banks of the Devan, on the lands of Sauchie, is a similar tower, more entire than that of Clackmannan; but nothing interesting is known concerning its history.

This county or district contains several beautiful villas. Villas. Of these we have already mentioned that of Alva, and the ancient fabric belonging to the representative of the family of Marr. That of Shawpark is uncommonly con- Shawpark, spicuous. It stands, with its plantations, in the parishes of Alva and Clackmannan; the situation is beautiful, on an elevation proceeding gradually from the Forth, at the VOL. IV. B

&c.