Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/366

Rh ROTHERSTHORPE. 351 ROTHESAY. Thames Tunnel, and was erected in 1815. It has a portrait of Charles I., and the tombstone of Prince Lee Boo, son of the King of the Pelew Isles, who died in 1784 of the small pox. In addition to the parish church are the following district churches, viz. Trinity, Christ Church, and All Saints, the livings of all which are perpet. curs.,* varying in val. from 310 to 207. There are places of worship for Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, and other Nonconformist congregations, also National and other schools, one with an endowment of 40 per annum. The parochial charities produce about 350 per annum. This parish, under the new Poor-law Amendment Act, forms a union of itself, and is also a superintendent registry district, but is included in South- wark new county-court. There are some slight traces of the trench cut by Canute the Great from here to New- ington and Lambeth, in order to besiege the metropolis, and the channel through which the river was turned in 1173 for the rebuilding of London bridge is supposed to have taken a similar course. See LONDON and SOUTH- WARK. KOTHERSTHORPE, a par. in the hund. of Wy- mersley, co. Northampton, 4 miles S.W. of Northamp- ton, its post town. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the Northampton canal, and near the North-Western railway. The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in agriculture. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment under an Enclosure Act, in 1809. The living is a vie. in the dioc. of Peterborough, val. 112. The church, dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul, has a tower containing four bells. The Baptists have a place of worship. ROTHERWAS, a chplry. in the par. of Dinedor, hund. of Webtree, co. Hereford. There is no village, but an old seat overlooking the Wye. The chapel, a small ancient structure, has long been desecrated, and now serves as a barn. ROTHERWICK, a par. in the lower half div. of Odiham hund., co. Hants, 3 miles N.W. of Odiham, 4 S.W. of Hartford-Bridge, and 4 from Winchfield station on the London and South Western railway. The village, which is of small extent, is wholly agricultural. About half the land is arable, and the remainder in meadow, pasture, woodland, and common. Tylney Hall, the ancient seat of the Tylney family, has been taken down, but the park is preserved. The tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of 370. The living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of Winchester, val. 300, in the patron, of the bishop. The church is an ancient structure, and contains some monuments to the Tylney family. There is an endowed school. ROTHES, a par. in the cos. Banff and Elgin, Scot- land. It contains a. vil. of its own name, and part of the ancient parish of Dundurcos. It extends in length along the course of the river Spey, about 9J miles from N.E. to S.W., with a breadth averaging 3 miles. It is bounded by the pars, of Speymouth, Boharm, Aberlour, Knockando, Dallas, Birnie, Elgin, and St. Andrew's, Llanbryd. The surface is tolerably level in the valley of the Spey, but is intersected by hills which form four haughs designated Dandaleith, Rothes, Dundurcos, and Orton. From these haughs the surface rises into numer- ous eminences of considerable altitude, covered with heath or richly wooded. The other parts of the parish are lofty upland of a moory and mossy character, and wear a bleak aspect. At the base of Ben Aigan Hill, on the right bank of the Spey, lies a small detached dis- trict of this parish, extending a little over one mile. The soil is in general dry and sandy, but in the higher grounds it is a mossy earth, while at the base of the hills it is a sharp gravelly mould. The village of Rothes ia about 11 miles S.E. of Elgin, 8J S.W. of Focha- bers, and 3 N. of Aberlour. It is situated in the valley of the Spey, under Ben Aigan, and is a station on the Great North of Scotland railway. In the vicinity are the ruins of the old castle of the Leslies, who took from hence the title of earl. An extensive distillery was estab- lished here in 1840. The valley of the Spey was flooded in 1829. This par. is in the presb. of Aberlour and synod of Moray, and in the patron, of the crown and the Earl of Seafield, who are the principal landowners. The stipend of the minister is 159. The church stands near the centre of the parish on a small brook, which falls into the Spey. There is a Free church, also a parochial school, and five non-parochial. About 2 miles distant from the village of Rothes stands the ruins of old Don- curas church. Fairs are held on the third Thursday in April, second Thursday prior to the 26th May, third Wednesday in July, third Wednesday in October, and the Thursday in November prior to Martinmas. ROTHESAY, called KillMiruic in Gaelic, a par. post and market town, seaport, and royal burgh, and the capital of Buteshire, Scotland, 9 miles N.W. of Largs, 19 S.W. of Greenock, and 40 N.W. of Glas- gow. It is situated at the head of Rothesay Bay on the E. side of the island of Bute, opposite the Kyles of Bate. The par., which extends nearly 10 miles in length by 5 in breadth, comprehends Inchmarcock and part of the island of Bute, including the quoad sacra par. of New Rothesay. It contains, besides the royal burgh of its own name, the post town of Port-Bannatyne, and for- merly the village of North Bute, but this last was con- stituted an independent parish by the court of tiends in March, 1846. It is bounded on the S.E. by Kingarth, and on all other sides by the Kyles of Bute and the Frith of Clyde. Its coast line extends for about 22 miles, along which are Scalpsie, St. Ninian's, and Etterick bays towards the W., and Rothesay and Kaimes bays on the eastern side, the latter distinguished for its safe anchorage. The surface is varied with low hills, the highest point, Kaimes Hill, rising only 875 feet above sea-level. Two valleys extend across the island, between the bays of Scalpsie and Rothesay, and those of Etterick and Kaimes. The underlying rocks in the southern portion of the parish are red sandstone and conglomerate, but those N. of Rothesay Bay are chiefly clay and mica slate, with veins of trap and quartz, and beds of shell and marl. There are several quarries of clay, slate, and greenstone. The soil in the uplands is light and shal- low, but in the valleys a strong alluvial loam producing abundant crops. About half the land is under cultiva- tion, and the remainder hilly pasture and moor, with 1,000 acres of moss and woodland. There are seven lakes, including lochs Fadd, Du, and Grenan, also a mineral spring at Bogany point about a mile N.E. of Rothesay. The roads- through the parish are good, and there are abundant facilities of communication by steamboat, but no railway has as yet been constructed. The fisheries on the coast are prolific, and a salmon fishery has been established round the coast. The harbour, situ- ated at the head of the bay of Rothesay, which opens just within the E. entrance of the Kyles of Bute, was formed in 1822, at a cost of 6,000, and a slip and building dock were added in 1840. It is a sub-port to Greenock, and has a lighthouse on the N.E. side of the entrance to the bay, and a small battery on the opposite side. Several steamers start from the pier for Glasgow, Greenock, Campbeltown, Inverary, and other points along the coast. The town was anciently a village attached to the castle, and was made a royal burgh in 1401, but did not come into notice till the establishment of the herring fishery in 1780. It is well laid out, though the streets, 13 in number, are narrow and want- ing in airiness. The houses are built of greenstone. Scattered along the shores of the bay are numerous villas and detached houses surrounded with gardens. The principal public buildings are the county-court house and prison, erected in 1832 at a cost of 4,000, a savings bank, three commercial branch banks, gas works, library, and newsrooms. There are also shipbuild- ing yards, tanneries, a distillery, and a cotton-spin- ning mill worked by water power. The castle, which stands near the town, with its lofty walls partially overgrown with ivy, consists of a circular court about 140 feet in diameter, flanked by four round towers at the corners, and Robert III.'s closet jutting out on the north-eastern side between two of the towers, and the whole surrounded by a wide and deep ditch. It is