COULL, a parish, in the district of Kincardine-O'Neil,
county of Aberdeen, 2| miles (E. S. E.) from
Tarland; containing 744 inhabitants. This place is supposed
to have taken its name, which signifies a " corner",
from its situation in the south-eastern extremity of the
district of Cromar. It measures six miles in average
length and three in breadth, comprising about 7620
acres, of which 2300 are arable; 5000 are uncultivated
pasture, nearly 100 of these, however, being capable of
profitable cultivation; and 320 acres are occupied by
wood, chiefly planted within the last twenty or thirty
years. The surface is to a considerable extent level, especially
in the centre, where is a marshy tract called Bogmore.
There are, however, several portions of high land,
and between this parish and those of Aboyne and Lumphanan
stretches a mountain range containing the peaks
called the hill of Gellan, Mortlich, Leadhlich, and the
hill of Corse. The soil in the low grounds is generally
of good quality, and comprehends a large portion of rich
loam, resting on a gravelly subsoil; but on the hills it
only affords indifferent pasture. Great improvements in
agriculture have been effected during the last thirty years,
particularly on the esiate of Corse, where almost every
thing has been done that could contribute to change its
neglected appearance, and increase the value of the propertj-,
which is now one of the most beautiful and desirable
of its size in the county. Much land in the parish
has been brought into cultivation; draining and inclosing
have been successfully practised, and the larger part
of Bogmore, formerly so prejudicial to the climate of the
locality, has been partly converted into pasture, and
partly into arable land. In the process of draining the
ground, which was an alluvial deposit incumbent on
moss, fragments of immense oaks were found embedded.
The rocks in the hills are chiefly red and white granite.
The annual value of real property in the parish is £2197.
The knitting of stockings is carried on, and there is a
wool-carding mill, at w-hich blankets and coarse woollencloths
are manufactured.
This parish was formerly attached to the abbey of
Arbroath. It is now in the presbytery of Kincardine
O'Neil, synod of Aberdeen, and in the patronage of Sir
John Forbes, Bart., of Craigievar. The minister's stipend
is about £161, of which about half is received from
the exchequer; with a manse, built in 1832, and a glebe
of four acres, valued at £7 per annum. The church is a
plain building, erected in 1792; it has a good-toned bell,
of considerable size, cast in Holland in the year 1644,
and presented to the church by Mr. Ross, of Mill of
Coull. A large portion of the parish has long been annexed,
for ecclesiastical purposes, to the parish of Leochel
and Cushnie. The parochial school affords instruction
in the usual branches; the master has a salary of £26,
with about £15 fees, and £40 from the Dick bequest.
The ruins of the castle of Corse, erected in 1581 by
William Forbes, father of Bishop Patrick Forbes, are
still to be seen; and the remains of that of Coull are
also visible, on a rocky eminence near the chtireh. This
latter structure, the seat of the Durwards, a family of
great power, was of quadrangular form, with large hex-
agonal towers at the angles, the whole surrounded by a
fosse; and it appears to have been a fortification of considerable
extent and strength. On the summit of a small
hill is a Druidical circle, and traces of a chapel called
Turry Chapel yet remain on the lands of Corse.