DALLAS, a parish, in the county of Elgin; including
the hamlet of Edinville, and containing 1179
inhabitants, of whom 187 are in the village of Dallas,
8 miles (S. E.) from Forres. This place takes its name
from the two Gaelic words dale, a vale or plain, and uis,
contracted from uisge, water. It was formerly the seat
of the sub-dean, and comprehended the parish of Altyre;
but that district was disjoined and annexed to the parish
of Rafford in 1657, and Easter Kelles, a part of the
parish of Elgin, was joined to Dallas; an arrangement
which was ratified by act of parliament in 1661. The
barony of Dallas was at an early period in the possession
of the Cummings of AltjTe, whose castle of Dallas,
or Torcastle, was built by Sir Thomas Gumming, in the
year 1400; and the Cummings are still, with the Earl
of Fife, and James William Grant, Esq., of Wester El-
chies, the proprietors of the parish. In shape the parish
is like the section of an oblate spheroid; it measures
about fifteen miles in length, and nine in breadth, and
consists mainly of valleys and rising grounds. The
chief valley is watered by the Lossie, which rises here,
in Loch Trevie, and after contributing to form much
beautiful scenery, and taking its course through the
parishes of Birnie, Elgin, and Drainie, falls into the
Moray Firth at the port of Lossiemouth. The summits
of the hills skirting this valley on each side are covered
with heath, but their slopes are highly cultivated, yielding
heavy and luxuriant crops, down to the banks of
the stream, which in many places are ornamented with
alder-trees, supplying bark frequently used by the people
for preparing a black dye. Besides the Lossie river,
numerous burns greatly enliven the scenery, which in
general is highly interesting; and all of these, rising
among the hills, run into the Lossie. That called the
burn of Glen Latterach, or Angry burn, forms a beautiful
cascade, surrounded by nearly perpendicular rocks
100 feet in height; and on the burn of Auchness is another
picturesque fall, though less striking than the
former. All the lochs are well stocked with excellent
trout; the chief are the lochs of Dallas, Noir, Rheninver,
and Trevie.
The soil along the banks of the Lossie is a fertile alluvial
earth, resting on gravel; at the base of the mountains
the land has a tilly subsoil, and partakes of the
character of the mosses, which, higher up, towards the
south, spread out in extensive tracts. Most of the inhabitants
are employed in the cultivation of the land.
The annual value of real property in the parish is £2913.
The rocks comprise granite, felspar, mica, freestone, and
grey slate, and there are quarries of the two last, but
not in operation. Of the plantations, the most conspicuous
are those on the hills of Melundy and Wangie,
and that on the estate of Craigmill: the first-mentioned
hill has lately been replanted with silver-fir, spruce,
larch, and birch, and part of the second with fir and
larch, the other part being covered with natural oak;
Craigmill, adjoining Melundy, has a thriving plantation
of fir and larch. The village, which is pleasantly situated
on the northern bank of the Lossie, about a quarter
of a mile from the church, was feued about half a century
since by Sir Alexander Penrose Gumming. The
woollen manufacture is carried on in the parish, employing
ten or twelve hands. There are county roads to
Elgin and Forres, in good condition; and a new road
called the Knockando road, extending from Forres to
the Spey, is of great advantage to the more hilly parts of
the district. Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery
of Forres, synod of Moray, and in the patronage
of Sir William Gordon Gordon Gumming, of Altyre and
Gordonstown, Bart. The minister's stipend is £158. 6.
8., of which part is received from the exchequer; with
a manse, and a glebe valued at £12 per annum. Dallas
church, situated about the centre of the parish, will accommodate
400 persons, but, never having been properly
finished, is inconvenient and uncomfortable. The parochial
school affords instruction in all the necessary
branches; the master has a salary of £34, with a house,
and fees, and also participates in the Dick bequest. The
chief relic of antiquity is the ruin of the castle, situated
on a plain about a mile from the church, on the north
bank of the Lossie. In the churchyard is a stone cross,
twelve feet high, at the foot of which lies an efhgy of
St. Michael, the patron saint of the parish, in ruins.
There is also a large oblong stone at the east end of the
parish, occupying the site of an old chapel and buryingground.