CROiNIDALE, a parish, partly in the county of
Elgin, but chiefly in that of Inverness, 18 miles (S. \V.)
from Rothes; containing, with the village of Grantown,
3561 inhabitants. It is supposed to have derived its
name from the Gaelic words croni, signifying crooked or
curved, and dail, a plain or meadow, a portion of land
being made semicircular by the winding course of the
river Spey. This district, consisting of the three ancient
parishes of Cromdale, Inverallan, and Advie, has from
an early period been possessed by the Grant family, who
were very powerful in Scotland in the thirteenth century,
and the first of whom mentioned in old records was
Gregory de Grant, sheritf-principal of Inverness, Ross,
Sutherland, and Caithness, in the reign of Alexander
II. Among the many sanguinary conflicts in the neighbourhood,
a battle fought on the haughs of Cromdale,
on the 1st May, I69O, is the most celebrated. It took
place between General Buchan, with a large party from
different clans, on the side of the Stuarts, and Sir
Thomas Livingstone, who commanded the royalists; and
the Highlanders, after fighting bravely, were routed
with considerable slaughter. The castle of Lochindorb,
situated in the parish, on an island in a loch of the same
name, afforded a retreat for the lady of the Earlof Athol,
when the latter had been killed in an engagement with
the Earl of March, in 1335, at Kilblair: Sir Alexander
Gordon shortly laid siege to the fort, but was obliged to
withdraw in the following year.
The PARISH is very irregular in its outline. It is
about twenty miles in length, and ten miles at its
greatest breadth, comprising, according to a survey
made in 1810, an area of 54,744 acres, of which 5306
were arable, 3283 in wood, 396 in lakes, and the remainder
hill, moor, and moss. The lands are separated
into two distinct portions by the Spey. Those on the
northern side are much varied by slopes, stretching
down to the river, and covered with thick forests of
pine, oak, and larch; on the south the most prominent
feature is Cromdale hill, a lofty mountain ridge about
seven miles long, covered with heath, extending to the
east and west, and separating this parish from that of
Kirkmichael. Most of the high grounds abound with
grouse and different kinds of game, and with brown and
white hares; and ptarmigan have been shot in some
places: the Spey is well stocked with salmon. The soil
is in general favourable; but the vicissitudes of the
climate, the site of the parish being 600 feet above the
level of the sea, often expose promising crops to ruin
from cold and frost. Agriculture is, however, on a very
respectable footing; the rotation of crops and other
approved usages of modern farming are followed, and
lime is prepared on almost every allotment of land, however
small. The sheep are mostly the black-faced, with
a few Cheviots; and the black-cattle, which are very
superior, are of the West Highland breed. The annual
value of real property in the parish is £5849. Primitive
limestone of excellent quality is abundant, and is extensively
wrought by nearly all the tenants: granite of a
superior kind is also found, with various other rocks of
the primitive class.
The parish is famous for its large and flourishing
plantations, which are said to exceed those of any other
parish in this part of the country: above 5000 acres are
covered with larch, fir, and various other trees, half of
which have been planted within the last thirty or forty
years. Many trees among the older plantations are of
great bulk and value, especially in the vicinity of Castle-
Grant, whence very large cargoes have been and continue
to be taken to Garmouth. The natural wood
comprises a considerable extent of oak, birch, and alder;
and in the churchyard is a magnificent beech-tree, the
branches of which are capable of overshadowing more
than 1000 persons. The mansion of Castle- Grant is
situated on an eminence on the northern side of the
Spey, about two miles from the river, and is encompassed
with forests of ancient and noble trees. This
splendid edifice, the seat of the Grant family from
remote ages, is now the property of the Earl of Seafield,
sole proprietor of the parish, who is directly descended
from the family of Grant, and chief of that clan. The
house was built in the fourteenth century, but has since
been frequently altered and improved, especially within
the last few years. It consists of a quadrangular pile of
several stories, with lower wings; and the apartments,
which are spacious and handsomely furnished, contain
many valuable paintings by the ancient masters, and one
by Hamilton, of superior merit, representing the Death
of Patroclus. In the front hall are placed between thirty
and forty portraits of different members of the Grant
family; and there is also an extensive armoury. Ecclesiastically
the parish is in the presbytery of Abernethy,
synod of Moray, and in the patronage of the Earl of
Seafield; the minister's stipend is about £250, with a
manse, and two glebes, one at Cromdale, and the other at
Advie, valued at £2'i per annum. The church, situated
on the southern bank of the Spey, was built in 1809,
and will accommodate about 900 persons. There are four
parochial schools affording the usual instruction; the
masters receive each £12. 16. per annum, with fees, and
the master of the school at Advie also shares in the Dick
bequest. The chief relics of antiquity are, the ruin of
the castle of Lochindorb, already mentioned; and that
of Muckerach Castle, built by Patrick Grant, about the
year 159S. Sir James M'Grigor, Bart., the head of the
medical department of the army, was born here in 177 1.
See Grantown.