Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland .. - National Library of Scotland

——'NEWBIGGINGlated front. In the library are several illuminated MSS.in folio, which formerly belonged to the monks, and arewritten on vellum, in black letter, on every page beingadorned with pictorial illustrations of the subjects ofwhich they treat. Many valuable paintings and portraitsenrich the gallery, particularly a Titian, a Murillo,several Vandykes, and some family portraits. Aroundthe mansion is a level lawn of upwards of 30 acres. Onone side it is watered by the South Esk, which, afterbrawling among the rocks of Cockpen, here flows in aquiet stream, and is overhung with plantations ;on theother side it is skirted by a waving line of woods,which, complying with the ascents and undulations ofthe banks, stretches upward in a many-curved surface,and exhibits a beautiful variety of shades. The beltsof wood which flank the two sides of the lawn approacheach other at the ends, and, embowering the mansionand its park, exclude them from outer view. At thelower end of the lawn, which now stretches to the eastwardof Newbattle Abbey, the river is spanned by anantique bridge of one circular arch, with plain square ribs,usually called the Maiden Bridge. From the SW a iineold entrance, King ' David's Gate,' opens on to the statelyavenue 520 yards long; and the Newbattle Beech, behindthe house, is the iinest and largest tree in Scotland, being95 feet high, and 37J in girth at 1 foot, and 21^ at 5 feet,from the ground. The spread of its branches is 350 feetin circumference ; and it is still growing, and makingmore wood year by year. The Queen saw this tree on4 Sept. 1842 ; and George IV. also was at Newbattle inAug. 1822.Woodburn is another mansion, lately purchased by theMarquess of Lothian ; and a third, considerably larger,called Newtongrange House, was built not long ago byJohn Romans, Esq. The Marquess of Lothian ownsthree-fourths of the parish ; and 2 lesser proprietors, theEarl of Stair and Robert Dundas, Esq. of Arniston, holdeach an annual value of more than £500. Giving off aportion to Stobhill qtioad sacra parish, Kewbattle is inthe presbytery of Dalkeith and the synod of Lothian andTweeddale ; the living is worth £250, while, in additionthe minerals under the glebe are feued in perpetuity to theminister for a sum which gives £120 a year. The saintlyRobert Leighton(1613-S4) was minister froml641tol653;and his request to be allowed to preach, not ' to the times,but ' for eternity, ' is entered in the records of the presbyteryof Dalkeith and of the Newbattle kirk-session,which have been published in vol. iv. of Procs. Soc.Ants. Scotl. The parish church is a quaint edifice of1727, with 550 sittings and a spire 70 feet high. Threeschools—Newbattle jjublic. Collieries, and Easthouseswith respective accommodation for 130, 314, and 61children, had (1883) an average attendance of 124, 304,and 58, and grants of £98, lis., £271, Ss. 6(i., and£46, 10s. The children living in the S and E ends ofthe parish attend schools in Cranston and Dalkeithparishes ; and at ITewtongrange, in addition to the existingaccommodation for 314 children, new schools for120 infants and 60 girls were opened in 1884. Valuation(1860) £12,789, (1884) £18,627, plus £81i for railwayand waterworks. Pop. (1801) 1328, (1831) 1882, (1861)2837, (1871) 2902, (1881) 3346, of whom 2771 were inthe ecclesiastical parish. Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857. SeeCosmo Innes' Recjistruvi S. Marie de Neuhotle (BannatyneClub, Edinb. 1849), and John Small's Castles and Mansionsof the Lothians (Edinb. 1883).Newbigging, a hamlet in Newtyle parish, Forfarshire,1 mile NW of Newtyle railway station, 2 miles S by Eof Meigle, and 4| ENE of Coupar-Angus.Newbigging, a village in Monikie parish, Forfarshire,74 miles ENE of Dundee, under which it has a postoffice. Here also is a U. P. church.Newbigging. See Auohteetool and Lethnot.Newbigging, a village in Camwath parish, Lanarkshire,I mile NNW of Newbigging station on the Carstairsand Dolphiuton branch of the Caledonian railway,this being 4J miles E of Carstairs Junction. It has apost ofiice under Lanark and a public school.Newbigging. See Musselburgh.106NEWBUEGHNewbridge, a hamlet, with an inn, in the Edinburghshireportion of Kirkliston parish, on the right bank ofAlmond Water, 8 miles W by S of Edinburgh. It sufferedgreat devastation by cholera in 1832.Newburgh, a seaport village in Foveran parish, Aberdeenshire,on the right side of the river Ythan, 7 furlongsfrom the sea, 5 miles SE of Ellon station, and13i NNE of Aberdeen, under which it has a post andtelegraph ofBce, and with which it communicates dailyby 'bus. Pleasantly situated, and greatly improved ofrecent years, it contains several substantial and commodioushouses ;possesses important facilities both formanufacture and for fishing ; ranks as a subport ofAberdeen ; and carries on commerce chiefly in exportinggrain, and in importing coal, timber, lime, and bones.Pop. (1841) 393, (1861) 541, (1871) 570, (1881) 645.—Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1873.Newburgh, a town and a parish in the extreme NWof Fife. A royal and police burgh and a seaport, thetown has a station on the Edinburgh, Perth, andDundee section of the North British raSway, llj milesESE of Perth, 7^ NW of Ladybank, and 35| N ofEdinburgh. It mainly consists of the well-built HighStreet, running ^ mile E and W within 300 yards ofthe Firth of Tay, but includes some lanes leading downto the shore, and the southern suburb of Mount Pleasant,in Abdie parish. Great part of it is of recenterection ; and even the oldest existing portions havenearly all been rebuilt within the last hundred years.Both its shops and its principal dwelling-houses are ofa character indicating taste and prosperitj'. Its situationnear the firth is exceedingly pleasant ; and bothfrom its own appearance, with gardens and numerousfruit trees among its houses, and from the charmingaspect of its environs, Newburgh presents a fine pictureeither to observers going up or down the river, or toobservers on neighbouring vantage-grounds. The views,too, from itself and its vicinity are fine. Even to atraveller on the railway, coming up from Ladybankto Perth, the prospects at Newburgh are remarkablystriking and diversified, comprising first a sudden revelationof the whole basin of the lower Tay, and next aclose view of Newburgh itself, its upper terrace risingon the S, and the main body nestling below on theN, and projecting into the lake-like expanse of thefirth. The principal public building is the town-house,with a spire, erected in 1808 ; and attached to this is abuilding of considerable size, built about 1830, for theaccommodation of the dealers in the stock market. Theparish church, St Catherine's, is an elegant Gothicstructure, erected in 1833 from designs by WilliamBum, and containing 1000 sittings. In 1882 it wasadorned with a stained-glass window b}' Messrs Ballantine,representing scenes in the life of Christ. Otherplaces of worship are Free, U.P., Evangelical Union,and Baptist churches.Newburgh has a post ofiice, with money order,savings' bank, insurance, and telegi-aph departments, abranch of the Commercial Bank, a savings' hank,agencies of 7 insurance companies, 4 hotels, a gas company(1836), waterworks (1877), a cemetery, a publiclibrary (1861), a reading-room and colfee-house (1881), 2bowling clubs, a gardening society, a natural historyand archseological society, a lawn tennis club, and ayoung men's religious institute. A weekly corn-marketon Thursday was started in 1830 ; and a fair is heldon the third Friday of June.la the 17th century, Newburgh was so devoid oftrade as to be described in Cunningham's essay onCross Macduff as ' a poor'country village ; and tillpretty far in last century, although gradually improving,it remained much the same. Until within a fewyears of the publication of the Old Statistical Account— 1793 — its inhabitants had been chiefly employedin husbandry ; but the linen-trade had occupiedthem to a certain extent, and when that Account waspublished the greater portion of them were engaged inthat manufacture. At that time, however, there wereonly two persons who employed workmen ; the greater