is fourteen or nineteen years. The farms are not large; and the style of farm-building corresponds; some of them, however, are of a rather superior order.

Quarries. There are two limestone, one sandstone, and two granite quarries; and there was once a quarry or mine of ironstone on the bank of the Avon, near Torphichen bridge, but it has not been wrought for some years. The two limestone quarries of Cathlaw and Bowden have already been noticed, as also the coal mine on Hilderston, on Kipps, and on Bridge-Castle estate. It is said also that coal may be obtained on the Bridgehouse property.

Produce. The average amount of raw produce raised in the parish has not been ascertained, and cannot be stated.

Manufactures. The only branches of manufacture in the parish, if such they can be termed, are two flax mills, and one mill for the manufacture of wool, part of which is wrought into shawls.

V.-PAROCHIAL ECONOMY.

Market-Town. There is no market-town in the parish; the nearest is that of Bathgate, distant from Torphichen village about two miles and a-half. Linlithgow is little more than four miles and three-quarters distant. There are two villages in the parish, Torphichen and Blackridge.

Means of Communication. The means of communication enjoyed by the parish are, the turnpike-road from Linlithgow to Bathgate, about two miles and a-half of which is within Torphichen; that from Linlithgow to Glasgow by Armadale, about oneand a-half of which is within Torphichen; and about three miles of the middle road from Edinburgh to Glasgow, passing through the west end of the parish. The parish roads are kept in general in a very good condition; and are upheld by an assessment upon the land at the rate of L. 2 each ploughgate, which is estimated at seventy acres.

Ecclesiastical State. - The parish church is situated close beside the village of Torphichen, its eastern gable resting on the ancient preceptory. It is within about a mile of the east end of the parish, consequently is by no means convenient for a very large extent towards the west. As, however, the eastern district is the most populous, the church is tolerably convenient for nearly twothirds of the population. It was built in 1756. It affords accommodation for about 450. Being allocated to the different proprietors of land and their tenants, its sittings are free to such persons, but cannot be let to any others, except by private bargain between the parties themselves. There are about fifty-eight sittings not allocated, in what are called the table-seats, where, consequently, the poor may sit free. The manse was built above 100 years ago, and enlarged about thirty years ago, since which time it has obtained no repairs. The glebe is above eleven acres, only six of • which are arable. It lets in grass for about L. 13. The stipend is L. 150, of which L. 25, 7s. is granted by the Exchequer.

There has been a new church built by subscription at Blackridge. It was opened for public worship on the first Sabbath of June 1838. A minister has been recently chosen for it, who is to be supported by the seat-rents and collections, by which it is hoped that about L. 60 will be obtained. It cannot yet be stated what number of people may attend the church at Blackridge, as it is not yet in full operation, consequently the respective numbers of Churchmen and Dissenters in that district cannot be stated. The attendance at the parish church is almost equal to the amount of accommodation afforded by the church, and is very regular. The average amount of communicants is 350. Average church collections for charitable purposes, L. 25; for religious purposes, L. 12.

Education. There are three schools in the parish, of which two are parochial, and one unendowed. The branches of instruction generally taught in each are, reading, writing, arithmetic, mensuration, book-keeping, and rarely Latin. The salary of the parochial schoolmaster at Torphichen is the maximum; at Blackridge L. 29 of a mortification and 100 merks.

Libraries. There are two parochial libraries in the parish, one at Torphichen, the other at Blackridge, both of which are pretty well supplied with books, well selected, and carefully perused. Friendly Societies. There is one Friendly Society.

Poor and Parochial Funds. The average number of persons receiving parochial aid is 18; the sum allotted to each varies considerably, but the average, including house-rents, is about L. 4, 14s. 6d. per annum, or about 1s. 9d. weekly. The annual amount of church-door collections is about L. 25; from sums mortified, or otherwise disposed at interest, there is obtained about L. 25; and the heritors have assessed themselves voluntarily to the amount of about L. 35 per annum, making the sum annually expended for the maintenance of the poor about L. 85. It is to be regretted, that the lofty and generous reluctance to receive parochial aid, formerly characteristic of the poor, is declining, and

also, that, instead of being received as a boon, it is beginning to be demanded as a right,-than which nothing can be more destructive to genuine charity. This is to be ascribed chiefly to the non-residence of the proprietors, which diminishes the churchdoor collections, dries up the springs of private charity, drains away the local wealth, and, abating the demand for labour, keeps wages low, and prevents the labouring classes from rising above the pressure of necessity, and the near approach of poverty. April 1843.

PARISH OF CARRIDEN.

PRESBYTERY OF LINLITHGOW, SYNOD OF LOTHIAN & TWEEDDale.

THE REV. DAVID FLEMING, MINISTER.

1. TOPOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY.

Name.-THE modern name of the parish is Carriden. In Gildas'"De excidio Britanniæ," A. D. 560, it is written Kair Eden. Foredun, the Scottish historian, who lived about the year 1308, calls the village that was in existence in his days Karedin; and in Richard of Cirencester's History of Roman Britain, written about 1338, the orthography is Carridden. The word is understood to be of Celtic or ancient British derivation, and to denote the relative position of the then existing village as a military station, or the specific character of its locality. Chalmers, in his Caledonia, represents it as being the same with Caer Adin or Eden, which, in the British language of Roman times, signifies fort on the wing, or projection like a wing.

Extent, &c.-According to Forrest's survey of the county, furnished in 1817, the length of the parish from east to west is 3 statute miles, and nearly 2 furlongs; and the breadth from north to south wants half a furlong of 2 miles; the number of square miles which it contains being 424. It is bounded on the east, by the parish of Abercorn; on the west, by the parish of Borrowstounness; on the north, by the Forth; and on the south, by the parish of Linlithgow; presenting the appearance of an irregular four-sided figure, the longest side stretching along the shores of the Forth.

Topographical Appearances. The surface is very unequal, rising from the shore by a quick ascent, with a varied undulating form for about a mile, and then in general declining to the south. The most elevated ground lies towards the south-western part of the parish, near its junction with Linlithgow and Bo'ness, forming part of the Irongath * hills, or what is vulgarly named Glowrowre-em, and subsiding in an eastern direction by a gradual declivity. The highest point is 519 feet above the level of the sea, or high water of spring tides. There are no natural cavities; but the ground has been excavated to a considerable extent in the north-west of the parish for coals and ironstone, in consequence of which, by the settling of the superincumbent strata in the old wastes, the surface was at one place broken into a number of small concave cisterns, which in the course of agricultural improvement have been filled up and levelled; and within the last twenty or thirty years, several instances have occurred in different places of the ground suddenly giving way and leaving large holes in the open field. The coast along the Forth, including its windings, extends to about three miles and a-half, having, through a considerable portion of the line, at high water mark, a margin of sand and calcareous mixture several feet broad, thence stretching out to low water-mark, for several hundred yards, in a sleechy flat, composed of alluvial soil, with more or less of sand, and showing here and there a small bank formed of drifted oyster shells. Of late, owing to the encroachments of the sea, the sandy margin has been undergoing a change, and becoming more of a rough stony description. Occasionally there is an appearance of rock. At two places the land points into the Frith, -the one, called Bridgeness, near the western extremity, -the other forming the eastern extremity of the parish, named Blackness, a rather remarkable rocky promontory on which Blackness Castle is situated. Within a few yards of the shore the ground rises into a steep bank, ranging from the junction with Bo'ness parish, till it falls into a gentle acclivity near the church, to the east of which it again becomes more abrupt, and so continues along the whole coast eastward, till it loses itself in the point of Blackness.

There is no good bathing-ground along the coast except at Blackness, though not a few families from different quarters inland

Otherwise called Airncoth. Sibbald says there is a tradition, that a battle was fought there between the Romans and the natives under Argadus, and thence the hill took the name of Argad.

annually resort to the shore of the Frith, for the benefit of bathing, and of the sea air. It is difficult, except at high tides, to reach a sufficient depth of water without wading to a considerable distance, and the footing in the soft yielding sleech is by no means agreeable; besides, the water is not a little muddy, especially when it is in any degree agitated: and, sometimes, considerable quantities of peat moss in large coherent masses or in a pulpy state are deposited on the shore, which has been floated down the river in the process of clearing the extensive moss fields at Blair-Drummond and other places in its vicinity.

Meteorology. The prevailing winds are from the south-west and west. Next to these in frequency is the east wind. The severest storms of snow are commonly from the east and north-east. The following table gives the number of days in each month during which the wind blew from any particular point of the compass

The average height of the thermometer and barometer for each

month in the same year stands as under:

Average for the year, thermometer, 48.50; barometer, 29.35. The hottest days were, July 4th and 7th, when the thermometer stood at 66°. On August 17th, the notation was 65°, and on July 2d, 3d, 22d, August 2d, 14th, 15th, 16th, September 19th, and 20th, it was 64°. The greatest degree of cold was in December 19th, when the mercury indicated 29°; the next coldest days were December 18th and 20th, the degree being 30°, and