﻿8 James Durham — The '^Karnes'' of Newport, Fife. 



II. — The "Kames" in the Neighbourhood of Newpokt, Fife, N.B. 



By James Durham, Esq. 



(With a Coloured Map. PLATE I.) 



AT the British Association Meeting in Dundee, in 1867, the late 

 Dr. Chambers, in a brief paper, called the attention of Section C 

 to the existence of an '■' eskar" in the neighbouring parish of Forgan, 

 in the County of Fife. As far as I can recollect or ascertain, the 

 paper said little or nothing about the subject further than describing 

 its situation, and recommending it to the attention of the Section. 

 And I am not aware that the great accumulations of gravel and sand 

 to which Dr. Chambers referred have been made the subject of 

 systematic observation since. 



The recent construction of a line of railway to connect the North 

 British Eailway's line at Leuchars with the Tay Bridge, afforded in 

 numerous cuttings ample opportunity of studying the nature and 

 arrangement of the materials of which these mounds are formed. I 

 propose in this paper to briefly describe the external appearance of 

 those so-called " Kames," as well as the boulders, gravels and sands 

 of which they are composed, and to point out the inferences that 

 I think may be fairly drawn from the facts at our disposal as to 

 the origin of these and similar accumulations elsewhere. These 

 Kames may, perhaps, be most easily described by supposing the 

 observer to proceed from the centre of Wormit Bay (see Map) up to 

 the " Castle Hill," a lofty cone near their greatest elevation, and 

 thence by the railway cuttings to St. Michael's Inn and Leuchars. 

 Leaving the shore-line a little to the west of Tay Bridge, we are first 

 met by a series of mounds and ridges, through which a little rivulet 

 has cut a deep and winding channel. Further on are a great succession 

 of billowy mounds extending over many acres, and gradually rising 

 in height as we approach a line between Wormit and Newton Hills, 

 where they culminate at the height of about 170 feet in the "Castle 

 Hill" and neighbouring heights. As we proceed, the Kames spread 

 out into the open country in the form of a succession of great undu- 

 lating ridges gradually lessening in height, and to the south forming 

 a broad flat-topped plateau, extending like some great line of fortifi- 

 cation almost from the farm of Kinnear to Leuchai'S, — its high, 

 angulai', and nearly vertical front forming one of the most imposing 

 and interesting features of the landscape. To the eastward we find 

 that these accumulations gradually decrease in height, until, in a 

 series of gently sloping terraces, they arrive at the sea-level. The 

 scenery, so to speak, of the Kames is somewhat remarkable ; stand- 

 ing amongst them, and having no standard by which to estimate 

 their dimensions, one is apt to be carried away with the feeling that 

 he is contemplating one of those scenes of mountain grandeur usually 

 associated with landscapes of far greater magnitude. Cones and 

 ridges seem hills and mountain chains ; little pools seem lakes ; and 

 tiny streamlets rivers — impressing the imagination not very differently 

 from the far vaster features of a Highland district. 



An examination of the cuttings of the Tay Bridge and Leuchars 



