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trtfssarty, ticulftily the distance of fresh water in sufficient quanti- 

 irornlech. ^ anc j convcn i enl ]y disposed for filling casks,) for be- 

 ing made a regular station, (s. k.) 



CROMARTY, County of. This small district ap- 

 pears to have been erected into a shire at a very early 

 period of our history. The office of sheriff was heredi- 

 tary in the family of Urquhart of Cromarty, in which it 

 was left at the conquest of Scotland by Edward. This 

 shire oiiginally extended no more than 10 miles, and its 

 average breadth does not exceed If mile. The area, 

 therefore, is only 17^ square miles. George Viscount 

 Tarbat, and afterwards Earl of Cromarty, procured an 

 act of parliament in the year 1685, and another in the 

 year 1698, by which all his property in Ross-shire was 

 annexed to the county of Cromarty, which thus acquired 

 an addition fifteen times its former extent. Many in- 

 conveniences have arisen from this annexation ; but of 

 late all acts of parliament relating to the improvement 

 and police of Ross-shire, include the county of Cromar- 

 ty, which is under the jurisdiction of the sheriff of Ross. 

 A great part of Cromartyshire is well cultivated. In 

 the old shire there are about 4000 acres of land in cul- 

 tivation ; and additions are annually made to the pro- 

 ductive soil of the country. 



The rock on which the soil of Cromarty chiefly rests, 

 is commonly sandstone of the transition class. Compact 

 felspar also occurs ; but its connection with the sand- 

 stone has not been traced. It is said, that there are 

 some appearances of lead ore on the estate of Braelang- 

 well. As Cromartyshire ought properly to be consider- 

 ed as a part of Ross, we shall, when treating of the lat- 

 ter county, give a full statistical detail of both, and like- 

 wise some account of the mineralogy of this part of Scot- 

 land which has not yet been investigated, (s. K.) 



CROMLECH. In various parts of the world rude 

 and massy structures, the work of remote ages, are 

 found ; and antiquarians have been sedulously employ- 

 ed in endeavouring to ascertain their proper use. But 

 as no written record of their origin is preserved, and 

 as tradition is generally the offspring of credulity, for- 

 tified by the lapse of time, it is not an easy task 

 to afford satisfactory explanations. The cromlech con- 

 sists of an enormous stone, raised to some height 

 .ibove the earth, and resting almost invariably in an in- 

 dined position on the rudest pillars, commonly three in 

 number. 



Before speaking of the design of this ancient monu- 

 ment, we shall briefly describe a few of those still ex- 

 tant, especially in our own country, beginning with one 

 of the most celebrated, now called Kits-Coty-House, in 

 Kent. The stones composing it, as in the cromlech 

 proper, are four in number ; three of unequal height 

 pitched perpendicularly in the ground, the fourth a great 

 s-lab resting as an inclined plane upon them. It is of an 

 irregular square figure, the two longest sides being above 

 deven feet in length, and the two shorter of about seven 

 jnd a half; the whole being nearly two feet in thickness. 

 By its inclined position, the higher part of the upper 

 surface is more than eight feet and a half from the 

 ground, while the opposite part is about a foot lower ; 

 and a rude cavity, or excavation, appears near the mid- 

 dle of the surface, capable of holding two quarts of wa- 

 ter. Another large stone, eleven feet by seven, lies at 

 the distance of 70 paces from the lower side on the 

 earth. The minute particulars, which we now specify, 

 liave admitted of various conjectures, and some of them 

 diametrically opposite, regarding the use of Uie cromlech. 



The view of this cromlech is widely commanded from Cromlech, 

 the neighbouring hills. But elsewhere the situation is > ~""Y~~'' 

 very different, such as one at Molfra, in Cornwall, on 

 the summit of a round naked hill, consisting of an in- 

 cumbent stone of fourteen feet three inches by nine feet 

 eight, which rests, like the former, on three supporters, 

 about five feet high. 



An enormous cromlech, situated on a low bank of 

 earth, apparently artificial, stands at Lanyon, in the 

 same parish. Though nineteen feet long and forty-seven 

 in circumference, its greatest thickness is only two feet, 

 and its least within sixteen inches. It rests on four sup- 

 porters, at such a height above the ground, " that a man 

 can sit on horseback under it." Its general outline ap- 

 proaches to an ellipse, and it stands north and south, 

 whereas the length of the former extends from east to west. 



There is a cromlech in the parish of Diewsteignton, 

 in Devonshire, of which the incumbent table-stone is 

 fifteen feet long by ten, at the greatest length and breadth, 

 and rests on three supporters. The highest part of the 

 upper surface is nearly nine feet from the ground, and 

 at a medium the whole is eight. 



Similar structures are seen in Wales, both on the 

 mainland, and in the islands. One of these, in the pa- 

 rish of Nevern, in the county of Pembroke, is situated 

 amidst a great circle of stones, and consists of a stone 

 eighteen feet long, nine broad, and three in thickness, 

 incumbent on three others about eight feet high. In the 

 vicinity, there is another large stone, supposed, as in the 

 former case, to have some relation to the structure. 



Rowland describes one of a singular figure in the 

 island of Anglesea, consisting of a truncated pyramid, 

 fiat on the top, seven feet by six, and six in thickness, 

 resting on three stones. 



In Ireland there are many cromlechs, perhaps more 

 than in most other countries, of the same kind. One at 

 Ballymascandlan, in the county of Lowth, consists of 

 an incumbent stone, quite of a convex figure, 12 feet 

 long by six in breadth, and apparently as much in thick- 

 ness, supported on three pillars. Its weight is calculated 

 at between 30 and 40 tons. Another at Castlemary, in 

 the county of Cork, consists of an incumbent stone of great- 

 er superficial dimensions, resting on three pillars, at the 

 height of nine feet from the ground; and near it lies a 

 large round slab, of a similar description to those already 

 mentioned. 



At Tobins town, in the county of Carlow, there is an 

 incumbent stone of enormous dimensions, being 23 feet 

 long, and 18 broad at one end, on the upper surface of 

 which is one large channel, and other smaller ones branch- 

 ing from it. Some persons have judged these channels na- 

 tural, and others artificial ; the under surface of the stone 

 is plane and even, but the upper one is flat. This crom- 

 lech is situated in a low lying field, near a rivulet. Not far 

 from the same spot, situated on Brown's hill, is a crom- 

 lech even of greater dimensions, supported on the east 

 by three pillars, and forming an angle of 34° with the 

 horizon. The height of the pillars is three feet, and the 

 weight of the incumbent stone is estimated at above 89 

 tons. 



On passing to the continent of Europe, different crom- 

 lechs are seen in several countries, and a structure 

 which still exists on the coast of Syria, is supposed to be 

 of the same description, though we cannot affirm that it 

 is identically the same in all its parts. A natural rock 

 nine feet high stands in the middle of an excavation of 

 equal depth from the surface of the earth. This c>:- 



