Pots of Gartness

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Gartness, a station and an estate on the W border of Stirlingshire. The station is on the Forth and Clyde J unction section of the North British railway, 1½ mile ENE of Drymen station, and 22 miles WSW of Stirling. The estate lies around the station, along Endrick Water, on the mutual border of Drymen and Killearn parishes; and possesses much interest, both for its scenery and for association with the life and labours of John Napier of Merchiston (1550-1617), the inventor of logarithms. Endrick Water here, over a run of ¼ mile, traverses a natural cleft in the solid rock, and rushes vexedly over a series of mural ledges; in one part, it passes through a caldron-shaped cavity, the Pot of Gartness, and forms there a picturesque cascade. A woollen factory hard by succeeded an ancient mill, the noise of which, along with that of the cataract, disturbed the mathematician amid his studies. Though falsely claimed as a native of Gartness, he at least was the member of a family who held the estate from 1495, and he is known to have resided here at various periods of his life, and here to have prosecuted those studies which have immortalised his name. An old castle, overhanging the Pot of Gartness, was his place of residence, and has left some fragments; a stone taken from its ruins, and bearing the date 1574, is built into the gable of the factory; and some stones, with markings or engravings on them believed to have been made by him, are in possession of the present proprietor of the estate.—Ord. Sur., sh. 30, 1866.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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