Parish of Dallas

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Dallas
1834-45: Dallas

Dallas, a village and a parish of central Elginshire. The village stands on the left bank of the Lossie, 11 miles SW of Elgin, and 8½ SE of Forres, under which it has a post office.

The parish, containing also Kellas village, 3½ miles to the ENE, is bounded N by Elgin, E by Birnie, SE by Rothes and Knockando, W by Edinkillie, and NW by Rafford. Rudely triangular in outline, it has an utmost length of 10¼ miles from its north-eastern angle, near Lennocside, to Carn Kitty, at its south-western apex; an utmost breadth from E to W of 71/8 miles; and an area of 22,024¾ acres, of which 122 are water. The Lossie, issuing from Loch Trevie, near the south-western corner of the parish, winds 15½ miles north-north-eastward and east - north - eastward through the interior, descending in this course from 1300 to 300 feet above sea-level; near Lennocside, at the north-eastern corner, it is joined by Lennoc Burn, flowing 4 miles northward along all the Birnie border, and forming a waterfall, the Ess of Glenlatterach; whilst Black Burn, another of the Lossie's affluents, runs 3¾ miles north-eastward along all the boundary with Rafford, thence passing off into Elgin. Lochs Dallas (3¼ x 1¼ furl.) and Trevie (1 x 1/3 furl.) lie right upon the Edinkillie border; Loch Coulatt (1½ x 1 furl.) falls just within Knockando; and fifteen lochlets, tinier still, are dotted over the south-western interior. From NE to SW the chief elevations to the right of the Lossie are Mill Buie (1100 feet), Cairn Uish (1197), Meikle Hill (932), Cas na Smorrach (1146), and Carn Kitty (1711); to the left rise wooded Mulundy Hill (768), another Mill Buie (1216), and Carrache (1179). These hills are variously arable, planted, and heathy; the straths are well cultivated, and exhibit much natural beauty. Granite is the prevailing rock, but sandstone and grey slate have both been quarried; the soil is generally light loam on a gravelly bottom along the Lossie, a vegetable mould incumbent on till in parts of the uplands, and moor or moss along the southern border. Tor Castle, ½ mile N by E of the village, was built in 1400 by Sir Thomas Cumming of Altyre, and, long the Cummings' stronghold, consists now only, of ruined outworks and a moat. The property is mostly divided among three. Dallas is in the presbytery of Forres and synod of Moray; the living is worth £188. The present church, near the village, was built in 1794, and contains 250 sittings; its ancient, heather-thatched predecessor was dedicated to St Michael; and a stone shaft, 12 feet high, in the kirkyard, surmounted by a fleur-de-lis, is the old market-cross. A Free church stands ¾ mile NE of the village; and two public schools, Dallas and Kellas female, with respective accommodation for 140 and 60 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 85 and 27, and grants of £81,9s. 6d. and £18. Valuation (1881) £5542,12s. Pop. (1801) 818, (1841) 1179, (1861) 1102, (1871) 1060, (1881) 915.—Ord. Sur., sh. 85,1876.

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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better