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The principal monastic buildings were the Cistercian abbey of Dundrennan, founded in 1142; Tongland Abbey, founded by the Premonstratensians under the auspices of Fergus in the reign of David I.; the priory of St Mary's Isle, founded also by Fergus, and subsequently united as a dependent cell to the abbey of Holyrood; the New Abbey founded for Cistercian monks in 1275; the priory of Lincluden, founded by Uchtred, lord of Galloway, for Benedictine nuns; a convent for Franciscans or Greyfriars, founded at Kirkcudbright in the reign of Alexander II.; and a nunnery in the parish of Kirkcudbright.
See Symson, A Large Description of Galloway, 1684, new ed. 1823; Murray, Literary History of Galloway, 1822; and the Histories of Galloway by Mackenzie, 1841, and Mackerlie, 1870-78.
KÍRKÍ, or Kirkee, a town and military cantonment in
Poona district, Bombay, India, 18 33 N. lat., 73 54 E.
long. The town, with its adjoining suburbs and the mili
tary cantonments, contains a total population of upwards
of 31,000 inhabitants.
KIRKINTILLOCH, a burgh of barony and market-town of Dumbartonshire, Scotland, about 7 miles north of Glasgow. The town is rather irregularly built. The cruciform parish church dates from 1644. The Broomhill house for incurables is situated near the town. Traces of the wall of Antoninus are to be discerned behind the church. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in the chemical and iron-works on the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal, and in coal-mining, which is being rapidly developed in the district. Weaving to a small extent is also carried on. Kirkintilloch became a burgh of barony by grant of William the Lion. Since 1871 it has been under the General Police Act of 1862. The population in 1881 was 10,582.
KIRK-KILISSIA, or Kirk-Kilisseh, a town in the vilayet of Adrianople, Turkey, is situated on a feeder of the Erkene, which is an affluent of the Maritza, about 35 miles east of Adrianople. It has its chief importance from its position at the southern outlet of the Fakhi defile over the Strandja mountains, through which passes the shortest road from Shumla to Constantinople. It contains six mosques, several Greek churches, and a large bazaar. A special kind of confection is made at Kirk-Kilissia; and a considerable quantity of butter and cheese is sent thence to Constantinople. The population is estimated at about 16,000.
KIRKWALL, a royal and parliamentary burgh of Scotland, and the chief town of the Orkney Islands, is situated near the centre of the island group, at the south east corner of a well-sheltered bay on the east side of the island of Pomona, 240 miles north of Edinburgh by steamer, 58 north of Wick, and 54 north of Thurso. It consists principally of an irregular street about a mile in length running along the margin of the bay, and so narrow that carts and similar vehicles in many places cannot pass each other. The houses are generally substantially built, with the gables facing the street nearly as frequently as the fronts. In courts leading from the main street there are many ancient buildings, formerly occupied during winter by the leading families of the islands. The more modern portion of the town is built with great regularity, and in the suburbs there are several good villas surrounded by gardens. The most prominent feature of the town is the cathedral, dedicated to St Magnus, the patron saint of Orkney, a stately cruciform structure with a length of 226 feet from east to west and a breadth of 56 feet. It was founded by Earl Ronald in 1137, and the older portion, embracing the greater part of the present building, is in the Norman style of architecture. The choir was lengthened by Bishop Stewart in 1511, and the western extremity of the nave was completed by Bishop Reid, who succeeded to the bishopric in 1540. The building has undergone ex tensive repairs during the present century. The choir is used as the parish church. The bells were presented by
Bishop Maxwell, the predecessor or Biehop Reid, but the larger or tenor bell was recast in 1862. The cathedral contains a number of old monuments. Adjoining it are the ruins of the bishop s palace, where King Haco died in 1263, and also the earl s palace, which after the forfeiture of the earl of Orkney was given to the bishops for their residence. There is a grammar school, which was endowed by Bishop Reid, and also several charitable institutions. The town has no manufactures of importance, and its prosperity depends chiefly on its being the capital and principal port of the islands. It is often touched by ships passing to Norway and the Baltic. The harbour is amply sufficient for the shipping of the port, and a fine iron pier was erected in 1867. There is regular steam communication with Lerwick, and with Leith by Aberdeen and Wick. Kirkwall (a name derived from kirk, church, and vágr or vaag, bay), was a place of some size when the islands were in the possession of the Norsemen, and by James III. it was created a royal burgh. It unites with the other burghs in the Wick district in returning a member to parliament. The population of the parliamentary burgh in 1881 was 3923.
KIRMÁN, the ancient Karmania, a province of south Persia, bounded on the E. by Sistán and Balúchistán, on the W. by Farsistán, N. by Khórásán, on the S. by Láristán, Makrán, and the Strait of Ormuz. It is of very irregular shape, expanding in the north towards Khórásán, and gradually contracting in the south to the narrow coast district of Mogistan; the extreme length between Sistán and Fars east and west is 400 miles; the greatest breadth from south of Yezd to the coast at Bandar-Abbas is 300 miles; and the total area is estimated at 55,000 to 60,000 square miles. It is generally described as consisting of two parts, an uninhabitable desert region in the north, and a habitable mountainous region in the south. But the recent explorations of Khanikoff, Golclsniid, Lovett, St John, and others require this view to be considerably modified. There are mountains and desert tracts in all parts, while much of what appears on the maps as forming the western portion of the great Kirmán desert consists of the fertile upland plateau of the Kuh-Banán, stretching along the eastern base of the lofty range which runs from Yezd south-east to Khabís. West of and parallel to this range are two others, one culminating north of Bam in the Kuh-Hazár, 14,550 feet, the other continued at about the same elevation under the name of the Jamal Báris south-eastwards to the Kohistán highlands on the Makrán frontier. These chains traverse the fertile Nurmanshahr district, dividing it into several longitudinal valleys of considerable length, but not averaging more than 12 miles in width. Snow lies on their slopes to a great depth for the better part of the year, feeding the springs and "karez" or underground irrigation rills, by means of which large tracts in this almost rainless region in summer are kept under cultivation. Still further west the Kuh-Dinár range is continued from Farsistán also in a south-easterly direction to the valley of the Mináb, which is the only river worthy of the name in the whole province.
Between the south-western highlands and the Jamal Barís there is much arid and unproductive land. But the true desert of Kirmán lies mainly in the north and north-east, where it merges northwards in the desert of Lut,[1] which stretches far into Khórásán. These southern deserts differ from the Great Kavír, or Salt Desert of North Khórásán, mainly in three respects: – they are far less saline, are more sandy and drier, and present in some places tracts of from 80 to 100 miles almost absolutely destitute of vegetation. Yet they are crossed by a well-known track
- ↑ The term lut means simply arid, waterless, and has nothing to do with the Lot of Holy Writ, as some have supposed.
