Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 84 TRANSACTIONS—GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP GLASGOW. No VIII. CORRIES, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THOSE OF THE CAMPSIE FELLS. By Professor J. W. GREGORY, D.SC, F.R.S. [Read 8th May, 1913.] CORRIES are rounded, arm-chair like, or amphitheatre-shaped depressions, with steep smooth walls and flat floors, and are situated on hillsides or beside mountain valleys. The term has, however, been used in Scotland for any rounded niche beside a valley, as by Scott in " Waverley," chapter xvi. " 1 This/ said Evan, ' is the pass of Bally-Brough, which was kept in former times by ten of the Clan Donnochie against a hundred of the Low Country carles. The graves of the slain are still to be seen in that little corri, or bottom, on the opposite side of the burn—if your eyes are good, you may see the green specks among the heather.'" This pass must have been at a low level, a little within the Highland border, and from the reference to the Clan Donnochie Scott probably had in mind a pass on the Tay above Dunkeld. The term is now generally restricted to hollows well raised on the sides of mountains. The term corrie is the Scottish equivalent for the names Kar in the Bavarian Alps, Botner in Scandinavia, Oule in the Pyrenees, Cirque in the French Alps, Cwm in Wales, Coum in north-western and Coombe in southern England. Some authorities discriminate between cirques and corries. Thus Professors Penck1 and Herbertson2 limit the term cirques to the depressions at the heads of valleys, and apply the term corries only to those on the sides. De Martonne,3 on the other hand, reverses this usage, for he applies the term cirques only to depressions on the sides of valleys. The restric- 1 A. Penck. Glacial Features in the Alps. Joum. Geol. (Chicago) vol. xiii., 1905, pp. 15-16. 2 A. J. Herbertson. " A Physiographical Introduction to Geography." Oxford, 1910, p. 35. 3 E. de Martonne. "Sur la Formation des Cirques." Ann. de Ge'og., vol. x., 1901, pp. 10-16; and "Fjords, Cirques, Vallees Alpines, et Lacs Subalpines." Ann. de G4og.9 vol. x., 1901, pp. 289-294. Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 GREGORY—CORRIES OF THE OAMPSIE FELLS. 85 tion of corries to hollows on the sides of valleys would be inconsistent with Scottish usage. Thus the hollow from which the village of Corrie in Arran takes its name is at the head of its valley; and that this is the normal position is suggested by the spelling, Corehead, "the head of the coire," which is quoted by Jamieson.4 This etymology is probably of no value, as the term is derived by Skeat5 from the Gaelic coire, a cauldron or kettle. Joseph Wright, in his " English Dialect Dictionary,"6 also derives Corrie from the Gaelic for cauldron, and defines it as a circular hollow on a mountain side. The meaning of corrie for a boiling cauldron is illustrated also in the name of the whirlpool, Corrievreckan, north of the Island of Jura. The proposed distinction between cirques and corries is, more­ over, difficult to apply, since it leaves indefinite how long a valley must be before the depression at its head should be regarded as a cirque at the head of an independent valley, or as a corrie on the side of a main valley. Thus the great corrie of Ben Lui would be a corrie if regarded as a notch on the side of the valley of Allt an Lund; but it would be a cirque if considered in reference to the two streams that flow from it. The use of the terms corrie and cirque as synonymous, as adopted by Professor Bonney and others, seems therefore both etymologically correct and geographically convenient. THE CORRIES OF BALGLASS. Twelve miles due north of Glasgow on the northern face of the Campsie Fells, to the west of Fintry, there are two corries known as the Corries of Balglass (Fig. 1). The larger corrie is a magnificent amphitheatre with a regular semi-circular wall of cliffs, which are precipitous on the western side, and at their foot a steep talus bank sweeps evenly around the corrie. The corrie is about 700 feet deep, slightly under a mile wide 4 Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, 1841, vol. i., p. 254. 5 W. W. Skeat. An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, p. 137. e Vol. i., 1898, pp. 735-6. Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 I ! 1 ! 1 i ) 1 o' looo 2ooc' 3ooo* 4ooof sooo' IMife lig. 1.—The Corries of Balglass. Reduced, with some additions and modifications, from the six-inch Ordnance Map by permission of the Controller-General of H.M. Stationery Office. Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 86 TRANSACTIONS—GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. at its mouth, and nearly half a mile in length from north to south (Fig. 3). Its floor, at about 900 feet above sea-level, is •1300 fit -1400 HtOO~ - yoo J 1300 - • iiOO / ixoo- • nOO 1/00- SILL f -1090 IO0O- MORAINE - 900 900- -too 800- -700 700- 6oo- jtOO JOO - fsco fT^V >^"* ft. isoo- - rfoa \ MOO- 300 \ IVJO- • 3oo >v '300-- - tlOO IIOO- «300- • . rooo S *NV^ CLOCH -900 ^ ^ BURN ^^00**^ 9oo- -too 800- MORAINE -?oo 0 soo KXX3 Pt 700- i • Coo Soo- -•soa Figs. 2 and 3. a smooth sheet of alluvium, and the burn which runs across it exposes only gravel. The mouth of the corrie is closed by a raised line of moraines, the summit of which is higher than the corrie floor within. There can be little doubt that the corrie once held a lake, which has now been destroyed by the cutting of a channel through the moraine and the filling of the basin with silt. The southern wall of the corrie is notched in one place by the rocky gulley of the Cloch burn, which rises on the fells 16 chains from the wall. Its gorge shows a clear section through the lavas and underlying tuffs. In the lower part of the wall the burn falls over a bar of Calciferous Sand­ stone. The rest of the rock exposed on the corrie walls belong to the Lower Carboniferous volcanic series, and include agglomerates and tuffs, basalt lavas, and a columnar sill. Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 GREGORY—CORRIES OF THE CAMPSIE PELLS. 87 The best view of the Great Corrie is from the upper part of the Cloch burn. Thence one sees the amphitheatre, which is as perfect in form as any I remember to have seen in Scotland. The Little Corrie is less regular. It is situated to the west of the Great Corrie, the two being separated by the ridge of Barnie- more, which is about a quarter of a mile wide and rises to a height of 1567 feet. The floor of the Little Corrie is at the height of slightly over 1000 feet, and its depth is about 500 feet. (Figs. 4 and 5). Its width and length may each be taken at about 2000 feet. The Little Corrie collects a larger volume '30(3 r-L- — ft. ISOO - l4a> s^-RSo-- - I'SOO rmo- - llOO 1300- - noo 1100- IOOO- !r?oo 9oo- - goo Soo - TOO 700- •Soo €oo- .too soo Pig. 4. -WooX* "-— / .400 " -1100 \ / IMO - - llOO \ aoo- - I/OO HOO - -looo 1006- - 900 BALGLASS 900- BURN -SOO soo- -700 ?oo- -6oo €oo- -soo soc- Pig. 5. Downloaded from http://trngl.lyellcollection.org/ at Rice University on May 19, 2015 88 TRANSACTIONS—GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP GLASGOW. of water than the Great Corrie, and on 12th February, 1912, seven streams and many runnels were falling over its face. The basalt sheet is thinner, its lower surface is higher above the floor than in the Great Corrie; hence all the lower part of the wall consists of sandstones and shales belonging to the Calciferous Sandstone Series; and the wearing away of these softer rocks has enabled the streams to work their way backward by under­ cutting the lavas. The wall is therefore more notched and the floor less regular than in the Great Corrie, which receives only one stream from the plateau. There is a small bank of red boulder clay across the mouth of the Little Corrie, but no moraine. The Great Corrie of Balglass may be regarded as the typical Scottish corrie, for it is probably the most perfectly developed large corrie in the Midland Valley of Scotland; it is therefore one of the most accessible, and it has been long described as a corrie in Scottish geographical literature. Thus in 1795 D. Ure, in his account of the parish of Killearn, says that the estate of Balglass " is rendered conspicuous by the Corries or Curries of Balglass. They are semi-circular excavations, naturally hollowed out in the western extremity of that ridge of hills commonly known by the name of Campsie and Strathblane Fells. Some of the corries are very spacious, being more than a mile in diameter. In several places they beautifully exhibit the various mineral strata of which the mountains are composed.''7 There are earlier references to corries in Scottish literature, and the term is included in many old place names, such as Corrieyairack, Corrygills, Corriemulzie, &c. According to T. Henderson, the Corrie Water in Dumfriesshire owes its name to its rise in a corrie.