"The parish is six miles long by five broad. It is bounded on the east, by the Knock, a hill, about 1600 feet above the level of the sea. This hill is cultivated a good way up, on all sides. The greater part of its surface is deep peat, and heather. On the top the moss is from eight to ten feet deep. In the dry year 1826, the surface was burnt round and round, having caught fire, either by accident or design, nobody knows which. There is a very extensive view from it both of sea and land - Grange is bounded on the east, west, and south, by the parishes of Marnock, Rothiemay, Cairney, and Keith; on the north, by that of Deskford and part of Fordyce. On the northern part there are two hills, the Lurghill and the hill of Altmore, now called Aulmore, which signifies the great burn. In the centre there is the Sillyearn, on which there is an extensive plantation, young and thriving. In the southern part there are the Mickle and little Balloch, the lower parts of which are now covered with wood. Towards the top there could be no hope of a tree, as it is dry, rough and rocky. On the Mickle Balloch, there are several graves of some unhappy suicides, marked by a cairn, not sacred to their memory, but to tell of their unchristian burial and untimely end. Here is the Gallow-hill, too, of which tradition speaks with fear and trembling. On this memorable mount the criminals of the district met their ignominious fate. The abbots, as well as the feudal barons of those days, had the power to condemn without appeal, and, it is likely, to execute without justice."
(From The New Statistical Account for Scotland/GENUKI).