Kirkmaiden

Kirkmaiden, a parish, the southernmost of Wigtownshire and Scotland; hence the phrase, 'frae Maidenkirk to John o' Groat's.'

Kirkoswald

Kirkoswald, an Ayrshire parish, 4 1/2 miles WSW. of May bole. 'Tarn o' Shanter' and 'souter Johnnie' are buried in the churchyard.

Kirkpatrick-Irongray

Kirkpatrick-Irongray, a Nithsdale parish of Kirkcudbrightshire, 7 miles W. of Dumfries. Helen Walker ('Jeanie Deans') is buried here.

Kirkstall Abbey

Kirk'stall Abbey, a Cistercian abbey in Yorkshire, stands 3 miles NW. of Leeds, in the midst of modern manufacturing establishments. First founded at Barnoldswick in 1147, but Ave years later moved to its present site, the abbey is mainly Transition Norman and Perpendicular in style. The church is, like most Cistercian churches, long and narrow, with little ornamentation, and a low tower. The abbey was purchased by Col. North in 1888 for £13,500, and presented next year to Leeds.

Kirkstone Pass

Kirkstone Pass (1500 feet), in Westmorland, 3 1/2 miles NNE. of Ambleside.

Kirkwall

Kirk'wall, the capital of Orkney, on the east coast of Mainland, 49 miles NE. of Thurso, and 225 N. of Leith. St Magnus' Cathedral (1137-1500) is a stately cruciform pile, mixed Norman and Gothic in style. It measures 253 feet by 102 across the transept, and has a central tower 133 feet high, though shorn by lightning of its spire in 1671. The choir serves as a parish church. The last vestige of the royal castle was demolished in 1865; but the roofless Earl's Palace (1607) remains, and a tower (1550) of the Bishop's Palace, in which King Haco died in 1263. Much has been done for drainage, paving, and water-supply ; the harbour has been improved, and the iron pier superseded by a stone one. Its shipping has increased eightfold since 1850. Made a royal burgh in 1486, Kirkwall unites with Wick, etc. to return one member to parliament. Pop. 3660.

Kirk-Yetholm

Kirk-Yetholm. See Yetholm.

Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir, a police-burgh (1875) of Forfarshire, on Gairie Burn, 5 miles WNW. of Forfar. It manufactures brown linen, and is famous as the 'Thrums' of Mr J. M. Barrie, whose birthplace it was. Pop. 4100.

Kirton-in-Lindsey

Kirton-in-Lindsey, a town of Lincolnshire, 10 miles NE. of Gainsborough. Pop. of parish, 2400.

Kishineff

Kishineff', capital of the Russian government of Bessarabia, stands on a tributary of the Dniester, 162 miles NW. of Odessa by the railway to Jassy. When it became Russian in 1812 it had only 7000 inhabitants ; in less than a century it had nearly 110,000, of whom about 10,000 are of Russian race, the others being, in about equal proportions, Moldavians and Jews. In 1903 the town became notorious for anti-Semitic riots and the massacre of hundreds of Jews. Kishineff is the seat of an archbishop. Pop. (1897) 108,506.

Kishm

Kishm, or Tawilah (anc. Oaracta), a barren island of Persia, at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, is 55 miles long, and 515 sq. m. in area.

Kismayu

Kismayu, an island and port on the coast of British East Africa, 10 miles S. of the Juba River, a region inhabited by Somali tribes.