Timothy Pont, Min. of Dunnet

Biographical Summary

"Timothy Pont, born about 1560, elder son of Robert P., min. of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, one of the Lords of Session ; had a charter of certain church lands in parish of Strathmartin and of Pentempler from his father, 10th July 1574, to enable him to prosecute his studies, which was confirmed 18th April 1583 ; educated at St Leonard's College and Univ. of St Andrews ; M.A. (1583) ; adm. about 1601. He made a tour of Scotland in 1608 to explore "the most barbarous parts of the country." He had a royal grant of two thousand acres in Ulster on 25th July 1609, at the price of £400, in connection with a scheme for the colonisation of that province. He was a profound mathematician and the first projector of a Scottish atlas, for which he personally surveyed all the counties and islands of the kingdom, noting all their antiquities. He died between 1625 and 1630 before his collections were finished. The original maps, now preserved in the Scottish National Library, are minutely and elegantly penned, and show wonderful accuracy for the time. After nearly being destroyed through the carelessness of his representatives, by the exertions of Sir John Scott of Scotstarvet, they were revised and corrected by Robert Gordon of Straloch, and afterwards by his son, James Gordon, min. of Rothiemay, in 1654, and were published in Bleau's Atlas Major, v. and vi. (Amsterdam, 1654 and 1662). Publications — A New Description of the Schyres Lothian and Linlithgow (Amsterdam, 1630 and 1631); "Observations of Dyverse Parts of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland " (Macfarlane's Geog. Coll., ii., 509) ; De Vestigiis Valli Agricoloe ; " Topographical Account of the District of Cunninghame, Ayrshire " (Glasgow [Maitland Club], 1858), reprinted as Cunninghame Topographised with Continuations and Illustrative Notices, by James Dobie [edited by his son, John Shedden D.] (Glasgow, 1876)."

SOURCE: Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae:the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation, Vol. VII, page 119

Other References

• Wikipedia contributors. "Timothy Pont." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
• "Pont, Timothy (DNB00)." Wikisource, The Free Library.