Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

WEE M
WEIR
ment has also been afforded to agricultural improvement
in general by the Athol Club, who hold their meetings
every third year in the village of Weem. The cattle are
chiefly the West Highland breed ; and the sheep, which
are very numerous, from 3000 to 4000 being kept in
Glenlochay alone, are mostly of the black-faced kind.
Sir Robert Menzies, of Menzies, and the Marquess of
Breadalbane, hold nearly all the lands ; the rent of the
arable portion varies from 15s. to £2. 10. per acre, and
the usual run of leases is fifteen years. The wood covers
between 700 and 800 acres, and of these 190 are in the
part called the Rock of Weem ; the trees are mostly
larch and oak, but ash, elm, and beech are also planted,
and there are some native Scotch fir, birch, hazel, and
mountain-ash. The rateable annual value of Weem is
£4283.
Castle Menzies, to which considerable additions have
recently been made, is a fine picturesque structure, the
ancient seat of the Menzies family, whose ancestor is
supposed to have come over with William the Con-
queror, and who are now represented by Sir R. Men-
zies, Bart. The present castle was built in 1571, and
from its situation on a beautiful lawn at the foot of the
rock of Weem, in the midst of large trees of oak, plane,
and chesnut, is an interesting and conspicuous object in
the scenery. The house of Auchmore, some time since
the residence of the Marquess of Breadalbane, was for-
merly of small dimensions ; but the ancient portion has
been modernised and greatly enlarged. It stands in an
extensive park, separated on the west from the parish of
Killin by a stream with well-wooded banks, and washed
on the north and north-west by the Dochart, the
Dochart and Lochay united, and Loch Tay. The village
is very small, the parish being entirely pastoral and
agricultural : the Gaelic language is generally spoken.
This is a polling-place for elections ; the Commissioners
of Supply hold their statutory road and other meetings
here, and the justices of the peace have monthly meet-
ings for small-debt cases, and occasionally assemble for
excise business. The presbytery of Weem, consisting at
the present time of nine incumbencies, namely, six
original and three government churches, was detached
from the presbytery of Dunkeld, and erected by an act
of the General Assembly, May 24, 1836, into a separate
presbytery, appointed to meet in this place. There is a
branch post daily through the village from Aberfeldy,
conveyed by a four-wheeled carriage fitted up for pas-
sengers also : turnpike-roads run through the Weem,
Murthly, Crannich, Newhall, and Sticks divisions, and
good roads traverse most of the other parts. A bridge
crosses the Lochay near Killin ; and there is a superior
one of five arches over the Tay, between Aberfeldy and
the village of Weem, forming a communication between
the northern and southern districts. It was finished in
the year 1733, under the direction of General Wade,
and is situated not far from the spot where Sir John
Cope's army is said to have encamped in 1745. The
produce of the parish is sent for sale chiefly to Perth,
whence coal is procured, though at considerable expense,
and used by the higher class ; the remainder of the
people burn wood aud peat, the latter of which is of
very inferior quality. Two annual fairs, now almost
disused, are held in the village for general traffic.
The parish is in the synod of Perth and Stirling, and
under the patronage of Sir R. Menzies : the minister's
596
stipend is £150, with a manse and a glebe of five acres,
valued at £10 per annum. The church was built in
1835, and contains 561 sittings, all free. Part of this pa-
rish is annexed for ecclesiastical purposes to the district
church of Glenlyon, in the parish of Fortingal, and
other parts are connected with the mission chapels of
Lawers and Amulrie ; the distance of the inhabitants,
in some places amounting to thirty miles, rendering
their attendance at the parish church next to impossible.
The parochial school affords instruction in geography,
mathematics, and Greek and Latin, in addition to the or-
dinary branches ; the master has a stipend of £34. 4.,
with a house, and £10 fees. A bequest of £8 per annum
by Mr. Gregory, of London, is appropriated to the in-
struction of the poorer scholars. There are also three
schools, where the instruction is the same, partly en-
dowed by the Rev. Archibald Campbell, a former in-
cumbent, who died in 1740 ; each master receives £5. 11.
per annum. The antiquities comprise two upright
crosses, in the district of Newhall, supposed to have
formed part of the sides of a gateway to an ancient re-
ligious edifice ; also the east end of the old parish
church, containing a curiously sculptured monument,
with a Latin inscription, to the memory of Sir Alexander
Menzies, the thirteenth of the family, and his wife, Mar-
jory Campbell.
WEESDALE, county of Shetland. — See Ting-
wall, Whiteness, and Weesdale.
WEIR, BRIDGE OF, a village, and lately a quoad
sacra parish, partly in the parish of Houston and Kill-
allan, and partly in the parish of Kilbarchan, Upper
ward of the county of Renfrew ; containing 1571 inha-
bitants, of whom 1432 are in the village, 7 miles (W. by
N.) from Paisley. This thriving village stands on the
river Gryfe, by which it is divided into two nearly equal
parts ; and is indebted for its prosperity to the cotton
manufacture extensively carried on in the parishes of
which it forms a portion. It is neatly built, and plea-
santly situated within a mile of Houston, and about two
miles to the north-west of Kilbarchan. The manufac-
ture was established here about the year 1790> since
which time it has been gradually increasing in extent
and importance, there being now five large cotton-
mills, in which about 500 of the population are constantly
employed, mostly for the houses of Paisley and Glas-
gow. The articles manufactured are chiefly of the finer
sort ; and the mills, which are driven by the river
Gryfe, are fitted up with machinery on the best principles.
A tannery occupies a considerable number of persons ;
the several handicraft trades requisite for the various
works, and for the supply of the neighbourhood, are
carried on ; and there are shops in the village for the
sale of groceries and other goods. The nearest market-
town is Paisley ; but Johnstone, within four miles, is
a large and thriving town. The village contains a
branch post-office which has a regular delivery ; and
facility of communication is afforded by good turnpike-
roads which pass through the parish, by the Glasgow
and Ayr railway, and by boats daily from Johnstone to
Paisley and Glasgow. The ecclesiastical affairs are under
the superintendence of the presbytery of Paisley and
synod of Glasgow and Ayr. The minister is appointed
by the congregation, and now derives his stipend from
the general Sustentation fund of the Free Church .
the church, erected in 1826, is a plain structure, and