Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

INV
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INV
INVERGOWRIE, a village pleasantly situated at
the head of a little bay, formed by the influx of In-
vergowrie burn to the frith of Tay, in the parish of
Liff, Forfarshire ; 2J miles west of Dundee ; and 19i
miles east of Perth. Besides offering facilities for the
landing of lime and coals from the opposite coast of
Fife, this little port is of some historical note as a place
of royal embarkation. Alexander I. having had a
donation made to him at his baptism of the adjacent
lands of Invergowrie and Liff, by his godfather, the
Earl of Gowrie, began, as soon as he succeeded to
the throne, to build a palace in the vicinity ; but
some of his people from Mearns and Morayshire
having formed a conspiracy, and attacked him in his
newly-finished residence, he took shipping at the vil-
lage, and sailed away to the southern parts of his
kingdom to gather forces for quieting and punishing
the north. In expression of his gratitude for having
escaped the conspirators, he made over to the monks
of Scoon, in dotem et glebam, the lands of Invergow-
rie and Liff. These lands, in the usual style of an-
cient manors, had their respective churches. The
church of Invergowrie is remarkable for being tradi-
tionally reported to have been the earliest Christian
structure north of the Tay. The original edifice is
said to have been built at the village in the 7th cen-
tury, by Boniface, a legate or missionary, who landed
there with some attendants from Rome, and who
afterwards penetrated the interior of Forfarshire, and
founded various other churches. Apparently a much
later erection than the original one survives in the
form of a common-place mouldering ruin, half-covered
with ivy, near the brink of the water. The church-
yard is on an eminence, a mound of singular shape,
washed on one side by the Tay. From the variety
of mould which is turned up in digging, all or great
part of the mound is supposed to be forced earth.
INVERGOWRIE BURN, a rivulet on the south-
western extremity of Forfarshire. What strictly
wears the name is a stream of only half-a-mile in
length, forming, in the carse of Gowrie, the boun-
dary-line between the parishes of LilTand Longfbr-
gan, in the counties respectively of Forfar and Perth ;
but it consists of the united waters of two streams,
both of which possess some local importance. One
of them rises immediately north of Dundee-law, and
flows 3 miles due west, and then nearly a mile south,
passing through Locheye, and tracing for some dis-
tance the boundary between the parishes of Dundee
and Liff. The other stream rises in the parish of
Fowlis Easter, in Perthshire, flows 2J miles south-
eastward to Forfarshire, traces for half-a-mile south-
ward the division-line of the counties, receives from
the west a stream of 2\ miles length of course, run-
ning most of the distance also on the division-line,
and then flows 1| mile south-eastward, to a junction
with the branch stream from the east. Invergowrie
burn, in the months of March and April, contains
excellent sea-trout.
INVERKEILOR, a parish nearly in the centre of
the maritime district of Forfarshire. It is bounded
on the north by Kinnell and Lunan ; on the east by
the German ocean ; on the south by St. Vigean's ; and
on the west by Carmylie and Kirkden. It measures
in extreme length from east to west 7£ miles; in
extreme breadth i\ miles ; and in superficial area
0,100 Scottish acres. From its east end, where it is
4} miles broad, it suddenly contracts to l.j ; and,
having re-expanded, nearly at its middle, to 4| miles,
it again suddenly contracts, and maintains to its west
end an average breadth of 2 miles. Keilor burn,
from which the parish has its name, rises on the
southern boundary, and for 1J- mile flows along it
eastward ; and then runs along it ] J mile, still east-
ward, through the expanded coast-district of the par-
ish, to Lunan bay. Lunan water comes in from the
west; forms for 1| mile the boundary-line with Kin-
nell ; flows 3 miles across the expanded northern
wing of the parish ; traces for 2 miles the boundary
with Lunan ; and falls into the sea at Redcastle.
In its progress it turns the wheels of numerous mills ;
it flows with a clear current* and as it approaches the
sea, frolics in many beautiful sinuosities; formerly
it abounded with fine trouts, and had some pike, but
is now more scanty in its fishy treasures. Gighty
burn comes down from the north-east, forms for 2^
miles the boundary-line with Kinnell, and, falling
into the Lunan, has its waters carried away in a
direction not far from being opposite to that of its
former course. The coast, including sinuosities, is
between 5 and 6 miles in extent, and makes a consi-
derable recession, over a distance of 2^ miles from
the northern limit, to admit the waters of Lunan
bay. Along this bay — which, except in easterly
winds, affords a safe anchorage for ships — the coast
is flat, sandy, and overgrown with bent; but thence
southward, it is high and rocky, and, in its progress,
sends out the remarkable headland called Redhead :
which see. Northward of Lunan water, the surface
of the parish rises in a beautiful gently ascending
bank of good arable land ; between the Lunan and
the Keilor, it recedes from the coast away westward,
in a level expanse of fertile ground ; and south of the
Keilor, it gradually rises into heights which slightly
partake the character of the southern part of the
coast. The soil varies, but is, in general, dry and
fertile ; and the air — though liable in April and May
to be laden with fogs — is, on the whole, pure and
salubrious. About 270 imperial acres are under
plantation; about 126 are scarcely, if at all, fit for
cultivation ; and all the rest of the surface is arable
ground. At Leys mill, in the extreme west, is a
quarry for what are called Arbroath-stones [see For-
farshire], which are here dressed by machinery
propelled by steam. At Redhead is an inexhaustible
quarry of fine freestone ; and below the rocks, Scoljs
pebbles, some possessing the colour and density of an
amethyst, have been numerously gathered. On the
coast, at the south end of Lunan-bay, is a fishing
hamlet called Ethie-Haven ; but it is a desolate
place, and threatens soon to be totally abandoned.
On the sands of Lunan bay, and on the estate of
Ethie to the south, are considerable salmon-fisheries.
In various localities are five flax spinning-mills •
Anniston, Kinblythmont, and Lawton, are agreeable
country-mansions. The village of Inverkeilor, situ-
ated near Lunan water contains a population of
about 150. The parish is traversed from south to
north, at nearly its narrowest part, by the mail-road
from Edinburgh by way of Dundee to Aberdeen; and
has, in its west end, 2 miles of the turnpike between
Arbroath and Forfar ; and is minutely intersected in
every direction with cross roads On an eminence,
at the mouth of Lunan water, stands a venerable
ruin, called Redcastle. Chalmers, in his Caledonia,
ascribes the erection of it to Walter de Berkeley,
called the Lord of Redcastle, in the reign of William
the Lion. But tradition asserts it to have been built
iiy King William himself, and to have been used as a
royal hunting-seat ; and it seems to be aided in its
verdict by the names of some localities in the neigh-
bourhood, — Kinblythmont, being a contraction of
Kings-blythe-mount, and Court-hill and Hawk-hill
being names still in use. In the coast wing of the
parish, south of Keilor burn, stands Ethie-house,
the seat of the Earl of Northesk, built and inha-
bited by Cardinal Beaton. About a mile north-
east of it on the coast, are the ruins of a religious
house called St. Murdoch's chapel, in which the
monks of Arbroath officiated. At a place called