Topographical dictionary of Scotland > Volume 2

MONI
MONI
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MONIVAIRD and STROWAN, a parish, in the
county of Perth, 3 miles (N. W.) from Crieff; con-
taining 853 inhabitants. The word Monivaird is a
corruption of the Gaelic term Moivard, or Monvard,
signifying "the hill of the bards." Strowan is corrupted
from Rowen, Rowan, or Ronan, a saint who flourished
about the middle of the 7th century, who was eminent
for learning, and was in possession of the estate now
called Strowan ; he also gave name to a spring and a
lake here, and to a festival held in the place. The two
parishes are supposed to have been united for about
200 years ; but the church of each was kept distinct,
and used for public worship, till the year 1804, when a
new church was built in a central part for the accom-
modation of the whole population. The church of St.
Servanus, or Serf, at Monivaird, is thought to have
been given by the Earl of Strathearn, at the beginning
of the 13th century, to the monastery of Inchaffrey.
In 1511, in the reign of James IV., the sacred edifice
was the scene of a bloody strife between the clans of
the Mun-ays and the Drummonds, the former of whom,
being out-numbered and in great danger, fled thither
and concealed themselves. But, their hiding-place being
discovered by an accidental circumstance, and all the
men refusing to surrender, the Drummonds set fire to
the building, which was suddenly burnt to the ground,
and the victims, amounting, according to the account of
Sir Walter Scott, in his Legend of Montrose, to eight score
men, with their wives and children, were consumed. The
Master of Drummond, William, son of John, first lord
Drummond, was immediately afterwards apprehended
by order of the king, and conveyed to Stirling, where,
with several of his followers, he was shortly executed.
Upon digging the foundations for the mausoleum of the
Murray family, in 1809, on the site of the old thatched
church, some charred wood, and many human bones,
were found, supposed to have been the result of the
conflagration in 1511.
An old castle situated on the north of the loch of
Monivaird is said to have belonged to Red Cumyn, the
rival of Bruce ; it is called Castle- Cluggy, is exceed-
ingly strong, and was inhabited during the time of
Cromwell by Sir William Murray, the first baronet of
Ochtertyre. The residence of the Malises or Grahams,
earls of Strathearn, was also in the parish of Monivaird,
a castle on the summit of Tom-a-chastel ; it was burnt
down, according to tradition, while occupied by some
ladies of note, who perished in the names. One of
them is conjectured to have been Joanna, daughter of
Malise, Earl of Strathearn, and of the Princess of the
Orkneys, and wife of the Earl de Warenne, who, in con-
sequence of her treasonable practices against King
Robert I., had been condemned to perpetual imprison-
ment in the keep of this castle by the Black parliament
held at Scone in 1320. In the autumn of 1839, this
locality was visited by some severe shocks of earth-
quake, passing along from the north-west to the south-
east, and which were partially felt as far as Inverness,
Dunbar, Berwick, and the banks of Loch Awe. Shocks
had been occasionally felt for the previous fifty years ;
but these were far more serious, and so much alarmed
the inhabitants of the surrounding district, by shaking
the houses from top to bottom, for several miles round,
266
that most of the people residing at the adjacent village
of Comrie spent the whole night in the streets or in the
churches, which were opened for prayer. Similar shocks
have occurred since, but much more slightly.
The parish is situated in the district of Strathearn,
and is about nine miles long from north to south, and
six miles broad. It approaches to an oval figure ; but
two tracts stretch into the contiguous parish of Comrie,
and are annexed to it ecclesiastically, the one on the
south-west, in the direction of Glenartney, and the
other up Glenlednock, towards the north or north-west.
The number of acres comprised in the whole is between
21,000 and 22,000; and of these 3000 are cultivated,
2000 under wood, and the remainder pasture. The
surface is hilly and mountainous, but well watered and
richly wooded, and partakes, to a considerable extent,
of the milder and more picturesque features of Lowland,
combined with the bolder and more romantic scenery
of Highland, districts. A ridge of the Grampians runs
along the northern boundary from east to west ; and
though bare and craggy at the summit, yet in their
slope to the beautiful vale of the Earn they are clothed
with large plantations of forest-trees, which form a
striking and interesting feature in the scenery. The
highest elevation in this chain is Benchonzie, or " the
Mossy mountain," so called from an area of about forty
acres on its top being covered with a light-coloured
moss; it rises about 2922 feet above the level of the sea.
At the south-eastern extremity of the parish is Turleum,
a hill 1400 feet high, connected with the lower parts of
the northern ridge by a series of conical hills partly
clothed with copse, and crowned with lofty firs, and
which cross the valley of the Earn, and consist of the
eminences called Laggan, Drummachargan, and Tom-
a-chastel. On the last, most beautifully and roman-
tically situated, is the monument recently erected to the
memory of General Sir David Baird, the hero of Serin-
gapatam ; it is an obelisk of fine Aberdeen granite, eighty-
two feet high, and an exact resemblance of Cleopatra's
needle.
The valley, separating Monivaird, on the north, from
the district of Strowan, on the south, presents the most
rich and diversified scenery, comprehending hill and
dale, wood and water, finely contrasted with the adja-
cent mountains of various size and figure ; while in the
distance appear the stately Benchonzie, Benvoirlich, and
Benmore. Most of the hills abound in all kinds of
game ; and on the celebrated cliffs of Glen-Turret the
eagle annually builds her nest and rears her young, not
unfrequently, in time of scarcity of game, making great
depredations among the flocks by carrying off young
lambs. This glen was formerly famed for its breed of
falcons ; and here was procured the pair presented to
George III. at his coronation, by the Duke of Atholl, in
token of the tenure by which he held the Isle of Man
under the crown of England. The largest loch in the
parish, embosomed in Glen-Turret, at the foot of Ben-
chonzie, is called Loch Turret ; it is about a mile long
and a quarter of a mile broad, and well stocked with
trout, pike, and perch. Loch Ouan, in the same glen,
is remarkable for the number of trout taken in it ; and
among several small lakes in the lower part of the
parish, prolific in tench, eel, and other kinds of fish, is
Loch Monivaird, covering about forty acres, situated at
the base of a wood, and which for many years yielded