Imperial gazeteer of Scotland, or, Dictionary of Scottish topography > Volume 1

AUCHTERGAVEN.
96
AUCHTERLESS.
great proportion of this consists of bills and moors,
or waste uncultivated ground. A small, old, conti-
guous parish, called Logiebride, is annexed to
Auchtergaven; but no account can be had of the
time when the annexation took place, either from
tradition, or from the records of presbytery, in which
the parish is always named Oughter or Aughter-
gaven. The people residing in the district that be-
longed to Logiebride parish, however, still continue
to bury in the churchyard at Logiebride; and a
part of the church is yet standing, and is used as a
burying-ground by the family of Tullybelton. It
is distant 2 miles from Auchtergaven church. The
muted parish is bounded on the north by the parish
of Little Dunkeld; on the east by Kjnclaven
parish ; on the south by the parishes of Redgorton
and Monedie; and on the west by Redgorton.
A lower range of the Grampians skirts it on the
north, and comprises the celebrated mountain of
Birnam. See Birkah. From these heights a num-
ber of streams descend towards the Ordie, a tribu-
tary of the Tay, which rising in a small lake in
the hill of Tullybelton, flows through Strathordie
in this parish, and unites with the Shochie at Lun-
carty. At Loak the Ordie receives the Garry from
Glen Garr. The bed of the Tay, near Stanley, is
crossed by a whin-dyke, which here forms the cele-
brated Linn of Campsie. At the foot of Birnam
there is a small secluded sheet of water which is
frequented by the heron ; and in this neighbourhood,
the great bittern has been shot. In the year 1784
Mr. Dempster of Dunnichen, and Mr Graham of
Fintray, along with several gentlemen in Perth,
feued some ground at Stanley from the Duke of
Athole, built a mill for spinning cotton, and soon
after began to erect a village in its neighbourhood.
At that time only a few families dwelt near Stanley;
and, except the land within the enclosures around
Stanley house, most part of the district was
almost in a state of nature; but now it is the seat
of a bustling and considerable population. See
Stanley. The old mansion of Stanley, on the Tay
to the north of Stanley village, was built by the
late Lord Nairne. The family of Nairne had another
elegant house near Loak, the ruins of which are yet
to be seen. It was purchased by the Duke of
Athole after the forfeiture of Lord Nairne, and there-
after demolished. The title of Naime was revived in
1824 in the person of William, Lord Nairne, who
was succeeded by his son William, 6th Lord Nairne,
who died, without issue, in 1837. The title is un-
derstood to have descended to the Baroness Keith.
The Nairne family bury in the south aisle of Auch-
tergaven church. The chief mansions in the parish,
additional to that of Stanley, are Airlywight House
and the House of Tullybelton; and the proprietors
of these mansions, together with the Duke of Athole,
the Baroness Keith, and Sir William Drammond
Stewart, Bart., are the landowners. Stone quarries
are wrought in a number of places, and a slate
quarry is wrought at Glenshee, near the western
boundary. The total value of all kinds of raw
produce was estimated in 1838, at £42,750. As-
sessed property in 1865, £13,406 10s. 6d. The manu-
factures comprise spinning and weaving in the
Stanley factories, a great deal of handloom weaving
in other places, extensive malting, a good deal of
distillery work, and the work of a number of flax
mills, corn -mills, and miscellaneous handicraft
work-shops. The great north road from Perth to
Inverness traverses the eastern district of the par-
ish; and the Scottish Midland Junction railway ap-
proaches sufficiently near, at the station of Lun-
carty, to be of service to the parishoners. The
village of Auchtergaven stands on the Perth and
Inverness road, 9 miles from Perth ; and is a strag-
gling place. A fair for cattle, sheep, and general
business, is held at it on the second Friday of No-
vember. Population of the parish in 1831, 3,417 ; in
1861, 2,562. Houses, 448.
This parish is in the presbytery of Dunkeld, and
synod of Perth and Stirling. Patron, the Crown.
Stipend, £179 6s. 4d., with a manse and glebe.
Schoolmaster's salary now is £50, with about £12
fees. The parochial church is in a central situation,
on a sloping hank, adjacent to the Perth and In-
verness road, and is an oblong building, with a tower,
and was erected about the year 1812, and contains
nearly 1,200 sittings. There is one Free church at
Auchtergaven, and another at Stanley ; and the
yearly sum raised in connexion with the former in
1865 was £86 13s. lid., and with the latter, £175
0s. lOd. There are two United Presbyterian
churches, designated in their synod roll North
Auchtergaven and South Auchtergaven, hut both
situated in the village of Bankfoot. There are five
private schools. Robert Nicoll, who has been called
the Second Burns of Scotland, was a native of the
parish of Auchtergaven; and he sings in one of his
pieces " the Folk o' Ochtergaen," and records in
another that " the memories o' his father's hame,
an' its kindly dwellers a'
Are twined wi 1 the stanes o 1 the silver burn
An' its fairy crooks and bays,
That onward sang 'neath the gowden broom
Upon bonnie Ordie braes."
AUCHTERHOUSE, a parish in the south-west
of Forfarshire, hounded on the north by Newtyle
and Glammis parishes ; on the east by Tealing and
Strathmartine ; on the south by the parish of Liff,
and the shire of Perth ; and on the west by Lundie
parish. Its greatest length is about 4J miles, and
greatest breadth 3 J. About three-fourths of the sur-
face are arable; and upwards of 1,400 acres are
under wood. The Sidlaw hills shelter the parish on
the north-west; and in the north-east are the hills
of Auchterhouse and Balkello. Two streams, both
rising in the parish of Lundie, flow through the
lower part of this parish, and uniting at the village
of Dronly, form the Dighty water, which flows into
the frith of Tay, about 4 miles east of Dundee.
There is abundance of building-stone and of paving-
stone ; and there are two corn-mills and two yarn
washing-mills. There are two mansions, that of
Auchterhouse, which belongs to the Earl of Airlie,
and that of Balbouchly, which belonged to the late
P. Miller, Esq. There are three small villages, —
Kirktown of Auchterhouse, Dronly, and Bonniton;
and the first of these stands 700 feet above sea-level,
and is 7 miles north-west of Dundee, which is the
post-town. Both the Dundee and Meigle turnpike
road, and the Dundee and Newtyle railway pass
through the parish, and afford abundant facilities of
communication. Population in 1831, 715; in 1861,
706. Houses, 142. Assessed property in 1865,
£7,190 14s.
This parish is in the presbytery of Dundee, and
synod of Angus and Mearns. Patron, the Earl of
Airlie. Stipend, £229 0s. 2d.; glebe, £14. School-
master's salary now is £40 ; school-fees about £40.
Church built in 1775. The old church was a large
and handsome Gothic structure.
AUCHTERLESS, a parish, containing a post-
office hamlet of its own name, in the north-west erf
Aberdeenshire. It is bounded on the north-west by
Banffshire, and on other sides by the parishes of
Turriff, Fyvie, Rayne, Culsalmond, and Forgue.
Its greatest length north-eastward is about 8 miles;
and its greatest breadth is nearly 4 miles. Its sur-
face is the upper basin of the Ythan, from within