Parish of Menmuir

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Menmuir
1834-45: Menmuir

Menmuir, a hamlet and a parish of NE Forfarshire. The hamlet lies 5 miles WNW of Brechin, under which it has a post office.

The parish is bounded NW by Lethnot, NE by Stracathro, S by Brechin and Careston, and W by Fearn. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 61/8 miles; its utmost breadth, from N to S, is 3¾ miles; and its area is 10,110¼ acres, of which 10 are water. Paphrie Burn, coming in from Fearn, first crosses a narrow wing of the interior, and then runs 25/8 miles east-north-eastward along the Lethnot boundary to West Water, which itself goes 9 furlongs along the rest of the northern boundary; Cruick Water, coming in from the SW, winds 65/8 miles east-by-northward near to or along the southern boundary; and Menmuir Burn, rising 1¼ mile NW of Menmuir hamlet, runs 41/8 miles east-by-southward to Cruick Water. Along the last-named stream the surface declines to 200 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 978 feet at White Caterthun, 943 at Brown Caterthun, 880 at the Hill of Menmuir, 1009 at Mansworn Rig, and 1579 at Peat Hill. The district S of the hills, comprising about one-half of the entire area, and forming part of Strathmore, lay mostly, till a comparatively recent period, in a marshy condition; and, though retaining some patches of marshy ground, is now nearly all of it well-reclaimed arable plain. The predominant rocks are greywacke and Old Red sandstone. A neglected chalybeate spring on Balhall Farm was once in much repute. The soil of the lands adjacent to Cruick Water is sharp and gravelly, on the parts of the plain further N is loamy, and on the hill-slopes is deep sandy clay. The chief antiquities are described in our article on the White and Brown Caterthun. Balnamoon, noticed separately, is the only mansion; but 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of more, 2 of less, than £500. Menmuir is in the presbytery of Brechin and the synod of Angus and Mearns; the living is worth £208. The parish church was erected in 1842. There is also a Free church; and a public school, with accommodation for 118 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 89, and a grant of £93, 0s. 6d. Valuation (1857) £5833, (1884) £7993, 18s. Pop. (1801) 949, (1831) 871, (1861) 796, (1871) 761, (1881) 755.—Ord. Sur., sh. 57, 1868.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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