Parish of Bendochy

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: Bendochy
1834-45: Bendochy

Bendochy, a parish of E Perthshire, that, with a total area of 95292/3. acres, 1612/3. of which are water, consists of three separate sections, parted from one another by intervals 2 miles and ½ mile wide. Bendochy proper, or the south-eastern section, is bounded NE by Alyth, SE and S by Coupar-Angus, W by Blairgowrie and Rattray, NW by the Creuchies portion of Blairgowrie; and has an extreme length from N by E to S by W of 63/8. miles, and a breadth from E to W of from ¾ to 2¼ miles. The Drimmie or middle section, 17/8. mile long from N to S by 1½ broad, is bounded NE by Alyth, E and SE by Rattray, SW and NW by Blairgowrie; and Persie, or the north-western section, 3¼ miles long from N to S, and from 1¼ to 17/8. mile wide, is bounded N by the Milton and Bleaton portions of Caputh and Rattray, E by Alyth and Blairgowrie, S by Blairgowrie and Kinloch, W by the Blackcraig portion of Blairgowrie, and NW by Kirkmichael- The isla, here a deep and sluggish river,75 yards wide below the church, where it is spanned by a five-arched bridge (1766), winds 7 miles south-west ward, roughly tracing all the Meigle and Coupar-Angus boundary; and its affluent, the Burn of Alyth, for 13/8.mile marks the north-eastern border. Persie, in turn, is bounded SW and S by the Ardle for 2¾ miles, and E for 3½ by the Black Water, which unite near Strone House to form the ` ireful ' Ericht, a stream that for 1¼ mile divides the Drimmie section from Blairgowrie, and later runs 1¾ mile through Bendochy proper, falling there into the Isla. Here Bendochy, belonging to Strathmore, is low and relatively level, declining to 100 and nowhere exceeding 229 feet above sea-level;but it rises gradually northwards to 397 feet near Pictfield, and to 918 feet in the Hill of St Fink, thence again sinking north-eastwards to 500 feet along the Burn of Alyth. The surface of the Drimmie section, too, has a northward ascent from less than 500 to over 900 feet; as that of Persie, from 595 feet at Strone House to 1131 at Monks Cally, 1097 near Paterlach, 1000 at Craighead, and 1458 at Knock of Balmyle, which culminates just beyond the NW angle. Devonian rocks predominate in Bendochy proper, where are 4 sandstone quarries; and Plutonic rocks in Persie, where fuller's earth and clay-slate have been worked; the soils are alluvial on the best arable lands, and elsewhere range from strong loam to thin moorish earth. Principal Playfair of St Andrews was a native. Mansions are Hill of Couttie, Isla Bank, Wester Bendochy, Mudhall, and St Fink in Bendochy proper, Rannagulzion House in the Drimmie section, Strone House and Cally in Persie; and 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 15 of between £100 and £500, and 2 of from £20 to £50. For church, school, and registration purposes, the two north-western sections are included in the quoad sacra parish of Persie; and Bendochy proper constitutes another quoad sacra parish in the presbytery of Meigle and synod of Angus and Mearns, its minister's income being £370. The ancient church (repaired 1803; 380 sittings) stands 2 miles N of the post-town, Coupar-Angus; and 1 mile further N is a public school, which, with accommodation for 55 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 39, and a grant of £53,6s. Valuation (1881) £12,075,7s. 5d Pop. of q- s. parish (1881) 499; of civil parish (1755) 1293, (1801) 860, (1811) 748, (1841) 783, (1861) 769, (1871) 675, (1881) 680.—Ord. Sur., shs. 48,56, 1868-70.

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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