Parish of Kinclaven

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: Kinclaven
1834-45: Kinclaven

Kinclaven (Gael. ceann-clamhain, 'the kite's headland'), a Tayside parish in the district of Stormont, Perthshire, containing Airntully village, 2 ¼ miles S of Murthly station and 2 3/8 NNW of the junction and post-town of Stanley. It is bounded N and NE by Caputh, SE by Cargill, S by Redgorton, SW and W by Auchtergaven, and NW by Little Dunkeld. Its utmost length, from E by N to W by S, is 4¾ miles; its utmost breadth is 4 miles; and its area is 6345½ acres, of which 209½ are water. The Tay curves 8 3/8 miles east-north-eastward, south-south-eastward, and south-south-westward along all the Caputh and Cargill boundary, and here exhibits an impetuosity and a destructiveness that do not in general characterise its course. Though embankments were early thrown up along its banks, it has at various periods cut them down, and invaded the fertile cornfields which they were meant to protect. Three or four denudated tracts, and several islets in its present channel, are tokens of its desolating power. Just below Taymount House, it forms a picturesque fall, the Linn of Campsie; and everywhere its salmon fishing is magnificent. Towards the centre of the parish lies King's Myre (2 1/3 x 1 furl.), the largest of seven small lakes; and out of it a streamlet, with force enough to drive machinery, runs east-by-southward to the Tay. The surface declines along the Tay to 100 feet above sea-level, and rises gently thence to 313 feet near Middleton, 370 at North Airntully, 282 at Garth, and 269 at Court Hill. The rocks are mainly Devonian; and the soil is variously alluvial, clayish, and sandy. Eight-thirteenths of the entire area are in tillage; nearly 1500 acres are under wood; and the rest is either pastoral or waste. The ruined royal castle of Kinclaven, on an eminence fronting the Isla's influx to the Tay, is said to have been founded by Malcolm Ceannmor, and figures in Blind Harry's metrical chronicle as having been won from the English by Wallace. Thomas Duncan, A.R.A. (1807-45), was a native. Mansions are Taymount and Ballathie; and the landed property is divided among seven. Giving off a portion since 1877 to Stanley quoad sacra parish, Kinclaven is in the presbytery of Dunkeld and synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £360. The parish church, near the Tay's right bank, 5 miles NNE of Stanley, is an old building, containing 320 sittings. A U.P. church, 2¾ miles N of Stanley, represents one of the oldest congregations of the Secession body. The public school, with accommodation for 47 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 33, and a grant of £37, 2s. Valuation (1866) £6821, (1883) £7710. Pop. (1801) 1035, (1831) 890, (1861) 758, (1871) 607, (1881) 588, of whom 490 were in Kinclaven ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 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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