Forteviot

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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Forteviot, a village and a parish of SE Perthshire. The village stands, 60 feet above sea-level, on the right bank of May Water, ½ mile above its influx to the Earn, and has a station on the Scottish Central section of the Caledonian, 7 miles SW of Perth, under which there is a post office of Forteviot. On a small eminence now called the Halyhill, at the W end of the village, overhanging May Water, stood Fortevieth, the ancient capital of Fortrenn. According to the legend of the foundation of St Andrews, Angus mac Fergus, King of the Picts (731-61), here built a church, his three sons having already dedicated a tenth of the city to God and St Andrew; and in his palace here Kenneth mac Alpin died in 860. Wynton records a curious story that Malcolm Ceannmor was an illegitimate son of King Duncan by the miller of Forteviot's daughter: anyhow, Forteviot was a favourite residence with Malcolm; and on the ' Miller's Acre,' near the Halyhill, Edward Baliol's army encamped before the battle of Dupplin (1332).

The parish, comprising the ancient parishes of Forteviot and Muckersie, consists of three separate portions -the main body, containing the village; the Kirkton Hill section, immediately W of Craigend village, and 2 miles ENE of the main body; and the Struie section, 1½ mile SE of the southern extremity of the main body. The said main body is bounded N by Tibbermore and Aberdalgie, E and SE by Forgandenny, SW by Dunning, and W by Dunning and Findo Gask. Its utmost length, from NNW to SSE, is 4¾ miles; and its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 2¾ miles. The Struie section (2½ x 15/8. miles) is bounded E by Arngask, SE and SW by Orwell, and on all other sides by Forgandenny; and the Kirkton Hill section (15/8. x 13/8. mile) is bounded N and NE by Perth, E by Dunbarny, S by Dunbarny and Forgandenny, and W by Aberdalgie. The area of the whole is 79521/3 acres, of which 28932/3. belong to the detached sections, and 167½ are water. In the main body, the Earn winds 37/8. miles east-north-eastward, viz., 5 furlongs along the Findo Gask and Dunning border, next 1½ mile across the interior, then 1¾ mile along the Aberdalgie border; and its beautiful affluent, May Water, after tracing ½ mile of the Forgandenny border, runs 3 miles westward and north-by-westward through the interior. Dupplin Lake (3½ x 2½ furl.) lies, at an altitude of 410 feet, towards the north-western corner. Along the Earn the surface declines to close upon 30 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 431 feet near Upper Cairnie and 504 near Invermay home farm. The Struie section is drained by Slateford Burn to May Water, which itself traces 4½ furlongs of the north-western border; its surface, a portion of the Ochils, rises northward from 500 feet to 1194 on Dochrie Hill at its southern extremity. Lastly, the north-eastern section attains 596 feet in Kirkton Hill, and is washed on the S by the winding Earn. The rocks are chiefly eruptive and Devonian; and the soil along the Earn is of high fertility; whilst the southern and north-western portions of the main body are finely wooded. Invermay, the chief mansion, is noticed separately; and 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 5 of between £100 and £500, 2 of from £50 to £100, and 2 of from £20 to £50. Forteviot is in the presbytery of Perth and synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £339. The church, at the village, erected in 1778, contains 250 sittings; and the old church of Muckersie, on the May's left bank, 1 mile ESE of Invermay, was long the burying-place of the Belshes family. A public school, with accommodation for 98 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 61, and a grant of £62, 4s. 6d. Valuation (1843) £6301, (1882) £8261, 13s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 786, (1831) 624, (1861) 595, (1871) 567, (1881) 618.—Ord. Sur., shs. 48, 40, 1868-67.

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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