Glenisla, a hamlet and a parish of NW Forfarshire. The hamlet, Kirkton of Glenisla, stands, 780 feet above sea-level, on the left bank of the river Isla, 9 miles N by W of Alyth, its post-town and station. It has a post office, and a sheep and cattle fair on the Thursday before the last Wednesday of September.
The parish is bounded NW by Crathie and Braemar in Aberdeenshire, NE by Cortachy and Clova, E by Kirriemuir and Lintrathen, S and SW by Alyth, and W by Kirkmichael in Perthshire. Its utmost length, from N by W to S by E, is 16 ¾ miles; its breadth varies between 1 5/8 and 5 7/8 miles; and its area is 41, 373 ¾ acres, of which 133 ½ are water. The river rising close to the Aberdeenshire border at 3100 feet above sea-level, winds 17 ¼ miles south-south-eastward through the middle of the parish, then 7 miles south-eastward along the boundary with Lintrathen. It receives in its progress numerous tributaries from the lateral glens, and exhibits a wealth of romantic scenery, forming the magnificent cataracts of the Reekie Linn and the Slugs of AchRannie. Where it quits the parish, at its south-eastern coruer, just opposite Airlie Castle, the surface declines to less than 400 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 701 feet near Cotton, 1061 near Dykehead, 1322 at the Hill of Fernyhirst, 1605 at * Knockton, 1487 at Druim Dearg, 1275 at Cairn Hill, 1692 at * Hare Cairn, 2441 at * Mount Blair, 2297 at Duchray Hill, 2429 at Badanden Hill, 2325 at Craig Lair, 2649 at * Monamenach, 3238 at * Creag Leacach, 2954 at Finalty Hill, and 3484 at * Cairn na Glasha, where asterisks mark those summits that culminate right on the borders of the parish. The rocks are variously eruptive, metamorphic, Silurian, and Devonian, and include some beds of limestone which have been worked; whilst in the low grounds of the southern district they are thickly overlaid by strong, stiff, argillaceous drift. The soil of the arable lands from moss to gravel, and from stiff clay to fine friable loam; but barely 4000 acres are in tillage, about 500 being under wood. Glenisla House, on the left bank of the Isla, 13 miles NNW of Alyth, is a plain modern mansion, a seat of Sir John-George-Smyth Kinloch of Kinloch, second Bart. since 1873 (b.1849; suc.1881), who holds 1251 acres in Forfarshire and 2854 in Perthshire, valued at £232 and £5487 per annum. Of old the Ogilvies were sole proprietors, and here had two fortalices, Forter and Newton, the former of which still stands in a state of ruin. Now 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 12 of between £100 and £500, 9 of from £50 to £100, and 7 of from £20 to £50. Giving o0 its southern portion to the quoad sacra parish of Kilry, Glenisla is in the presbytery of Meigle and synod of Angus and Mearns; the living is worth £194. The church, erected in 1821, contains 500 sittings. There is also a Free church; and three public schools-Glenisla, Kilry, and Folda-with respective accommodation for 73,68, and 85 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 29,48, and 21, and grants of £43,2s 6d,£58,2s, and £33,0s. Valuation (1857) £6823, (1882) £11,856, 12s 10d. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 996, (1831) 1129, (1861) 1008, (1871) 925, (1881) 791; of ecclesiastical parish (1881) 464-Ord. Sur., sh 56,65,1870.
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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.
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