Parish of Murroes

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: Murroes
1834-45: Murroes

Murroes, a parish of S Forfarshire, containing two small hamlets-Kellas or Hole of Murroes, 3¼ miles N of Broughty Ferry and 5 NE of the post-town Dundee; and Burnside of Duntrune (originally and more accurately Burnside of Easter Powrie), 4½ miles NE of Dundee.

The parish is bounded N by Inverarity, NE by Monikie, E by Monifieth, S by Monifieth, Dundee, and Mains, and W by Mains and Tealing. Almost surrounding the detached or Duntrune section of Dundee parish, it has a very irregular outline, with an extreme length from N to S of 33/8 miles, an extreme breadth of 2¼ miles, and an area of 5304½ acres, of which 7 are water. The surface has almost everywhere an undulating character, sinking in the S to a little less than 200 feet above sea-level, and rising north-westward to 378 near Barns of Wedderburn, northward to 443 near Kerryston Bank, 479 near Braeside, and 800 at the meeting-point with Monikie and Inverarity. t mostly presents a pleasant and highly cultivated appearance, and is drained by two streamlets, Sweet or Murroes Burn and Fithie Burn, which fall into Dichty Water. The predominant rocks are trap and sandstone; and the soil is a black loam, partly deep and fertile, partly light and less productive, and incumbent variously on rock, gravel, and clay. About 218 acres are under wood; 280 are uncultivated; and the rest of the land is in tillage. The principal antiquities are remains of Ballumbie, Powrie, and Wedderburn Castles; and the site is shown of Ballumbie chapel and graveyard, discontinued prior to 1590. The old mansion-houses of Gagie (1614) and Muirhouse still stand, with crow-stepped gables, massive walls and staircases, etc. Gagie is now an ordinary dwelling-house; and the Muirhouse, close to the church, from which the parish derives its name, is occupied as a farm-grieve's residence. Catherine Douglas, whose arm was crushed in a vain attempt to bar the door against James I. 's murderers at Perth (1436), is said to have been espoused to the heir-apparent of the Lovels of Ballumbie. Robert Edward, author of an elegant Latin account of Forfarshire (1678), was Episcopal minister of Murroes in the reign of Charles II. In 1589-90 the Rev. Henry Duncan removed from Ballumbie to Murroes, retaining Ballumbie in charge. This seems to indicate that there were originally two parishes-Ballumbie and Murroes-which would partly account for the very irregular shape of the parish. The only mansion is Ballumbie; but the landed property is divided among five-the proprietors of Powrie, Wedderburn, Gagie, Ballumbie, and- Westhall. Murroes is in the presbytery of Dundee and the synod of Angus and Mearns; the living is worth £233. The parish church, built in 1848 over the vault of the Fothringham family, is a neat edifice in the Gothic style, with a bell turret, several stained-glass windows, and 370 sittings. The public school, with accommodation for 150 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 103, and a grant of £103, 2s. Valuation (1857) £7143, (1884) £10, 791, 7s., plus £643 for railway. Pop. (1801) 591, (1831) 657, (1861) 763, (1871) 751, (1881) 749.—Ord. Sur., sh. 49, 1865.

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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