Parish of Dron

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.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Dron
1834-45: Dron

Dron, a parish of SE Perthshire, whose church stands 2 miles SSE of its station and post-village, Bridge of Earn, that being 3¾ miles SSE of Perth. It includes a detached district separated from the W side of the main body by a strip of Dunbarney, 1 furlong to ¼ mile across; and it is bounded N by Dunbarney, NE and E by Abernethy, SE by the Fifeshire and S by the Perthshire section of Arngask, SW and W by Forgandenny. Its utmost length, from E to W, is 3¼ miles; its breadth, from N to S, varies between 1¼ and 27/8 miles; and its area is 41922/3 acres, of which 631 belong to the detached district, and 5 are water. The Farg winds 3 miles along the south-eastern and eastern border; and in the NE, where it passes off into Abernethy, the surface sinks to 45 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 751 on Balmanno Hill and 950 on Dron Hill-grassy, copsedecked summits of the Ochils these. The rocks are mostly eruptive, but include some sandstone, and show appearances of coal. The soil on the low grounds is chiefly clay and loam, and on the uplands is comparatively light and shallow. About five-eighths of the entire area are in tillage, nearly one-tenth is under wood, and the remainder is pasture. The detached district is called Ecclesiamagirdle, and probably got its name from an ancient chapel of which some fragments still exist. Here and in Dron churchyard are two Martyrs' graves; on Balmanno Hill is a large boulder rocking -stone. Balmanno Castle and Glenearn House are the chief residences; and the property is divided among 7,4 holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 1 of between £100 and £500,1 of from £50 to £100, and 1 of from £20 to £50. Dron is in the presbytery of Perth and synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £256. The church is a good Gothic edifice, built about 1826, and containing 350 sittings; the public school, with accommodation for 62 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 44, and a grant of £32,9s. Valuation (1882) £4639,6s. Pop. (1801) 428, (1831) 464, (1861) 376, (1871) 343, (1881) 335.—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

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better