Parish of Creich

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: Criech
1834-45: Criech

Creich, a parish of N Fife, extending to within 5 furlongs of the Firth of Tay, and containing the villages of Luthrie and Brunton, each with a post office under, and respectively 5½ and 6½ miles NW of, Cupar-Fife. It is bounded NW by Flisk, NE by Balmerino, E by Kilmany and Moonzie, S by Monimail, SW by Dunbog, and W by the easternmost section of Abdie, having an utmost length from NNE to SSW of 31/8 miles, a width of 17/8 mile, and an area of 2341 acres. The surface, sinking in the south-eastern corner to less than 200 feet above sea-level, is elsewhere a congeries of hills, which on the NW border attain 568 feet, and at Black Craig in the NE 665-heights that command a magnificent view of the Tay's basin, away to the Sidlaws and the Grampians. Some of the hills are cultivated to the top; others are partly covered with plantations; and others, again, are rocky and heathy. Several burns, rising here, unite near Luthrie to form Motray Water, a tributary of the Eden. The rocks, eruptive mainly, include greenstone, amygdaloid, clinkstone, and basalt; and a laminar or stratified trap has been worked in one quarry, basaltic clinkstone in another. The soil is variable, ranging from black or thin sharp gravelly loam to clay or moss. On Green Craig is a hill-fort, consisting of two concentric lines of circumvallation; and a little to the SE are the ruins of the old parish church, and of Creich Castle, which, three stories high, and 47 feet long by 39 broad, appears to have been a place of very considerable strength, and was defended on one side by a morass, now drained, on the other by outworks. In 1502 the estate around it was acquired from the Littles or Liddels by Sir David Bethune, whose daughter, Janet, Lady Buccleuch, is the 'Ladye of Branxholm' in Sir Walter's Lay, and whose great-granddaughter was one of the 'Queen's four Maries;' it passed by purchase to the Bethunes of Balfour about the middle of the 17th century. Of Parbroath Castle, a seat of the Setons, in the S of the parish, hardly a vestige remains. Natives were the Rev. Alex. Henderson (1583-1646), the zealous Covenanter, and John Sage (1652-1711), nonjuring Archbishop of Glasgow. Creich is in the presbytery of Cupar and synod of Fife; the living is worth £282. The parish church, ¼ mile NNW of Luthrie, is a good Gothic structure, built in 1832, and containing 252 sittings. A Free church stands near Brunton. The public school, with accommodation for 80 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 74, and a grant of £59,8s. Valuation (1882) £4044,16s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 405, (1831) 419, (1861) 377, (1871) 387, (1881) 386.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48,1868.

Creich, a very large Highland parish in the S of Sutherland, containing, towards its SE corner, the village of Bonar-Bridge, and traversed for 53/8 miles by the Sutherland railway, with Invershin station thereon, 3½ miles NNW of Ardgay, and 17¼ NW of Tain. It is bounded at its north-western extremity by Assynt and Eddrachillis; along its north-eastern side by Lairg, Rogart, and Dornoch; at its south-eastern corner by the Upper waters of Dornoch Firth, which separate it from Edderton in Ross-shire; and along its south-western side by Kincardine, likewise in Ross-shire. From SE to NW its greatest length is 31¼ miles; its breadth varies between 11/8 and 9¼ miles; and its area is 110,736¾ acres, of which 735 are foreshore and 1911¼ water, it thus being nearly half the size of all Midlothian. Lakes of the interior, from SE to NW, with their utmost length and width and their altitude above sea-level, are Loch Migdale (2 miles X 3 furl.; 115 feet) Loch a' Ghobhair (4 X 1 furl.; 742 feet), Loch an Lagain (7½ X 1¾ furl.; 446 feet), sending off the Evelix, Loch Laro (7½ X 1½ furl.; 600 feet), Loch na Claise Moire (7 X 3 furl.; 774 feet), Loch na Faichde (4 X 11/3 furl.; 1400 feet), Loch Garn nan Conbhairean (4 X 1¾ furl.; 1104 feet), and a number of smaller tarns. On the Dornoch border lies Loch Buie (1¼ X ¼ mile; 527 feet); on the Rogart, Loch Cracail Mor (6 X 11/3 furl.; 620 feet); on the Kincardine, Loch Ailsh (7 X 41/3 furl.; 498 feet); and on the Eddrachillis, Gorm Loch Mor (7 X 4 furl.; 846 feet). The river Cassley, issuing from the last, hurries 20½ miles south-eastward along the middle

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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