Abernyte

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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Abernyte, a hamlet and a parish near the E border of Perthshire. The hamlet stands in a beautiful glen, by the confluence of two rivulets, one of them anciently called the Nyte: and is 2¼ miles NW of its post-village Inchture, 4 miles NNW of Inchture station, and 11½ miles ENE of Perth.

The parish is bounded N and NE by Longforgan, SE by Inchture, SW by Kinnaird, W by Collace, and NW by Cargill. Of irregular shape, it has an extreme length from E to W of 33/8 miles, a width from N to S of 1¾ mile, and an area of 2533 acres, of which 1¼ are water. The surface has a general north-westward rise from the Carse of Gowrie to the Sidlaw Hills, the Braes of the Carse in the centre of the parish having elevations of 632 and 832 feet above sea-level, while to the W are the slopes of Blacklaw (969 feet), Dunsinane Hill (1012), Black Hill (1182), and King's Seat (1235), whose summits, however, lie just outside the bounds. The glen, shut in upon three sides by bold but cultivated ascents, opens south-eastward to the Carse: and its united rivulets form in the low grounds at the head of a deep-wooded ravine a romantic waterfall with 40 feet of almost sheer descent. The rocks are chiefly sandstone and amygdaloid, containing agates: and the soil on these lower grounds is light but fertile, mostly incumbent on gravel, whilst that of the uplands is of poorer quality, and in some places heathy. Two cairns crowned Glenny Law, on which and on Stockmuir there also stood two small stone-circles of 7 and 9 stones each. Abernyte House is the principal residence, and 7 landowners hold each an annual value of upwards of £50. In the presbytery of Dundee and synod of Angus and Mearns, the parish contains an Established church (rebuilt 1736: living, £219), and a Free church for Abernyte and Rait, these churches standing ½ mile E, and 5 furlongs ESE, of the hamlet. A public school, with accommodation for 93 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 54, and a grant of £41, 11s. Valuation (1881) £3011, 9s. Pop. (1831) 254, (1861) 310, (1871) 253, (1881) 275.—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

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