Glen Shee

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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Glenshee, a hamlet, a glen, and a quoad sacra parish in Kirkmichael parish, NW Perthshire. The hamlet, Spittal of Glenshee, lies 1125 feet above sea-level, at the head of the glen, 5½ miles SSW of the meeting-point with Aberdeen and Forfar shires, 31 NE of Pitlochrie, and 20 N by W of Blairgowrie, under which it has a post office. Formerly a stage on the great military road from Perth to Fort George, it was a halting place for refreshment of the Queen and Prince Albert, on the earliest occasions of their journeying to and from Balmoral (1848); and it has a good inn, and a fair on the third Tuesday of October o. s. The glen, commencing at the convergence of Glenbeg, Glenhaitneich, and Glenlochy, in the vicinity of the hamlet, is traversed by the Shee or Black Water, flowing 14¾ miles south-by-eastward through Kirkmichael and along the border of Alyth and detached sections of Caputh, Rattray, Bendochy, and Blairgowrie, till at Strone House, 6 miles NNW of blairgowrie town, it unites with the Ardle to form the Ericht, having in this course descended from 1125 to 480 feet above sea-level. Glenshee takes up the pub. lic road from Blairgowrie, through grand mountain scenery, onward to the Cairnwell Pass into Aberdeenshire; contains three old castles, a famous rocking stone, and numerous cairns and ancient Caledonian stone circles; and has, at its head, the mountain Ben Ghulbhuinn (2641 feet). The quoad sacra parish comprises the Kirkmichael or upper portion of the glen, and is in the presbytery of Dunkeld and synod of Perth and Stirling; the minister's stipend is £120. Its church, at the hamlet, was built as a chapel of ease in 1831 for a population of 400, and contains nearly 400 sittings. A public school stands 1¾ mile SSE. Pop. of q. s. parish (1871) 241, (1881) 226.—Ord. Sur., sh 56, 1870.

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