Inverkeilor, a village and a coast parish of Forfarshire. The village stands near the right bank of Lunan Water, 6 miles N by E of Arbroath station. The parish, containing also Leysmill village and Chance Inn, with a post and telegraph office, is bounded N by Kinnell and Lunan, E by the German Ocean, S by St Vigeans, and W by Carmyllie and Kirkden. Its utmost length, from E by N to W by S, is 77/8 miles; its breadth, from N to S, varies between 9½ furlongs and 41/8 miles; and its area is 10,5166/8 acres, of which 240 are foreshore and 36 water. Keilor Burn, which gives the parish its name, rises on the S border, and runs 3 miles east-north-eastward to Lunan Bay. Lunan Water, coming in from Kinnell, winds 3¾ miles through the interior, then 25/8 miles along the boundary with Lunan to the sea; and two head-streams of Brothock Water rise and run in the SW. The coast, 5½ miles long, over the northern half is indented by Lunan Bay, and here is low, flat, and sandy, overgrown with bent; to the S it is high and rocky, and at Redhead, the promontorial termination of the Sidlaw spurs, attains a height of 267 feet in picturesque porphyritic cliffs. The section N of Lunan Water rises in a beautiful, gently ascending bank of arable land to 325 feet at Hilton and 290 at Compass Hill; whilst the southern section is mostly a level expanse of fertile ground, attaining 262 feet near Boghead, 265 near Kinblethmont, and 312 in the extreme W. The rocks are Devonian, with intermingling of traps and porphyries. Pavement flag, of the kind popularly cal ed Arbroath stone, is quarried and dressed at Leysmill; sandstone of suitable quality for masonry is quarried between Lunan Water and Keilor Burn; and a hard bluish trap, well suited for road metal, is quarried on the N side of Lunan Water. Agates and other pebbles, some of them of fine colour and high density, are found in the trap rocks. The soils are various, but generally dry and fertile. About 250 acres are under plantation; 126 are almost or altogether unfit for cultivation; and all the rest of the land is regularly or occasionally in tillage. Antiquities are vestiges of Danish camps, the remains of St Murdoch's and Quytefield chapels, and Redcastle, which last is separately noticed, as also are the mansions of Ethie, Kinblethmont, and Lawton. A fourth, Anniston, standing ¾ mile SE of the village, is the seat of Lieut.-Col. Arthur John Rait, C. B. (b. 1839; suc. 1877), who owns 978 acres in the shire, valued at £2744 per annum. In all, 4 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 5 of between £100 and £500, 1 of from £50 to £100, and 4 of from £20 to £50. Giving off a portion to the quoad sacra parish of Friockheim, Inverkeilor is in the presbytery of Arbroath and synod of Angus and Mearns; the living is worth £321. The parish church was built in 1735, and, as enlarged about 1830, contains 703 sittings. There is also a Free church; and two public schools, Chapelton and Inverkeilor, with respective accommodation for 119 and 232 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 79 and 143, and grants of £72, 1sv. 6d. and £125, 18s. 6d, Valuation (1857) £13, 594, (1883) £17, 227, 2s. 5d., plus £2277 for railway. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 1704, (1831) 1655, (1841) 1879, (1861) 1792, (1871) 1521, (1881) 1671; of ecclesiastical parish (1871) 1189, (1881) 1311.—Ord. Sur., sh. 57, 1868.
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