Ardoch (Gael. ardach, 'high field'), a parish of S Perthshire, containing (1) the village of Greenloaning, with a U.P. church, and a station on the Caledonian, 10¾ miles NNE of Stirling, and 22¼ SW of Perth; and (2) the village of Braco, 1¼ mile N of Greenloaning station. Standing on the right bank of the Knaik, Braco was feued in 1815, and now has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, insurance, and telegraph departments, 2 inns, the parish church (1780; 600 sittings), and a Free church; cattle fairs are held at it on the first Wednesday of January, the first Tuesday of August, and the last Tuesday of April and October. Pop. (1836) 384, (1861) 337, (1871) 343
The parish, recently formed out of Muthill, Dunblane, and Blackford, is bounded NW and NE by Muthill, E by Blackford, and SE and SW by Dunblane. It has an extreme length from NNW to SSE of 9 miles, an extreme width from E to W of 7¾ miles, and an area of 22,280½ acres, of which 153 are water. The Allan, in its upper course, flows 7¾ miles west-south-westward through Ardoch, and here receives the Knaik, Bullie, Millstone, Muckle, and several other burns; its valley sinks to less than 400 feet above sea-level. From it the surface rises northward to 678 feet on Orchill Muir, 525 near Faulds, 879 on Cambushinnie Hill, 1334 on Cromlet, 1496 on a summit marking the western boundary, 1215 on Meall a' Choire Raibhaich, and 1117 on Meall a' Choire Odhar -southward to 640 feet near Tarneybuckle, and over 1000 on the western slope of the Corums, this southern wing comprising part of Sheriff Muir. Along the Allan lie considerable haughs, with, for the most part, a good light loamy soil, incumbent on sand or gravel; the rest of the parish is mainly hilly and moorish. The Braco estate was formerly held by a branch of the Grahams, descendants of the third Earl of Montrose, and baronets from 1625 to 1689; and its old mansion, Braco Castle, 1½ mile NNW of the village, is at present the seat of Geo. K. M `Callum, Esq., owner in the shire of 1838 acres, valued at £1155 per annum. Ardoch House, ¼ mile E of Braco village, is a modern seat of Chs. S. H. Drummond-Moray, Esq., who owns 24,930 acres, of a yearly value of£14,311; within its grounds, skirting the Knaik's left bank, and occupying the site of Lindum, a town of the Damnonii, is the celebrated Roman camp of Ardoch. Traces of numerous Caledonian entrenchments and hillforts occur in such positions in its neighbourhood, as clearly to indicate that the Roman forces here made a strong and prolonged lodgment, and encountered a vigorous resistance. The camp is one of the best preserved of its kind in Britain; it challenges attention also for its large dimensions; and it has been the subject of voluminous controversy on questions respecting the scene of the great Battle of the Grampians. It consists of four parts-the station or citadel, the procestrium, the great camp, and the small camp. The station or citadel, designed as a permanent work, crowns an eminence near the E bank of the river, and rising 50 feet above its waters, has a quadrangular outline, with the four sides nearly facing the cardinal points; measures, within the entrenchments, 420 feet by 375; had four gates, three of which can still be clearly distinguished; was defended, on the N and E, by five deep ditches and six ramparts, on the S by two fossæ and a deep morass, on the W by the steep descent to the Knaik, and by two fossæ between that descent and the river's bank; and contained a prætorium and accommodation for 1200 men. The prætorium, for the general and his staff, is a regular square of 60 feet, situated on rising ground to the rear of the station; appears to have been enclosed by a stone wall; and now contains foundations of a building, 30 feet by 27, thought to have been a post-Roman place of worship. The procestrium adjoins the N side of the station; seems to have been a subsequent work, and strongly fortified; had an oblong form, 1060 by 900 feet; possessed accommodation for 4000 men; and, excepting vestiges of two gates on the N and the S, has all been obliterated by the plough. The great camp, lying NW of the procestrium; has an approximately oblong outline, 2800 feet by 1950; could accommodate 26,000 men; seems to have had, on the northern part of the E side, considerable outworks, comprising a square redoubt and a clavicle; is diametrically traversed by the old road from Stirling to Crieff; and can now be traced by vestiges in only its eastern half. The small camp lies on the W of the great camp, or rather lies one-half within that camp, and one-half westward; occupies- higher ground than the other works; appears to have been constructed after the great camp ceased to be used; measures 1910 feet by 1340; could accommodate 12,000 men; and is still in a comparatively perfect condition (R. Stuart's Caledonia Romana, Edinb- 1845, pp.-187-194). Ardoch is in the presbytery of Auchterarder and synod of Perth and Stirling; its living is worth £195- The East and West public schools at Braco, and a third at Greenloaning, with respective accommodation for 71,60, and 75 children, had (1879) an average attendance of 34,66, and 45, and grants of £29,10s., £57,12s., and £34,2s. Pop. (1861) 1418, (1871) 1316, (1881) 1102.—Ord. Sur., sh. 39,1869.
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