Kinnettles, a parish of SW central Forfarshire, containing Douglastown village, 3½ miles SW of Forfar, under which it has a post office. It is bounded E by Forfar, SE by Inverarity, S by Inverarity and a fragment of Caputh, and SW and NW by Glamis. Its utmost length, from NW to SE, is 31/8 miles; its breadth varies between 6½ furlongs and 2½ miles; and its area is 2870½ acres, of which 10½ are water. Dean Water, from a little below its exit from Forfar Loch, creeps 2 miles west-south-westward along the Glamis border; and Arity or Kerbit Water, its affluent, flows 4 miles north-westward on or close to all the south-western boundary, the last mile of its course having been straightened in 1876-77. In the NW, at their confluence, the surface declines to 165 feet above sea-level, and thence it rises east-south-eastward till it attains 543 feet at flat-topped Brigton Hill, which, occupying the middle of the parish, is a detached member of the Sidlaws, whilst the low tracts around it are part of Strathmore. Trap, greywacke, slate, and Old Red sandstone are the predominant rocks, and have all been quarried. The soil, fertile everywhere, is in some parts a brown clay, in others loam, in others loam mixed with clay or sand, and in others so light as to require rich manuring. About 115 acres are under wood, 95 acres are waste, and all the rest of the land is in tillage. The antiquities are sites of ancient chapels at Kirkton and Foffarty (the latter in the detached portion of Caputh), and tombstones of the early part of the 17th century in the churchyard. Kinnettles House, 4 miles SW of Forfar, was built about 1867; and the estate1 183 acres in the shire, valued at £2818 per annum belongs now to the Bank of Scotland. Other mansions are Brigton and Invereigbty; and the property is divided among three. Including quoad sacra the detached fragment of Caputh, Kinnettles is in the presbytery of Forfar and synod of Angus and Mearns; the living is worth £199. The parish church, 5 furlongs SE of Douglastown, was built in 1812, and contains 360 sittings. There is also a Free church; and a public school, with accommodation for 110 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 72, and a grant of £60, 2s. Valuation (1857) £4656, (1883) £6529, 4s. Pop. of civil parish (1801) 567, (1831) 547, (1861) 414, (1871) 378, (1881) 386; of ecclesiastical parish (1881) 418.—Ord. Sur., shs. 57, 56, 1868-70.
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