Kirkmichael

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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Kirkmichael, a village and a parish of NE Perthshire. The village stands upon Airdle Water, 705 feet above sea-level, and 14 miles NNW of Blairgowrie, under which it has a post office. A handsome bridge, built here across the Airdle in 1842, was greatly damaged by the flood of 1847, but afterwards repaired.

The parish, containing also Spittal of Glenshee, is bounded N by Crathie in Aberdeenshire, E by Glenisla and Alyth in Forfarshire, SE by detached sections of Rattray, Caputh, and Bendochy, S by Blairgowrie (detached) and Clunie, SW by Logierait and DunkeldDowally (detached), W by Moulin, and NW by Blair Athole. Its utmost length, from NNW to SSE, is 16 ¼ miles; it breadth varies between 4 ¹/₈ and 10 ³/₈ miles; and its area is 57, 558 ²/₃ acres, of which 275 ²/₃ are water. Airdle Water, entering from Moulin, winds 7 ¼ miles south-south-eastward, till it passes off below Ballintuim House on its way to a confluence with the Shee or Black Water, which, gathering its head-streams at Spittal of Glenshee (1125 feet), has here a south-south-easterly course of 10 miles near to or along the eastern border. One of its head-streams issues from Loch nan Eun (3½ x 1¾ furl.; 2550 feet), lying close to the Aberdeenshire boundary; and one of its affluents is fed from Loch Shechernich (4 x 1¾ furl.; 1350 feet), close to the Forfarshire boundary. Along the Airdle the surface declines to 570, along the Black Water to 780, feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to *Knock of Balmyle (1458 feet), *Creag nam Mial (1843), Creag a' Mhadaidh (1474), *Creag Dhubh (2082), Lamh Dearg (1879), Meall Uaine (2600), *Meall a' Choire Bhuidhe (2846), Carn an Daimh (2449), *Monamenach (2649), Ben Ghulbhuinn (2641), *Creag Leacach (3238), Carn Mor (2846), *Cairnwell (3059), *Beinn Iutharn Bheag (3011), and *Glas Thulachan (3445), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on or close to the confines of the parish. The Airdle's narrow vale, some patches along the Black Water, and a belt of territory extending from the Airdle at Kirkmichael village eastward to the Black Water, are low comparatively and mostly under cultivation; but nearly all the rest of the surface is lofty upland, chiefly mountainous, a portion of the Central Grampians. The rocks are mostly metamorphic, and one or two out of many copious springs are medicinal, believed to be anti-scorbutic. The soil of the low grounds along the streams is thin and dry, on a sandy bottom; that on the higher arable grounds is wet and spongy, requiring a dry warm season to render it productive. Little more than one-twelfth of the entire area is in tillage; about 750 acres are under wood; and the rest is either pastoral or waste. A rocking-stone, 3 ¼ miles SE of Kirkmichael village, is estimated to weigh 3 tons; and near it are four concentric stone circles. To the W are several standing stones, vestiges of eight or more other stone circles, and a cairn 270 feet in circumference and 25 high, surrounded at a little distance, and at different intervals, with a number of smaller cairns in groups of eight or ten. Ashintully, Kindrogan, and Woodhill, noticed separately, are the chief mansions. Including all Glenshee quoad sacra parish and a portion of Persie, Kirkmichael is in the presbytery of Dunkeld and synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £188. The parish church, at Kirkmichael village, was built in 1791, and contains 596 sittings. There is also a Free church; and three public schools-Ballintuim, Glenshee, and Kirkmichael-with respective accommodation for 64, 47, and 130 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 28, 25, and 58, and grants of £37, 1s., £38, 7s. 6d., and £62, 17s. Valuation (1860) £12,588, (1883) £16,754, 4s. 11d. Pop. (1801) 1563, (1831) 1568, (1861) 1224, (1871) 965, (1881) 849, of whom 293 were Gaelic-speaking, and 568 belonged to Kirkmichael ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 56, 65, 55, 64, 1869-74.

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