DUNBARNY, a parish, in the county of Perth,
Sh miles (S.) from Perth; containing, with the villages
of Bridge-of-Earn and Kintillo, 1 104 inhabitants. The
name of this place is variously written in old records,
but generally Dunherny. It is supposed to be a compound
of two Celtic terms, dun, a hill, and beam, a
breach or fissure, and to have been apphed to the parish
in consequence of the church being situate on the estate
of Dunbarny, which is marked by a fissure in a ridge of
hills. The church then stood a mile westward of the
bridge of Earn; but this site, which was near the extremity
of the parish, being found very inconvenient, it
became necessary to build a new church on another
site in 1684, though the ancient buryiug-ground is still
used. Kirk-Pottie church, about three miles south from
the bridge, and the chapel of Moncrieffe, about 200 or
300 yards south-east from the present mansion of the
name, were both appendages to the church of Dunbarny;
but the lands of the former place, with some others,
were in the year 1652 annexed ecclesiastically, and afterwards
civilly, to the parish of Dron, on account of their
contiguity; and the ruins of the church have been swept
away within the last few years. The area comprehended
within the walls of Moncrieffe chapel, which are still
standing embosomed in thick wood, has long been used
as the burying-place of the ancient family of Moncrieffe.
The forest of Black Earnside, formerly e.\tending along
the banks of the river Earn, was celebrated for the adventures
of Sir William Wallace, especially in a sanguinary
encounter there maintained with the English.
At Kilgraston, in the parish, the Covenanters are said to
have pitched their camp in 1645, before the battle of
Kilsyth.
The PARISH is situated in the most beautiful part of
Strathearn, and bounded on the north partly by the parish
of Perth. It is about four miles in extreme length
from east to west, and one mile and a quarter in average
breadth, comprising 3236 acres, of which 2640 are under
culture, 419 wood, and the remainder water, roads, and
waste. The river Earn passes through it in a winding
course from west to east, and the surface is generally
level, the chief exception being the lofty and striking
elevation called Moncrieffe or Moredun hill, which rises
756 feet above the sea, and commands from its summit
one of the most magnificent views in Scotland. The
prospect comprehends the Carse of Gowrie; the Firth
of Tay, with the town of Dundee; the beautifully rich
and well-wooded vale of Strathearn, ornamented with
the meanderings of the river Earn, and with many superior
mansions; the picturesque forms of the Ochils;
and the fine eminences of Monteith. On the north and
west, the mountains of Ben-Voirlich, Benmore, and
others, are finely contrasted with the nearer scenery of
Perth, the river Tay, KinnouU hill, and Kinfauns Castle;
and beyond Crieff appears the obelisk raised to the memory
of Sir David Baird on the hill of Tom-a-chastel,
in the parish of Monivaird, with that of Lord Melville,
near Comrie. The scenery is much indebted for its
general beauty to the Earn, though the stream is here
far less clear than in many other parts, chiefly on ac-
count of the mossy soil through which it passes. It
affords trout, whitling (a small species of sea-trout),
pike, and salmon, the last, however, in smaller quantities
than formerly.
The SOIL is exceedingly various, and comprises almost
every description, from the richest loam to the poorest
clay. On the south side of the river the lands are very
flat, and consist of strong wet clay; on the north they
are loamy; and towards the western district a red, tilly,
impervious earth is prevalent. Near Bridge-of-Earn,
at some depth beneath the surface, is a stratum of moss
of considerable thickness, extending for several hundred
yards, and which so impregnates all the water near the
village as to render it unfit for culinary purposes: in
this mossy bed large pieces of timber are found, many of
which present curious specimens of petrifaction. Wheat,
oats, barley, and the usual green crops are raised; the
cultivation of potatoes, especially the Perthshire red kind,
occupies a large proportion of the ground, and about
6000 bolls are yearly sent to L(mdon and Newcastle.
The rocks are mostly whinstone and sandstone of various
kinds, of which several quarries are in operation, and
the strata exhibit specimens of barytes, jasper, agate,
chlorite, and a variety of other minerals. The district
has made important advances in agriculture, and is also
especially worthy of notice for the rapid increase of its
plantations, comprehending all kinds of trees, which now
cover the hill of Moncrieffe, formerly overgrown with
heath and furze, and enrich the vale of Strathearn in
every direction. The annual value of real property in
the parish is £7605.
The house of Moncrieffe, built in 1679, is the residence
of the ancient family of that name, descended from
Ramerus de Moncrieffe, who was keeper of the wardrobe
to Alexander I. Its grounds are thickly planted with
the usual trees, interspersed with horse-chesnut, silver
and spruce firs, lime, plane, and walnut; and among
many other rare plants, the garden contains several from
the Cape of Good Hope and New South Wales. Other
mansions are, Pitkeathly, in the grounds of which is a
tulip-tree above a century old, which still regularly
flowers; and Kilgraston, a spacious structure in the
Grecian style, standing in a large well- wooded park, and
containing a valuable collection of pictures, among which
is one of the finest pieces of Guercino, representing Louis
IX. renouncing the crown for a monastic life. There is
also the house of Ballendrick, a convenient residence
with excellent out-buildings. A village named Dunbarny
formerly existed on the road leading from the property
of that name to Bridge-of-Earn; but the only villages
now comprehended in the parish are those of Bridge-of-
Earn and Kintillo, with a cluster of houses on the Pitkeathly
property, and a number of elegant cottages lately
erected at Craigend, on the Edinburgh road, by the
Moncrieffe family. Near Bridge-of-Earn and Kintillo is
a station of the Perth section of the Edinburgh, Perth,
and Dundee railway.
With regard to its ecclesiastical affairs, the parish is
within the bounds of the presbytery of Perth, synod of
Perth and Stirling, and in the patronage of Sir Thomas
Moncrieffe, Bart. The minister's stipend is £1/9, with
a manse, a vicarage tithe of forty-four and a-third loads
of coal, and a glebe valued at £19 per annum. The
church erected in 1684 stood a few yards west of the
present structure, which was built in the year I787: the
churchyard, partly formed in 1821, and finished some
years afterwards, is altogether artificial, being composed
of 2000 cart-loads of sand brought from the banks of
the river. The members of the Free Church have a place
of worship and a school. The parochial school affords
mstruction in the ordinary branches; the master has a
salary of £34, with about £25 fees, and also receives,
for teaching poor children, the interest of 500 merks left
in 1677 by the Rev. Robert Young, of £5 left in 1743
by John Craigie, Esq., and of £108 left in 1820 by the
Rev. James Beatson. The late Sir David Moncrieffe
bequeathed a sum, as a prize, to the best classical scholar;
and there are two bursaries in the patronage of the
family, one for St. Mary's and the other for St. Salvator's
College, St. Andrew's. Here is a public library comprising
about 300 volumes. At a small distance from
Moncrieffe House are the remains of a Druidical temple,
and on the summit of the hill of that name is a circular
fosse, sixteen yards in diameter, in the centre of which
stood Carnac fort, formerly belonging to the Picts.
Near Old Kilgraston is a bulky Spanish-chesnut tree, of
thick foliage, said to have been planted on the day when
Perth capitulated to Oliver Cromwell.