FOWLIS-WESTER, a parish, in the county of
Perth; including the villages of Buchanty and Gilmerton,
and containing 1609 inhabitants, of whom 1S7
are in the village of Fowlis Wester, 5 miles (E. N. E.)
from Crieff. The origin of the name of this place,
Fowlis or Foulis, is differently accounted for. A local
tradition states that one of the Earls of Strathearn,
wishing for a church in the vicinity of his castle here,
stood on an eminence where he had a summer seat, and
resolved to erect one where the sun first shone, which
was on the spot the church now occupies, denominated
by him Fotvgiinlish, "under the light". Others derive
the name from the ancient family of Fowlis, who
are said to have held property here; but they do not
appear to have really had any possession in Fowlis
Wester, which belonged to the ancient Earls of Strathearn
at the time when the Fowlis family came over from
France, and settled in this country. The village was
ouce a place of considerable importance, where the steward
of Strathearn held his court; and about a mile east
of the church, on a part of the estate of Fowlis, was formerly
a castle, the seat of the ancient Earls of Strathearn,
the site of which now forms a grassy mount. Here
resided Mallus, or Malise, the first earl, in the reign of
Alexander I.; and his grandson, Gilbert, in the year
1200 founded the monastery of InchafiFray, beyond the
southern border of the parish. The seventh earl, also
named Malise, opposing Baliol, forfeited the title; and
his countess, Joanna, daughter of Sinclair, Earl of Orkney,
in 1320 was engaged in a plot against Robert I.,
for which, according to some accounts, she was condemned
to perpetual imprisonment. Mary, sister of the
last-mentioned earl, was married to Sir John Moray of
Drumsargard, to whom the earl conveyed the lands of
Abercairney in the parish; and Sir Maurice Moray,
their son, was restored to the earldom; but accompanying
King David to the battle of Durham, in 1346, he
lost his life in that action.
The PARISH is six miles in extreme length and four
in breadth, and contains 15,600 acres. It is situated
on the north side of Strathearn, and is bounded on the
north by Glen-Almond, in Monzie parish; on the south
lies the parish of Madderty, on the east that of Methven,
and on the west that of Monzie. The surface is marked
by two mountain ranges, of which the northern is the
higher, and forms a part of the Grampian mountaius;
the southern is three miles in breadth, and consists of
large tracts of moss and heath, ornamented with some
plantations, and interspersed with a few cottages and
cultivated farms. In the south, where the surface is
extremely irregular, are a number of braes, which diversify
the valley lying in that direction, as well as the
southern slopes of the last-named range of hills. The
beautiful and meandering stream of the Almond bounds
the parish for two miles; and the lands contiguous to it
exhibit an assemblage of woods, hills, rocks, and cascades,
with cottages, so strikingly grouped as to constitute
some of the finest scenery in the county. The
river Pow, rising in the mosses below Methven, runs on
the south, and joins the Earn near Innerpeffray. In
the west is the loch of Luag, situated in a narrow glen,
from which may be seen the stupendous amphitheatre
of hills around Comrie, with the far-famed Benvoirlich
towering to the clouds.
The SOIL has many varieties of gravel, sand, loam,
and clay, resting chiefly on rock. Though tolerably fertile,
it is in many places thin and dry, and where the
subsoil is clay the earth is wet and cold: on the banks
of the Pow the soil is alluvial, from the inundations ot
the river. There are 9400 acres in tillage, 6200 in pasture,
and 1000 occupied by wood: all kinds of grain
are raised, of average quality; the green crops consist
of potatoes, turnips, and cabbages, and are produced to
a large extent, with considerable quantities of hay. The
cattle are the Fife, the Ayrshire, and the Teeswater; and
very superior horses of the Clydesdale breed, the Garron,
and the Cleveland bay, are reared in the parish. A
highly-improved system of husbandry is followed, and
great advances have been made in every branch of agriculture;
but though most of the arable land is inclosed
with stone dykes and with hedges, much still remains
to be done in this respect, and the more effectual embankment
of the river Pow is required for protection in
the rainy season. The rocks chiefly belong to the transition
formation. The hills consist of mica-slate, with
occasional beds of quartz and hornblende, and a coarse
red conglomerate composed principally of hornblende
porphyry, which sometimes has the appearance of common
greywacke: the slate dips at the angle of 45°
towards the north. In the lower part of the parish are
several extensive beds of grey sandstone in thick strata,
which, instead of being vertical, like the slate, are nearly
horizontal. Trap dykes also occur. The annual value
of real property in the parish is £12,700.
In this parish is situated the House of Abercairney,
an elegant modern edifice in the form of an ancient cathedral:
the House of Cultoquhey is also a substantial
and commodious residence, built from a design by
Smirke, in the style of the Elizabethan age. The village
of Fowlis is very ancient, and still admits of great improvements,
though some have lately taken place in the
construction and slating of the houses. The lands of
Lacock, adjoining Fowlis, form a burgh of barony, with
the privilege of a weekly market and two annual fairs,
none of wliich, however, are now held. St. Methvan-mas
fair is held at Fowlis on the 6th of November, for the
sale of black-cattle and for hiring servants; it was anciently
the pari^^h festival, instituted in honour of the
saint to whom the church was dedicated. The weaving
of cotton is carried on to some extent in the parish, the
raw material being obtained from Glasgow: the manufacture
of sieves, also, has employed several families for
some generations, to supply the Perth and Fife markets,
where the articles meet with a ready sale at good prices.
There is a fishery on the Almond for salmon and whitetrout,
these being taken at a cascade, below which a
basket is suspended to receive the fish, which fall into it
in attempting to overleap the cascade in their passage
up the river. The turnpike-road from Perth to Crieff
passes through the parish, and there are several other
roads, all of which are kept in good order. Ecclesiastically
the parish is within the limits of the presbytery of
Auchterarder, synod of Perth and Stirling; patron,
William Moray Stirling, Esq., of Abercairney. The stipend
of the minister is £225, with a good manse and
offices, and a glebe of seven acres, valued at £20 per
annum. Fowlis church, a very ancient edifice, accommodates
800 persons with sittings. There is a parochial
school, in which the usual branches of education are
taught; the master has the maximum salary, with a
house and garden, and about £25 in fees. In the village
of Fowlis is an old Calvary cross, on one side of which
is a representation of a wolf-chase; and the parish contains
several Druidical temples, one of them supposed to
have been the temple of an Arch-Druid, and consisting
of a double concentric circle of forty stones in its outer
precinct.