ORWELL, a parish, in the county of Kinross, 2
miles (N. N. E.) from Kinross; containing, with the villages
of Middleton and Milnathort, 2715 inhabitants.
This place derives its name, of Gaelic origin, from an
estate so called on the banks of Loch Leven; and the
term is supposed to be descriptive of that property as a
green or fertile retreat. The parish is about seven miles
and a half in length, and three miles and a half in
breadth. It is bounded on the south partly by the loch,
and comprises 13,500 acres, of which SOOO are arable,
about 700 woodland and plantations, and the remainder
rough pasture and waste. The surface is finely undulated,
rising in some places into gentle eminences, and on the
north having a gradual ascent to the Braes of Orwell,
and thence to the Ochil hills, which are partly within the
parish, and vary from 1000 to 1100 feet in height above
the level of the sea. The principal river is the North
Queich; it rises in the higher land, and falls after a
course of five or si.x miles into Loch Leven, which also
receives various smaller streams that intersect the parish.
There are numerous springs of excellent water,
and wells may be easily formed at a small depth below
the surface. The scenery is finely varied, aud enriched
with thriving plantations, and some few trees of majestic
growth still remaining; but the river is not distinguished
by any striking features: in its progress through the
hilly part of the parish it displays some pleasing falls.
In the more level lands the soil is mostly of a clayey
nature, intermixed sometimes with sand or gravel; but
in the higher districts is of lighter quality, and well
adapted for potatoes and turnips: a small portion of
rich loam is also found in some parts. The crops are,
oats of every variety, barley, the quality of which has
been nnich inqiroved within the last few years, and a
small quantity of wheat on some of the richest lands,
with potatoes and turni])s. The system of husbandry
is in a very advanced state; the lands have been well
drained, and inclosed partly with stone dykes, and partly
with hedges of thorn. The farm houses and oflices have
been also greatly improved; those of more recent erection
are substantially built; aud threshing-mills have
been erected upon most of the farms, several of which
are propelled by water-power. The hills afford good
pasturage for cattle, generally of the Fifeshire breed. In
this parish the chief substrata are, the old red sandstone,
whinstone varying in colour, and claystone-porphyry:
both the sandstone and the whinstone are quarried,
the latter being used for the construction of dykes. A
post-office has been established at Milnathort (which see);
and facility of communication with the neighbouring
towns is maintained by roads kept in good order by
statute labour, and by turnpike-roads which pass for
fourteen miles through the parish. A weekly grainmarket
is held at Milnathort on Wednesday, and several
fairs for cattle take place during the year. The annual
value of real property in Orwell is £12,,533.
Ecclesiastically the parish is within the presbytery of
Dunfermline, synod of Fife, and in the patronage of Sir
Graham Montgomery, Bart., of Stanhope: the stipend
is £156, with a manse, and a glebe valued at £'20 per
annum. The church, erected in 17^29, is an exceedingly
plain cruciform edifice, but conveniently situated, on a
knoll above the village of Milnathort; it is adapted for
a congregation of 646 persons. There are places of
worship for the Free Church and the United Presbyterian
Church. The parochial school affords a useful course of
instruction; the master has a salary of £34. 4., with £40
fees, and a house and garden. A branch of the Kinross
Savings' Bank has been established. On the shore of
Loch Leven are the remains of the old parish church,
once an appendage of the monastery of Dunfermline.
Near the village of Milnathort are the remains of Burleigh
Castle, anciently a place of considerable importance
and of great strength. Little more, however, than a portion
of its inclosing rampart is remaining; and all the
timber that grew about it has disappeared, including an
ash of large dimensions, in the hollow trunk of which
one of the Lords Burleigh concealed himself from the
pursuit of justice, but was at length apprehended
and sentenced to be beheaded for murder. Upon a
branch of the Ochil hills is Cairn-a-Vain, formerly an
immense heap of stones raised over the grave of some
warrior chief, but now much reduced by removing the
stones for dykes to inclose the lands: in the centre of
it was found a rude stone coffin, containing an urn filled
with burnt bones and charcoal. Urns of clay, containing
burnt bones and ashes, have been discovered in
various other places along the ridge of these hills. On
Orwell farm are two upright stones about eight feet in
height, supposed to be part of a Druidical circle; and
near the same spot, stone coffins have been occasionally
found, and great quantities of calcined bones and ashes
are frequently turned up by the plough, at a depth of a
foot and a half below the surface, and covered by a
layer of loose small stones. Dr. Young, in whose arms
the gallant General Sir Ralph Abercromby expired, was
a native of this parish; and Dr. Coventry, late professor
of agriculture in the university of Edinburgh, was proprietor
of the estate of Shanwell.