FEARN, a parish, in the county of Forfar, 8 miles
(W.) from Brechin, and 9 (N.) from Forfar, the county
town; containing 404 inhabitants. This parish not long
ago had its proportion of Urns, cairns, and Druidical
remains; but almost the only vestige of ancient times
now visible is the castle of the Vane. The name of the
structure is doubtless a corruption of the word Ba7ie,
signifying "white" or "fair", and the castle is said to
have been built for the residence of a lady of that name,
by Cardinal Beaton, who lived in the former half of the
sixteenth century. Tradition reports that the secret
cause of Colessie's defection at the battle of Brechin, in
the year 1452, proceeded from a refusal on the part of
Crawford to put him in possession of the barony of
Fearn as a proper reward for his services: the result of
the battle was fatal to Crawford and his coalition, and
the family of Stuart was again firmly established on the
throne. The extreme length of the parish is nearly
seven miles, and at several points it is nearly three in
breadth. On the east' it is bounded by the parishes of
Careston and Menmuir, on the north by the united parish
of Lethnot and Navar, and on the south and west by
the parish of Tannadice. The surface is rather strongly
marked by two ridges, running parallel to each other
and to the Grampian range, and the one rising so considerably
above the other as to exhibit, at a httle distance,
the appearance of one continued declivity from
the Grampian summits to the valley of Strathmore.
There are two small streams, one the Cruach (or Hunchback,
a name rather singularly applicable), which winds
diagonally through the middle of the parish, and the
other the Noran, which, from the point where it comes
in contact, forms the south-west boundary of the parish.
This latter stream falls into the Southesk; its waters
are proverbially crystalline, and the banks generally
picturesque and beautiful. Upon a careful examination
of topographical landmarks, few would hesitate to conclude,
that at some former period the Noran joined the
Cruach, first by one channel, and then by another; that,
thus united, they both fell into the Northesk; and that
the channel by which the Noran enters the Southesk, is
one of the most recent instances in the country of a
river-channel that has been scooped out of a rocky field.
Very little more than a slight embankment would still
give the streams one course, and empty both into the
Northesk, seven or eight miles to the north of the present
junction of the Cruach with the Northesk.
On the southern dechvities the soil in general is rich
and fertile, and on the northern obdurate and barren.
The whole e.\tent of the arable surface is little short of
3100 acres, divided into sixteen farms of unequal size;
there may be about 330 acres under plantation, and the
remainder is quite in its natural state, open, and overgrown
with heath, whins, and broom. At one time, the
growth of wheat had its share of attention; but this
crop is now altogether superseded by the alternations of
green crops with oats and barley. The deep free loam
upon which the farmers work gives them plentiful returns
of these, followed by a pasturage unsurpassed for
richness and abundance by any section of the county.
The minerals are such as are common in the neighbourhood,
with the exception of a red argillaceous rock which
decomposes upon exposure to the atmosphere, and is
known by the local name of kalm. The annual value of
real property in the parish is £42*0. Noranside is a
respectable modern mansion here, beautifully wooded,
and commanding a singularly extensive view of Strathmore
from east to west. Fearn parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Brechin, synod of Angus
and Mearns, and in the patronage of the Crown. The
minister's stipend is £155, with a manse, and a glebe of
ten acres. The church is situated on the summit of a
natural mound in the middle of a circular den, with the
manse and the school and school-house almost contiguous:
the site is good, and commodious for the population.
The master of the parochial school has a salary
of £28. 12. 6., with a house and garden, and the fees.