KINFAUNS, a parish, in the county of Perth, 1^ mile (E. by S.) from the city of Perth; containing 720 inhabitants. This place, the name of which, in the Celtic language, is descriptive of its situation at the head of a narrow valley inclosed with hills, and o|)ening into the Carse of Gowrie, was anciently the seat of the Charteris family, of whom Thomas Charteris de Longueville, a native of France, having killed a nobleman of the court of Philip le Bel in a duel, was compelled to make his escape, and for some time subsisted by piracy on the open seas. Charteris, called the Red Reaver from the colour of his flag, was encountered and taken prisoner by Sir William Wallace, on that hero's route to France, where, making intercession with the French monarch, Sir William obtained for his captive a full pardon and the honour of knighthood. Sir Thomas Charteris now became the zealous friend and adherent of the brave Wallace, whom he accompanied to Scotland; and on Wallace being betrayed into the hands of Edward, King of England, he retired to Lochmaben till Bruce asserted his claim to the crown. He was a companion of Bruce at the taking of Perth in 1313, and, in reward of his services, obtained a grant of the lands of Kinfauns, which remained for many years in the possession of his descendants. The lands passed afterwards to the Carnegies, of the Northesk family, and subsequently to the family of Blair, whose sole heiress conveyed them by marriage to John, Lord Gray, grandfather of the present Lord Gray, of Kinfanns Castle. The PARISH, which forms the western portion of the Carse of Gowrie, is bounded on the south by the river Tay. It is about five miles in length and one mile and a half in average breadth, comprising an area of 4800 acres, of which 2380 are arable, 240 meadow and pasture, and the remainder woodland and plantations. The surface, towards the river, is level, and thence rises, by a gradual and easy ascent, to the base of a ridge of hills that traverse the parish in a line from east to west. Of these hills the highest is the hill of Kinnoull, which is but partly in this parish, and has an elevation of 632 feet above the level of the Tay, presenting to the south an abruptly precipitous mass of rock, covered for nearly three-fourths of its height with trees, and thence bare to its summit. On the east of this hill the ground has a gentle declivity; and upon a level spot here, at a considerable height above the Tay, stands the castle of Kinfauns. Still further east, the ground again rises abruptly, forming the western acclivity of the hill of Binn, or the Tower Hill, so called from a tower on its summit, built within the last forty or fifty years by the late Lord Gray, for an observatory. Eastward of this hill the land slopes gradually till it subsides into a deep ravine, on the opposite side of which is another hill, and, yet further east, a fourth, the latter commanding from its summit a varied and extensive view of the whole Carse, the tower of Dundee, Broughty Castle, and of the course of the Tay from a mile below Perth to its influx into the German Ocean: to the south is a fine view over the vale of Strathearn. Beyond these hills, which are mostly wooded to their summit, rise various others towards the north, in gentle undulations, and gradually subsiding in the vale of Strathmore, of which they form the southern boundary. The Tay, which bounds Kinclaven for more than three miles, is the only river of importance; but three small streamlets, rising among the hills, intersect the parish from north to south. The river abounds with salmon and different kinds of trout; pike are numerous, and sturgeon are found occasionally. In this parish the soil is various; near the Tay, a rich loamy clay producing excellent crops of wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, and turnips, with the usual grasses; and for a considerable height on the acclivities of the hills, a light, but deep and fertile, black mould. The system of agriculture is improved; the farms vary from 12.5 to 300 acres in extent; the farm-buildings are substantial and well arranged, and most of them of modern erection. The lands have been well drained, chiefly with tiles, for the making of which good clay is found; and on the estate of Kinfauns