KINGOLDRUM, a parish, in the county of Forfar,
4 miles (\V. by N.) from Kirriemuir; containing 440 inhabitants.
The name of this place is compounded of
three Gaelic words signifying " the head of the burn of
the drums, or low hills ". The lands were bestowed
upon the abbey of Aberbrothock by a charter of William
the Lion, which grant was confirmed by Alexander III.,
and afterwards by Robert Bruce; and Alexander also
issued a proclamation prohibiting everyone from cutting
wood, destroying game, or hunting, without consent of
the abbots, in the forest of Kingoldrum. Of this description
of land, however, no traces now remain. The
PARISH, which is of very irregular figure, stretches along
the base of the Grampian mountains, and is situated in
the district called the Braes of Angus. It is about seven
miles in length, and between two and three in breadth,
comprising 12,800 acres, of which nearly 4000 are under
tillage, 1500 in natural wood and in plantations, and
the remainder waste, consisting of moor, moss, bog, and
pasture. The surface is every where undulated, and
marked principally by three ranges of low hills, the intervening
spaces being occupied by considerable tracts of
level ground. Much of the scenery is interesting; and
from the summit of Catlaw, the highest hill, elevated
2264 feet above the level of the sea, extensive and beautiful
prospects may be obtained. These embrace the
German Ocean from Montrose round to the Firth of
Forth, part of the coast of Fife, the Bell-rock lighthouse,
Berwick Law, some of the highest mountains in the
Western Highlands, and, on the north, the loftiest eminences
of the Grampians. The streams of Prosen,
Carrity, and Melgum, all abounding in trout, enliven the
lands in different directions; and the last, in its course
through a deep, narrow, and winding cliannel, forms a
series of beautiful waterfalls, called the Loups of Kenny.
The burn of Crombie, after passing the village, falls into
the Melgum; and in several places are copious springs,
some of them supplying abundance of excellent water.
The SOIL is to a great extent alluvial, rich and deep,
but in some parts very thin. It rests frequently on a
subsoil much intermixed with the debris of the red sandstone
rocks. In some places it is sandy, and in others
moorish, loamy, or clayey. Husbandry has much improved
within these few years; the farms are generally
cultivated under the six-shift course; considerable portions
of waste land have been reclaimed, and furrowdraining
has been practised with great advantage. From
1200 to 1500 sheep are kept, chiefly the black-faced;
and the cattle, which are excellent, are the Angusshire.
The geological features of the parish are highly interesting,
and afford a large field of observation to the scientific
inquirer. The rocks lie chiefly in parallel ridges, each
containing a distinct formation, and comprise conglomerate,
sandstone, trap, and a dyke of serpentine, the last
being especially worthy the attention of the geologist.
A variety of other beds, and boulders of rocks, are to be
met with, embracing almost every species; and quarries
of sandstone are in operation. Peat-mosses are common;
and marl, procured from the loch of Kinnordy, partly in
this parish, has been used by the farmers with great
benefit. The plantations are principally larch and Scotch
fir, and are in a thriving condition, with the exception of
some of the larches, which, after a growth of twenty or
thirty years, rapidly decay. The mansion-house of Baldovie,
pleasantly situated in the midst of fertile lands,
derives considerable interest from its ornamental wood.
That of Pearsie, also, from some points breaking suddenly
on the view, has around it fine clusters of natural birch,
oak, and alder. The annual value of real property in
Kingoldrum is £3695.
The population of the parish, which is almost entirely
agricultural, has been gradually diminishing during the
present century, mainly through the abolition of small
farms and of the croft system. About fifty cottages, besides
several small hamlets, have wholly disappeared,
the only collection of houses now entitled to the appellation
of village being in the neighbourhood of the
church. Peat and wood at present constitute the chief
fuel; but Scotch and English coal, obtained from the
railway depftts, about six miles distant, are coming much
into use. The public road from Kirriemuir to Glenisla
and Glenshee passes through the parish. The inhabitants
dispose of their produce partly at Kirriemuir, the
nearest market-town, and partly at Forfar, Dundee, and
some of the places in the vicinity: many cattle fattened
here are sent to London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Ecclesiastically
the parish is in the presbytery of Meigle,
synod of Angus and Mearns, and in the patronage of
the Crown. The minister's stipend is about £165, with
a manse, a glebe of tour acres of excellent land valued
at £9 per annum, and a grass glebe of twelve acres
and a half. Kingoldrum church is a small neat edifice,
erected in 1S40, and accommodating 240 persons with
sittings. The living was originally a parsonage belonging
to the abbey of Arbroath; but after the erection
of the abbacy into a temporal lordship, the payment
of the minister devolved on the titular of the tithes;
and by the " decreet of provisions " dated in the year
1635, a considerable part of the stipend was charged
upon abbey lands in the neighbourhood of Arbroath,
from which it continues to be payable. The parochial
school affords instruction in the usual branches; the
master has a salary of £28, including the value of six
bolls and a half of oats, and receives £16 fees. There
is a circulating library of religious books. Upon the
top of the Catlaw hill is a large cairn of stones; but the
chief relic of antiquity in the parish is the ruin of the
castle of Balfour, built by Cardinal Beaton, and which
has long been dismantled. On taking down the old
church, among numerous stones with curious devices,
two were found wrought into the building, marked with
finely-carved crosses and hieroglyphics.