KIRKMICHAEL, a parish and village, in the county
of Perth, 14 miles (N. W. by N.) from Blairgowrie;
containing 1412 inhabitants, of whom 104 are in the
village. This parish, the site of which is elevated, and
the climate cold, is situated on the great military road
from Perth to Fort-George, and is in form nearly a parallelogram,
measuring about twenty miles in length from
north to south, and about ten miles in its greatest
breadth. It comprehends the greater part of Strathardle,
which is about ten miles long and between one
and two miles broad; the whole of Glenshee, measuring
about seven miles in length and nearly a mile in breadtli;
and a district at the lower extremity of the latter, on
the west side of the Black Water, nearly semicircular in
form, and two miles in diameter. The entire area consists
of upwards of 50,000 acres, of which 4400 are supposed
to be cultivated, 1460 to be undivided common,
700 wood, and the remainder in a natural state. At the
head of Glenshee is a hill called Beinn-Ghulbhuiun, celebrated
as the scene of a hunt in which Diarmid, one of
the Fingalian heroes, lost his life: his grave is still
shown here, with the den of the wild boar that was the
object of the chase. The most lofty hill in the parish is
Glas-Thullachan, at the head of Glenbeg; and the chief
lochs are Sheshernich and Loch-nan-ean, which are situated
among the hills, and afford good trout-angling.
The Strathardle district is watered by the Ardle; whilst
the Glenshee and Black Water districts are watered by
the Shee, which assumes the name of Black Water in
the district so called.
Near the Ardle the soil is thin and dry, on a sandy
bed, and in general yields light crops: upon the higher
grounds, as well as in Glenshee and the district of the
Black Water, it is wet and spongy, and requires a dry
and warm season for the maturity of the crops. In the
lower parts the most improved system of husbandry is
followed; and lime has been extensively and successfully
applied to the land recovered from waste, amounting,
within a few years, to 400 acres. The huts on
most of the farms have been replaced by neat and comfortable
houses, and the interests of agriculture have
been much promoted by the construction of good roads.
The annual value of real property in Kirkmichael is now
£7993. The parish contains the mansion-houses of
Ashintully and Woodhill, and the small village of Kirkmichael.
The inhabitants are all engaged in husbandry.
An important addition has been made to the facilities of
communication by the erection of a handsome bridge of
two arches over the Ardle, in 1840, at a cost of £500,
raised by subscription. A cattle-fair is held on the
Thursday before the October Falkirk tryst, and another
on the Thursday before the May Amulrie fair: the
farmers usually dispose of their ordinary marketable produce at Blairgowrie.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Dunkeld,
synod of Perth and Stirling, and in the patronage
of Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld. The minister's stipend
is £158, of which two-thirds are received from the
exchequer; with a manse, and a glebe of six acres and
a half valued at £10 per annum. Besides the parochial
church, the parish contains two places of worship in
connexion with the Free Church. There are also two
parochial schools, affording instruction in the usual
branches: the master of the one situated in the village
has a salary of £34, with a house enlarged in IS'SI, and
about £'20 fees; the other master, in Glenshee, receives
a salary of £15, with £12 fees. The poor in Glenshee
enjoy a bequest of about £200; and of two other bequests,
one amounts to £17 a year for educating poor
children in the parish of the name of Stewart, and the
other to £20 per annum for bursaries in any of the
Scotch universities, St. Andrew's to be preferred, for
natives of the parish, educated at the parish school, or,
in case of failure, for those of the neighbouring parish
of Moulin. On a large moor is a cairn, at one time
ninety yards in circumference and twenty-five feet high,
but now much reduced in size; and at the distance of
about a mile north-east from this cairn are a Druidical
rocking-stone, and numerous concentric circles.