LONGFORGAN, Perthshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"LONGFORGAN, a parish in county Perth, Scotland, 11 miles N.E. of Perth. It is a railway station on the Dundee and Perth line. It includes the villages of Balbunno, Kingoodie, and Lochtown, and was given by Bruce in 1315 to Sir A. Gray, and made a burgh of barony in 1672 under the Earls of Strathmore. It belongs for the most part to Patterson, of Castle Huntley, an ancient structure. The parish is 7 miles in length, and its greatest breadth 3 miles. The coast line measures 4 miles. The parish partly consists of rich carne land, and the surface .rises 667 feet above the level of the sea at Dion hill camp, 972 feet at Ballo, and 1,172 "at Lochtown. In the neighbourhood are several stone quarries, including the noted one at Kingoodie. The parish is in the presbytery of Dundee and synod of Angus and Mearns, in the patronage of the crown. The minister's stipend is £268. The parish church, rebuilt in 1795 in the pointed style of architecture, has the old steeple. There is a Free church and four non-parochial schools. There are the ruins of a chapel which once belonged to the monks of Cupar Angus. Mylnefield House and Lockton House are the chief mansions. About the year 1790 near 300 coins of Edward I. were found here. There is a tumulus known as the Market-Knowe which is 15 feet high, and 84 feet in diameter. A large number of the inhabitants are employed in weaving by the manufacturers of Dundee. Fairs, chiefly for cattle, are held on the fourth Saturday in April, the third Saturday in June, and the third Saturday in October."

"BALBUNNO, a village in the parish of Longforgan, in the county of Perth, Scotland, 10 miles to the N.E. of Perth."

"KINGOODIE, a village in the parish of Longforgan, county Perth, Scotland, 3 miles W. of Perth. It is chiefly inhabited by the labourers of the quarry of Kingoodie, which produces a very hard material known as "grainstone," admirably adapted for the construction of docks, breakwaters, &c. Dundee Tower and Huntly Castle were built of stone from this quarry."

"MYLNEFIELD, a demesne in the parish of Longforgan, county Perth, Scotland, 11 miles N.E. of Perth. It is situated on the Forfarshire border, and has a view of the Tay. There is a quarry of purple sandstone of good quality for building."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]