KINROSS-SHIRE

KINROSS-SHIRE, a county in Scotland, bounded on the north-east, east, and south, by the county of Fife, and on the north and west by Perthshire, is about twelve miles in length from east to west, and ten miles in breadth from south to north; but, according to the latest survey, contains only 78 square miles, or 49,920 English acres, being one of the smallest counties in Scotland. Kinross, the county town, situated nearly in the centre, is in north latitude 50° 15', and west longitude from Greenwich 3° 10'.

Kinross-shire is the highest level ground in the peninsula, formed by the Forth and the Tay, which was formerly called Ross, or the promontory, and included the counties of Fife, Kinross, and Clackmannan. From this county the waters flow in every direction. The soil is in general dry, inclining to gravel, with considerable fields of moss, and some clay and loam. The productive land may extend to 30,000 acres, or about three-fifths of the whole. It contains several lakes, of which Lochleven, in the vicinity of Kinross, is the most considerable. This lake, which is about fifteen miles in circumference, and covers an area of 3308 acres, contains several islands, which abound in trout, eels, pikes, perches, and flounders. The castle of Lochleven, in which Queen Mary was confined, stands on one of these islands, about two acres in extent. Several rivulets flow into this lake, of which the principal are the Gairny, the South Queich, and the North Queich; and the River Leven, the only stream of any note in the district, issues from its eastern extremity, and, after passing through a considerable part of the county of Fife, enters the Frith of Forth at the town of Leven. The prevailing rocks are whinstone, sandstone, and limestone. Coal has been found on the estate of Blair Adam; it is wrought at Kelty, in the parish of Cleish, on the southern boundary of the county.

Kinross-shire is divided into a number of small estates. Only about ten proprietors hold of the Crown; the others hold of these freeholders, the lands having been let out to them, for the most part,

about the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, for payment of a feu-duty. Hence, over the greater part of the county, every single farm is a separate property, possessed for the most part by its owner. The valued rent is £1,20,250, 4s. 3d. Scots; and the real rent, according to the Agricultural Survey, published in 1814, is £1,14,541, 10s. Sterling. In 1811, the number of freeholders was only fifteen. When the land is let out to tenants, the leases are from fourteen to twenty-one years, except in the neighbourhood of the villages, where they are for a shorter period; and the rent is paid partly in money, and partly in grain, or according to the price of grain. The size of the farms is from 100 to 300 acres. A great proportion of them is always in grass, for which both the soil and climate are favourable; and much of the land is inclosed either with stone-walls or hedges. The principal corn crops are oats and barley, or big; wheat, though partially cultivated, does not enter into the regular course of cropping. Potatoes, turnips, and clovers, with rye-grass, are raised in every part of the county. On the banks of the Gairny and the Leven, there are meadows of considerable extent, which yield abundant crops of hay. The pastures of the cultivated land are occupied by cattle; sheep are kept in numbers only on the Cleish hills, and on that part of the Ochills which belong to this county. Not much of the district is under wood. The most considerable plantations are on Blair-Adam, the estate

of the Lord Chief Commissioner Adam, and they are in a very flourishing state.

The only villages in this county are Kinross and Milnathort, the former containing, in 1811, a population of about 1500, and the latter 900. At both these places several fairs are held in the year, but there is no weekly market. Nothing that deserves the name of manufactures is to be found here, except that a few weavers are employed by the manufacturers of Glasgow. Assessments are resorted to for the poor of the villages; but those of the country parishes are relieved by voluntary contributions.

Kinross-shire sends a member to Parliament alternately with the county of Clackmannan. Both counties are under the jurisdiction of one sheriff, who has a substitute for each. There are only four entire parishes, viz. Cleish, Orwell, Kinross, and Portmoak, with portions of other three; the first three belong to the Presbytery of Dunfermline, and the fourth to that of Kirkcaldy, both under the jurisdiction of the Synod of Fife. The population in 1800 and 1811 is given in the annexed abstract. By the returns for the last of these years, there are about 93 inhabitants to the square mile.

See Beauties of Scotland, Vol. IV.; General Report of Scotland, Vol. I.; Playfair's Geographical and Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol. I.; Dr Graham's General View of the Agriculture of Kinross and Clackmannan; and, for its antiquities, Sibbald's History of Fife and Kinross. (A.)

1800.

1811.