Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Rhynd

Rhynd (Gael. roinn, 'point' or 'peninsula'), a Perthshire parish, whose church stands 3¾ miles NE of Bridge of Earn, and 4¼ SE of Perth, under which there is a post office of Rhynd. It is bounded NW by Kinfauns, NE by Kinfauns, the Inchyra section of Kinnoull, and St Madoes, S by Abernethy and Dunbarny, and W by Perth. Its utmost length, from WNW to ESE, is 4 miles; its utmost breadth is 1 3/8 mile; and its area is 2893 acres, of which 175½ are foreshore and 260¾ water. The Tay, here 1 to 3 furlongs broad, curves 4½ miles north-eastward and south-eastward along all the boundary with Kinfauns, Kinnoull, and St Madoes; and Sleepless Inch and Balhepburn Island belong to Rhynd. The river Earn winds 37/8 miles east-by-northward to the Tay along all the Abernethy border, though the point where it first touches the parish and that where it enters the Tay are only 1¾ mile distant as the crow flies. E of Fingask the surface is low and flat, at no point 50 feet above sea-level; but westward it rises to a maxi. mum altitude of 725 feet on the summit of wooded Moncreiffe Hill at the meeting-point of Rhynd, Perth, and Dunbarny parishes. Moucreiffe Hill mainly consists of greenstone; but elsewhere the principal rock is Old Red sandstone. The soil in the NW is sharp and gravelly, in the SE is chiefly clay, intermixed bere and there with very fine black loam. About 100 acres are under wood; and nearly all the rest of the parish is in a state of high cultivation. At Grange of Elcho, near the western border, David Lindsay of Glenesk founded, some time in the 13th century, a Cistercian nunnery, where, in 1346, the Earl of Ross assassinated Reginald of the Isles. Elcho Castle, noticed separately, is the chief antiquity; and the Earl of Wemyss is chief proprietor, 1 other holding an annual value of more, and 2 of less, than £500. Rhynd is in the presbytery of Perth and the synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £350. In the early part of the 12th century and on to the Reformation the parish was a dependency of the monastery of St Adrian, Isle of May; and a stone in the E gable of the old church marks the grave of one of the priors. The original church has entirely disappeared, but probably stood on the site of a wretched church, dating from the time of the Reformation, and inconveniently situated 2 miles to the SE of the present church, which was built in 1842. The public school, with accommodation for 96 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 60, and a grant of £68, 18s. Valuation (1865) £7700, 3s. 3d., (1884) £6176, 10s. 9d. Pop. (1801) 403, (1841) 402, (1861) 297, (1871) 327, (1881) 297.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a Perthshire parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Rhynd ScoP       Perthshire ScoCnty
Place names: RHYND     |     ROINN
Place: Rhynd

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