In 1882-4, Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described Creich like this:
Creich, a parish of N Fife, extending to within 5 furlongs of the Firth of Tay, and containing the villages of Luthrie and Brunton, each with a post office under, and respectively 5½ and 6½ miles NW of, Cupar-Fife. It is bounded NW by Flisk, NE by Balmerino, E by Kilmany and Moonzie, S by Monimail, SW by Dunbog, and W by the easternmost section of Abdie, having an utmost length from NNE to SSW of 31/8 miles, a width of 17/8 mile, and an area of 2341 acres. ...
The surface, sinking in the south-eastern corner to less than 200 feet above sea-level, is elsewhere a congeries of hills, which on the NW border attain 568 feet, and at Black Craig in the NE 665-heights that command a magnificent view of the Tay's basin, away to the Sidlaws and the Grampians. Some of the hills are cultivated to the top; others are partly covered with plantations; and others, again, are rocky and heathy. Several burns, rising here, unite near Luthrie to form Motray Water, a tributary of the Eden. The rocks, eruptive mainly, include greenstone, amygdaloid, clinkstone, and basalt; and a laminar or stratified trap has been worked in one quarry, basaltic clinkstone in another. The soil is variable, ranging from black or thin sharp gravelly loam to clay or moss. On Green Craig is a hill-fort, consisting of two concentric lines of circumvallation; and a little to the SE are the ruins of the old parish church, and of Creich Castle, which, three stories high, and 47 feet long by 39 broad, appears to have been a place of very considerable strength, and was defended on one side by a morass, now drained, on the other by outworks. In 1502 the estate around it was acquired from the Littles or Liddels by Sir David Bethune, whose daughter, Janet, Lady Buccleuch, is the 'Ladye of Branxholm' in Sir Walter's Lay, and whose great-granddaughter was one of the 'Queen's four Maries;' it passed by purchase to the Bethunes of Balfour about the middle of the 17th century. Of Parbroath Castle, a seat of the Setons, in the S of the parish, hardly a vestige remains. Natives were the Rev. Alex. Henderson (1583-1646), the zealous Covenanter, and John Sage (1652-1711), nonjuring Archbishop of Glasgow. Creich is in the presbytery of Cupar and synod of Fife; the living is worth £282. The parish church, ¼ mile NNW of Luthrie, is a good Gothic structure, built in 1832, and containing 252 sittings. A Free church stands near Brunton. The public school, with accommodation for 80 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 74, and a grant of £59,8s. Valuation (1882) £4044,16s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 405, (1831) 419, (1861) 377, (1871) 387, (1881) 386.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48,1868.
Creich through time
Creich is now part of Fife district. Click here for graphs and data of how Fife has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Creich itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Creich in Fife | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/16330
Date accessed: 25th April 2024
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Creich".