Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Weem

Weem (Gael. uaimh, ` a cave '), a village and a parish of Perthshire. The village, on the N side of the Tay, 1 mile NW of Aberfeldy, has a good hotel and a public school.

The parish lies dispersed in separate and far distant portions, over well-nigh a fourth of Perthshire, from near the head of Glenlochy on the W, to the vicinity of Loch Frenchie on the E, and from 3 miles S of Loch Tummel on the N, to within 3 ¼ miles of Loch Earn on the S. It claims, at 22 miles distance from its parish church, the very nearest farm to the church of Killin; and it has other farms at a still greater distance, some of them upwards of 30 miles, both in Glenlochy and Glenlyon. With a total area of 67½ square miles, its districts are eleven in number, all mutually detached, all intermixed with wings and detachments of Logierait, Dull, Fortingall, Kenmore, Killin, Comrie, and- Little Dunkeld, and several of them possessing a very irregular outline; so that any brief attempt at a topographical description of them would either be abortive, or would involve a miniature picture of nearly one-fourth of the county. Enough that its principal features are noticed in our articles on Achmore, Castle-Menzies, Comrie, Glassie, etc. The rocks are mainly metamorphic; and the soil is very various in the different districts, and even in different parts of each of several of the districts, but may be described, in general, as wet and marshy in a few places, as light and gravelly in the highest parts, and as a strong fertile loam throughout much of Weem proper. The principal landowners are Sir Robert Menzies, Bart., and the Earl of Breadalbane. Giving off portions to Innerwick and Amulree quoad sacra parishes, Weem is the seat of a presbytery in the synod of Perth and Stirling. The living is worth £215. The parish church was built in 1835, and contains 561 sittings. In the E end of the old church, which is still standing, is a curiously sculptured monument, with a Latin inscription, to Sir Alexander Menzies, who died in 1624. The private Episcopal chapel of St David was consecrated in 1878. The public school, with accommodation for 67 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 63, and a grant of £51, 16s. Valuation (1866) £5615, 0s. 3d., (1885) £6287, 17s. 9d. Pop. (1801) 1337, (1831) 1209, (1861) 692, (1871) 520, (1881) 474, of whom 397 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 55, 47, 46, 1869-72.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Weem ScoP       Perthshire ScoCnty
Place names: UAIMH     |     WEEM
Place: Weem

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