Blairingone

   BLAIRINGONE, lately a quoad sacra parish, chiefly in the parish of Fossoway and Tulliebole, county of Perth; containing 574 inhabitants, of whom 210 are in New, and 79 in Old, Blairingone, 10 miles (W.) from Kinross. This parish, of which the name implies "the Field of Spears," included portions of the parishes of Muckart, Dollar, and Clackmannan, and was seated on the river Devon, and the road between Alloa and Kinross. Coal is abundant, and several mines are at present in operation; ironstone, of which the produce is of very superior quality, is also wrought; and some veins of an ore supposed to contain a considerable proportion of sulphur have lately been discovered. In the parish are several handsome residences, among which are, Devonshaw, a modern building in the Elizabethan style, beautifully situated on the south bank of the Devon; and Arndean. The village is in the south-western part of the parish, and is chiefly inhabited by the work-people of the collieries. The ecclesiastical affairs were under the presbytery of Auchterarder and synod of Perth and Stirling; the minister was appointed by the heads of families: the church is a neat plain building, erected in 1836, by subscription, aided by a grant from the General Assembly's Church-extension Committee. There is a congregation of members of the Free Church, who assemble in a building of handsome design, erected in 1843 as a school for all denominations. On the banks of the Devon is a remarkable spring issuing from among strata of ironstone, and used medicinally.