Ardoch

   ARDOCH, lately a quoad sacra parish, comprising the villages of Balhaddie, Buttergask, Greenloaning, and Rottearn, in the parish of Dunblane; the post-village of Braco, in the parish of Muthill; and part of the parish of Blackford, in the county of Perth; the whole containing 1584 inhabitants. This place is about seven miles in length by six in breadth, and is intersected by the high road from Crieff to Dunblane and Stirling; two-thirds of the soil are in tillage or pasture, and the remainder, with the exception of a portion under plantation, is uncultivated. At Rottearn, is a small manufactory for converting potatoes into flour. Fairs are held on the first Wednesday in January, the last Tuesday in April, and the first Tuesday in August, chiefly for cattle. The village, which is small, is prettily situated on the above-mentioned road, about nine miles south-by-west from Crieff. The parish was in the presbytery of Auchterarder and synod of Perth and Stirling; the minister's stipend was £94 with a manse and garden, and a glebe valued at £6 per annum; the heads of families in communion with the Church of Scotland were the patrons. The church, erected by subscription in 1780, is a plain edifice, and contains 555 sittings. The Associate Secession Synod and the Free Church have places of worship; and there is a parochial school. Near the village is the most entire Roman camp that remains in Scotland; it was probably established during the fourth campaign of Agricola, A.D. 48, and is 1060 feet in length and 900 in breadth, and could contain 26,000 men, according to the ordinary distribution of the Roman soldiers in their encampments. There appear to have been seven ditches surrounding it, and it was defended on the west side, by the small river Knaik; the four entries crossing the lines, are still distinctly to be seen.