Friockheim

   FRIOCKHEIM, lately a quoad sacra parish, in the parishes of Kirkden and Inverkeillor, county of Forfar; containing 1443 inhabitants, of whom 905 are in the village of Friockheim, 3½ miles (E. by N.) from Letham, and 7 (N. W. by N.) from Arbroath. This district is nearly five miles in extent, comprising about 1694 acres in tillage or pasture, 308 under plantation, and 395 in uncultivated waste; and is skirted on the whole of its northern boundary by the Lunan water, one of the finest trouting-streams in Forfarshire. The village, which is on the north-eastern limits of the district, has grown up within the last sixteen or eighteen years under the auspices of John Andson, Esq., owing chiefly to the feuing of small lots of ground, and the rapid increase of the linen manufacture in the neighbourhood. Upwards of 400 persons are now employed in flax-spinning, and the manufacture of sheetings, Osnaburghs, dowlas, and sail-cloth, which are exported principally to the American market. The houses are neatly built, and there is a spinning-mill in operation here. The turnpike-road from Arbroath to Forfar runs nearly through the centre of the district: the Arbroath and Forfar railway passes, within three minutes' walk south of the village, having an intermediate station here; and by these means there is a frequent and expeditious communication. The ecclesiastical affairs are under the presbytery of Arbroath and synod of Angus and Mearns: the stipend of the minister is £70, derived from seatrents and collections, with a manse; and the patronage is vested in the male communicants. The church, erected in 1835, by the presbytery, aided by the Church Extension Society, is a neat edifice, and, from its recent enlargement, contains 600 sittings. There is a parochial school, in which the usual branches of education are taught, and which is capable of accommodating about 140 scholars; and a parochial library has been instituted by the Kirk Session.