Kirriemuir

Kirriemuir, a police burgh of Forfarshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901), 4096. It is situated on a height above the glen through which the Gairie flows, 6¼ m. N.W. of Forfar by a branch line of the Caledonian railway of which it is the terminus. There are libraries, a public hall and a park. The staple industry is linen-weaving. The hand-loom lingered longer here than in any other place in Scotland and is not yet wholly extinct. The Rev. Dr Alexander Whyte (b. 1837) and J. M. Barrie (b. 1860) are natives, the latter having made the town famous under the name of “Thrums.” The original Secession church—the kirk of the Auld Lichts—was founded in 1806 and rebuilt in 1893. Kinnordy, 1½ m. N.W., was the birthplace of Sir Charles Lyell the geologist; and Cortachy castle, a fine mansion in the Scottish Baronial style, about 4 m. N., is the seat of the earl of Airlie.