The vale of Monzie--the southern boundary of the parish--where stands
the church, the hamlet, and the Castle of Monzie, extends for nearly
three miles in a north-east direction, gradually rising to the height
of several hundred feet. The most striking peculiarity of the
surroundings of Monzie is the combination of wild and mountainous
scenery with cultivation and picturesqueness. One of the finest views
in the whole of Strathearn can be had from the Highland Road, to the
east of the church. In the foreground are the luxuriant woods, the
rich pastures, and the Castle of Monzie, and at a distance of seven or
eight miles is the Aberuchill range, towering in majesty on the
horizon, with the giant Ben Voirlich just visible over their heads. A
little to the left is Turleum--a conical-shaped hill of respectable
altitude; while Benchonzie and other off-shoots of the Grampians bound
the view on the north. The general effect is exceedingly beautiful,
and the mingling, within a short distance, of the sublime and the
picturesque is probably not surpassed anywhere in Scotland.
There are three streams rising in the hills to the north that find
their way into the vale. The Barvick, which runs for three or four
miles along the western boundary of the parish, descends rapidly with
leaps and bounds into a deep and rocky dell, until it terminates in the
fall known as Spout Barvick. The Keltic, rising in the hills some four
miles to the north, enters a rocky ravine fully a mile up from the
turnpike road, and tumbling precipitously down a height of eighty feet
it reaches the vale, skirts the castle grounds, and, joining the
Shaggie, falls along with it into the Turret. The third stream--the
Shaggie--rises to the north-east of the Keltie, and, threading its way
for three miles between lofty banks covered with wood, it passes the
village, and pursues its course beneath the old ivy-crowned Roman
bridge, through the castle parks, until it becomes lost in the Turret.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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