Liff, Benvie & Invergowrie

"The united parishes are about 3 miles in length and nearly the same in breadth. The surface rises with an easy ascent from the Tay, except twoards the south west where it joins to the parish of Dundee. The higher ground forms a ridge, stretching obliquely in a direction from East to West, and behind is an extensive tract of muir, where there are some plantations, but no marks of cultivation. The muir is bounded by the water of Dichty, which rises in the parish of Lundie, and runs south and east through the valley of Strathmartin. There are several villages, viz, Locheye, Millhouse, Liff, Benvie and Invergworie: the latter is noted as the site of the first christian church erected on the north side of the river Tay." (The Gazetteer of Scotland, W Chalmers, Dundee 1803)

Invergowrie

A village on the north shore of the Firth of Tay, which acts as a residential suburb of Dundee. Although having been previously formally incorporated within Dundee, Invergowrie now exists within Perth and Kinross.

Said to have been a royal point of embarkation at which Alexander I planned to build a palace, Invergowrie was gifted to the monks of Scone in the Middle Ages. Its church was allegedly founded by St Bonifacius in the 8th century and in the ancient churchyard are two large stones known as the Ewes (or Yowes) of Gowrie. Thomas the Rhymer predicted in the 13th century that 'When the Yowes o' Gowrie come to land, The day o' judgement's near at hand.' Another stone to the north of Invergowrie is associated with a local tale describing how the Devil flung a huge boulder from Fife with the intention of destroying the church. Invergowrie toll-house stands nearby on the south side of the former Perth-Dundee turnpike road.

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