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The Association of British Counties

Gazetteer of
British Place Names

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Angus, Scotland

Angus is a maritime county on the east coast of Scotland. Angus can be divided into four very distinctive districts; in the north the Grampians, in the south the Sidlaw Hills, between them Strathmore, and the coastlands in the east.

Type: Historic County
Lat, Long: 56.746063,-2.860698
Grid Reference: NO474619
Country: Scotland
 Explore Angus on Wikishire

In the south and east the land is of rolling hills bordering the sea. The county's biggest towns lie in this area. At the western end of the county's coast lies the greatest of these, the City of Dundee. Dundee grew to wealth on jute manufacture, shipbuilding and whaling: all industries now lost to it. More diversified industry keeps it going. Along the coast, Monifieth was a textile town but is now mainly a dormitory town for Dundee. Carnoustie is a resort town famous for the Carnoustie Golf Links, one of the venues of the Open Championship. Barry Mill (NTS) is a working Category A listed watermill in Barry, near Carnoustie. Arbroath is a busy fishing port. Arbroath Abbey (HES) was founded in 1178 by King William the Lion. The distinctive red sandstone ruins stand at the top of the High Street. At the eastern end of the county's coastline lies Montrose, a resort town and a port for the oil and gas industry. Montrose Basin is a two-square-mile tidal lagoon and a nature reserve of international importance. The House of Dun (NTS) was home to the Erskine family from 1375 until 1980. The current house was designed by William Adam and was finished in 1743.

Carnoustie Beach
Carnoustie beach

Between the coastal plain and the mountains lies Strathmore (Gaelic for "Great Valley") otherwise known as the Howe of Angus. Strathmore is a fertile valley between six and eight miles broad, which is a continuation of the Howe of the Mearns. It runs from north-east to south-west between the Grampian mountains and the Sidlaws. This is a fertile agricultural area where are grown potatoes, soft fruit and the famed Angus cattle. Edzell Castle, close to the Kincardineshire border, is a ruined 16th-century castle with an early-17th-century walled garden. Brechin is well known for its cathedral with an 11th-century round tower. The Sculptured Stones at Aberlemno, between Brecin and Forfar, are five early-mediæval standing stones with Pictish symbols. The shire is also known as Forfarshire from its county town, Forfar. Forfar was a royal residence for some centuries, and the place where Malcolm III granted new titles to his nobility (a scene Shakespeare portrayed, though he portrayed it on the bloody fields of Dunsinane in Perthshire). Kirriemuir was the birthpace of J M Barrie, the house being a National Trust of Scotland property. Inverquharity Castle is a 15th-century tower house just north of Kirriemuir. Glamis Castle has been the home of the Lyon family since the 14th century and was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

Aberlemno Pictish Standing Stones (4)
Pictish standing stone, Aberlemno

To the north and west of Strathmore lie the Grampian Mountains, beautiful but with few inhabitants, the hillsides grazed by sheep. Here are found the Five Glens of Angus: Glen Isla, Glen Prosen, Glen Clova, Glen Lethnot and Glen Esk.

To the south-west of Strathmore, the Sidlaw Hills stretch from Perthshire into Angus but peak at Craigowl Hill at 1,493 feet. Auchterhouse Hill has an ancient hill fort. The ruined observatory on Kinpurnie Hill was built by James Stuart-Mackenzie who owned the Kinpurnie estate and can be seen for many miles in Strathmore.

Far out in the firth, the notorious Bell Rock (Inchcape), immortalised in poem by Robert Southey, belongs to the shire. The Bell Rock Lighthouse is the oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse in the world.

Bell Rock Lighthouse showing reef
Bell Rock Lighthouse

Angus is traditionally associated with the Pictish kingdom of Circinn, which is thought to have encompassed both Angus and Kincardineshire. Numerous Pictish sculptured stones that can be found throughout Angus. Besides those at Amberlemno, notable collections can be found at St Vigeans, Kirriemuir and Monifieth. Angus was made a hereditary sheriffdom by David II. The first Earl of Angus was George Douglas, so created in 1389.