A typical house in Cleish with Cleish Cemetery beyond

Houses in Cleish with the Cleish Hills behind

Cleish is a rural hamlet off the B9097 between

Crook of Devon Crook of Devon is a village within the parish of Fossoway in Kinross-shire about west of Kinross on the A977 road. Its name derives from the nearly 180-degree turn, from generally eastwards to generally westwards and resembling the shape of a ...

and the M90 motorway, three miles south-west of Kinross in central Scotland. It lies in the historic county of

Kinross-shire The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1930. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

. At the last census (2011), the population of the civil parish was 685.Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland, web site www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk - See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish Retrieved April 2021. The village is mentioned in Sir Walter Scott's novel ''The Abbot''. The majority of buildings date from the 18th century and the village retains much charm. The school dates from 1835. It is a designated

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

Cleish Castle Cleish Castle is a 16th-century tower house in Kinross-shire, Scotland. It is sited south-west of Kinross and west of the hamlet of Cleish. It was built by the Colville family, who owned it until 1775. It was restored and remodelled in the mid ...

lies to the west (see separate article).

Cleish Church

The church can trace its roots to the 13th century and was originally dedicated to

St. Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of N ...

. The current church was built in 1775 by John Adam who lived nearby at Blair Adam. The church was again rebuilt following a fire in 1832 and the tower was added in 1897, nominally to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. It is a Category B listed building. Thomas James was ordained here in 1691 but left in 1698 to be official chaplain to the ill-fated

Darien Expedition The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the Kingdom of Scotland, to gain wealth and influence by establishing ''New Caledonia'', a colony on the Isthmus of Panama, in the late 1690s. The plan was for the co ...

to colonise Panama, all in the employ of the

Company of Scotland The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, also called the Scottish Darien Company, was an overseas trading company created by an Act of the Parliament of Scotland in 1695. The Act granted the Company a monopoly of Scottish trade ...

. He died at sea on 23 October 1698 and was buried at sea en route to Darien. John Gib, (not Adam Gib's father) was minister of Cleish from 1701 to 1741. His successor, Alexander Dalling, was minister from 1743 to 1790 and was succeeded by his son William Dalling who served until 1835 - a span of 92 years between father and son. The minister 1836 to 1843 was the William Wallace Duncan (1808-1864) the son of Henry Duncan founder of he TSB. He left to serve in Peebles Free church and died there of smallpox. Duncan was replaced in 1843 by Charles Ross who resigned in 1893 and died in Wolverhampton in 1897.

Notable Interments

*Lady Emily Jane Adam of Blair Adam (1833–1906) *Robert Curror of Nivingston (1686–1768) and his son John Curror (1717–1809) *Ebenezer Michie (died 1813), friend of Robert Burns *

Mary Lundie Duncan Mary Lundie Duncan (26 April 1814 – 5 January 1840) was a Scottish poet and hymnwriter from Kelso, Scotland. Family Mary Lundie Duncan was the eldest daughter of Rev. Robert Lundie, minister of Kelso, and Mary Grey. Her sister was the hymn ...

, author of the "Cleish Hymn", ''Jesus Tender Shepherd Hear Me'' (wife of Rev William Wallace Duncan)

Nivingston House

Nivingston is of long-standing but the current Nivingston House dates from the late 19th century and operates as a country house hotel. It lies to the south-east of the village.

Cleish Hills

The low rolling hills to the south extend to

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

which are less dramatic than the Lomond Hills to their east. Several small lochs including Loch Glow and the Black Loch lie amongst the hills. Loch Fitty lies on the southern side of the hills. The highest point is

Dumglow Dumglow (379 m) is the highest peak of the Cleish Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located north of Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, o ...

(379m). The hills are geologically complex consisting of a variety of sedimentary rocks of

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...

age within which are some volcanic rocks and into which other igneous rocks have been intruded. The sedimentary rocks are a collection of

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology. ...

s and sandstones and limestones assigned to the Strathclyde and Inverclyde groups. Two separate sills are identified; one forming a part of the Midland valley Sill-complex consisting of quartz-micro gabbro and to the south, the Hawkcraig Point Sill of analcime-microgabbro, part of a wider Carboniferous to Permian set of intrusions. Knockhill Racing Circuit lies at the western end of the hills.

References

{{authority control Villages in Perth and Kinross Parishes in Kinross-shire