22 A Visit to Glen Clova : Its Geology and Ferns. 



A VISIT TO GLEN CLOVA— ITS GEOLOGY AND 



EEENS. 



BY BEENAED HENET WOODWAED. 



Clova is a village situated in the extreme north-west of Forfar- 

 shire, the most picturesque part of that county, being in the 

 midst of the Grampian mountains. It consists of a few small 

 farm-houses and shepherds' cottages scattered along 'the glen 

 from which it derives its name, and which is about ten miles in 

 length and stretches from N. W. to S. E. The houses are clus- 

 tered a little more thickly round the church, which stands about 

 four miles from the head of the valley; and near it, at the foot of 

 Ben Keid, are the ruins of Clova Castle, formerly inhabited by 

 the Ogilvy family, who have owned the parish since 1445. The 

 present proprietor, the Earl of Airlie, one of their descendants, 

 resides at Cortachie Castle, which we passed just before enter- 

 ing this glen on our road from Kirriemuir, the nearest railway 

 station, though fifteen miles distant. 



There is a good carriage-road the whole length of the glen, 

 running by the side of the South Esk river, a fine trout stream 

 rising in Loch Esk, a small lake at the head of Glen Back- 

 na-gairn, and flowing into the sea at Montrose. At the lower 

 part of Clova Glen, the hills on each side are rounded, covered 

 with, fir-trees, and are about 1500 feet high, from which they 

 gradually rise to upwards of 3000 feet above the sea level in 

 the upper part, where they are quite bare of trees and very wild 

 and precipitous. The valley widens considerably for the first 

 four miles, and then draws in again. A considerable extent of 

 the level ground at the bottom of the valley is ploughed, though 

 the greater portion is left for pasturage, on which a good many 

 Highland cattle are reared; which, together with the sheep that 

 are turned loose to browse on the hills, afford a means of 

 support to about 200 people, the present population of the 

 parish. Some years ago, as is testified by the many ruined 

 cottages in the glen, its inhabitants were three or four times as 

 numerous, when they obtained a livelihood by the distillation of 

 " mountain-dew "; but a more strict surveillance on the part of 

 the excise officers stopped that lucrative pursuit. Last year the 

 oat crop turned out very badly ; when we were there, in the latter 

 part of August, many of the fields were quite green, and in some 

 no ears were visible. 



But we ought not to have said level ground, for it is only 

 level in comparison, being covered with rounded hillocks, 

 " moraines," formed of the debris deposited by the glacier 

 which once filled this glen. Where its surface has been 





