FORFARSHIRE, or ANGUS, is a maritime co. in the e. of Scotland, being bounded on the e. by the German ocean, on the n. by Kincardine and Aberdeen shires, on the w. by Perthshire, and on the s. by the firth of Tay. It extends from n. to s. 38 m., and from e. to w. 27 m•, with 45 m. of coast. There are several valleys of considerable extent, the principal of which are Glen Isla, Glen Prosen, Glen Esk, Clova, and Lethnot, which are all well watered, and mostly productive. The surface of the county is irregular, and it is. intersected with hills, the Sidlaw being 1400 ft. high, and Catlaw, the highest, 2,264, feet. The 'soil, which is various, ranging from the finest alluvial to the moorish, mostly on the old red sandstone and the trap. Devonian paving-stones, limestone, porphyry, and jasper, cticenr. The chief rivers are the Tay, North Esk, South Esk, and.
Isla; and there are some small lochs. Forfarshire is the chief seat of the Scotch linen manufacture. Cattle, corn, salmon, and paving-stone are the principal exports. The climate partakes of the qualities common to the e. coast. The average of the fall of rain is about 25 inches. The valued rent of the county in 1674 was £171,440 Scots, or £14,287 sterling. The valuation for 1875-76 was £630,238 sterling, including £75,536 of railways. In•1875, according to the agricultural returns of Great Britain, the. total acreage in the county of all kinds of crops, bare fallow, and grass, was 249,413; under corn crops, there were 96,089 acres; under green crops, 50,434; and of clover, sainfoin, and grasses under rotation, there were 74,959. The total number of cattle returned for 1875 was 50,591; sheep, 121,937; pigs, 6,918. The number of horses used solely for agriculture, etc., returned by
occupiers of land in the same year, was 9,988. Pop. 71, 237,528, being an increase over that of 1861 of -30,832. The chief towns are Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Forfar (the county town), Brechin, and Kirriemuir. The county returns one member to parlia ment, and the boroughs two. Angus was the province of a Mormaer 'during the Celtic period of Scottish history. It appears as an earldom in the 12th century. Its first earls were probably the descendants of the old Morinaers; it passed subsequently to the Umphravilles, the Stewarts, and the Douglases. The castle of Forfar was the residence occasionally of some of the kings, until the time of Alexander III. The chief antiqui ties are some Roman camps, the vitrified fort of Finhaven, the remarkable stone forts of the White Caterthun, near Brechin, and of the Laws, near Dundee; the sculptured stone pillars at Meigle, Aberlemno, St. Vigean's, Glammis, Kirriemuir, Aldbar, Invergowrie, etc.; the fortified island of St. Margaret's Inch in the loch of Forfar, the round tower and cathedral of Brechin, the ruins of Restennet priory and Arbroath abbey; and the old baronial castles of Glammis, Red castle, Edzell, .Melgund, Finhaven, Airlie, Cares ton, Inverquharity. At Straeathro, it is said Baliol resigned the crown to Edward I. Several eminent men were born in this county—Hector 'Boeee, Andrew Melville, the marquis of Montrose, Joseph .Hume, sir Alexander 13urnes, Robert Brown the botanist, James Mill the historian of 'British India; and Graham of Claverhouse had a scat at Finny Mains.