Henry Moncrieff succeeded his father in 1771, the sixth minister of
the family in a lineal descent. He had not finished his University
course when his father died, but the patron and parishioners waited for
him. Sir Henry was too brilliant for Blackford, however, and in 1775
went to S. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. The next minister, Mr John
Stevenson, evidently did not please all. Three of the elders and a
number of the congregation left the kirk. They met for some time in a
stackyard beside the old ford, and eventually, with some like-minded
ones in Auchterarder, formed the Relief congregation there. Mr
Stevenson was followed, in 1815, by Mr John Clark--a splendid type of
what was best in the reviled Moderates, an eloquent preacher, a true,
large-hearted gentleman, a keen wit, and skilful farmer, as well as a
faithful pastor. A new regime began with his worthy and lamented
successor, the Rev. David Bonallo. The kirk on the brae-head was
abandoned as insufficient and the present church, less prominent, but
more convenient, was built at the east end of the village.

III.

Blackford has been the home of not a few distinguished families; but
the old castles where they lived are, without exception, the most
meagre ruins; of one, indeed (Tullibardine), not a stone remains to
mark the site.

The chief heritor of the parish is Captain W. H. Drummond Moray of
Abercairny, whose family, though old proprietors, seem never to have
lived in the parish. Ogilvie Castle, a ruin on their lands, which
originally belonged to the Montrose family, does not appear to have
been ever occupied by the Morays.

In the south end of the parish stands Gleneagles, which Sir David
Lyndsay, in his "Tale of Squire Meldrum," describes as "ane castell ...
beside ane mountane in ane vaill," and a "triumphand plesand place."
Gleneagles Castle was for many centuries the home of the Haldanes.
They held the neighbouring lands of Frandie by charter of William the
Lion, A.D. 1165-1214, and came into possession of Gleneagles about a
century later. From time to time we find them taking an active and
prominent part in the affairs of the kingdom. Sir John Haldane, in the
reign of King James III., became "Lord Justice-General of Scotland
benorth of the Forth"--a dignity next to that of Lord Chancellor; a
later Sir John fought and fell at Flodden; another was one of the Lords
of the Congregation. Sir John, in 1650, fell as a leader in the
Presbyterian arm