PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History

  The Old Parish Church in Church Street Crieff July 2014 PART FOUR The old grave yard in Church  ceased  to function  away back in 1853  when the present one in Ford road opened  There were a number of interments after that date  where families  had  purchased  burial lairs  from the Parish Kirk . In the 1990s Perth  and Kinross Council acting as the responsible party for the maintenance of the churchyard , advertised in the local press that any one who held  burial rights in the ground were required  to contact them pending the removal of a number of stones / memorials . Fortunately the  churchyard had  been surveyed in August 1972  by Allison Mitchell and her  father , assisted  by the late Marshall Sloan a well known local worthy . Some  134 memorials  were listed and it would  appear that in or around 500 individuals had been laid to rest in the  churchyard over a 200 year or  longer period .  As a result of their “ initiative “ ,

  The Old Parish Church in Church Street Crieff July 2014 PART THREE I thought it a good  idea  to list here the succession  to the  post of minister or rector in the Crieff Parish Church  from  the year 1560 . Why 1560 ? Well that was the year that officially the Church in the town/ village ceased  to be Catholic  and  became ( nominally ) Protestant . Am afraid  much of our local church history has  been formulated in the mind  set of our Calvanistic  ancestors . A lot of the truth , in my opinion  has  been dusted  under the carpet . Read about the kind of guys who " administered " unto the morally and spiritually weak and form your own opinions ! Ministers of Crieff Parish Church after Reformation 1560 : Alexander Christie – Catholic Priest joined Reformed Church- reader in Monzievaird in  1567 . 1563 : Thomas Drummond – probably knew John Knox ( Heavenor ) 1572 : Hugh Currie Rector of Crieff could have been Catholic  but p

  The Old Parish Church in Church Street Crieff July 2014 PART TWO Why this part of Crieff is so important to our fragile  heritage ? Now a sad site  One of Crieff’s saddest sites is that  of the old decaying  parish church in Church Street in the  heart of the  old town  .The location of the  Church and its grave yard is  why the town of Crieff expanded  outwards  from this particular  locus .  Close  by was situated  the old Cross of Crieff . The place  where the drovers of old  gathered  for  a  “ blether “and  perhaps a wee dram or two   in the adjoining  hostelry – the place where Rob Roy taunted the redcoats in the aftermath of Sheriffmuir and the ‘ 15 Uprising . This is old Crieff – the original Crieff ! The gradual demise of this  old building is sad  but perhaps  inevitable.  It has  been  badly neglected over the last few decades . The grounds surrounding the  building functioned  for centuries as  the burial place of Crieff . The place where 

The Old Parish Church in Church Street Crieff July 2014 PART ONE Introduction to set the scene I have  been writing on the history of Crieff and the Strathearn area  over many years . This blog  has  been on the go for over two years and has published  well over one  hundred  “ blogs “ on a variety of local history topics covering  the Romans  , the Picts , the lost Abbey of Inchaffray and of  course the  fantastic  discoveries  of our Neolithic past – the Cursus and the timber  round  houses found in proximity . Invariably  the  tone of  my writings  has  been positive and welcoming whenever  possible  and , I trust , objective  and critical when I deemed it in the public  interest .  I live  close by the old Parish Church of Crieff in Church Street  ( or Kirkgate as it was once known ) and know both  the old building inside and out  as well as having a genealogical  knowledge of the adjoining grave yard that surrounds it . Problems – no one wants