PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History

The 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum and  some observations , historical and otherwise  The 2014 Referendum   On the 18 th of September 2014 residents in Scotland  went to the Polls to cast their  votes on an issue  which had been debated hotly for over  two years , The question  was a simple “Should Scotland  be an independent country ?” The answer to be given was  either YES or NO . Those eligible  to vote  had to be residents in Scotland , 16 years and over and be UK , EU  or British Commonwealth citizens . The outcome  gave the NO camp  some 2001920 votes ( 55 % ) and the YES side  some 1 617 989 votes ( 45% ) The  total vote was an 84.6 % turnout – an incredibly high figure – the victor  was democracy . How does  this compare  with other elections and referenda in the UK  over the last decade or two ? Since 1945 until to date the highest turnout recorded was in 1950 when 83.61  % of the electorate voted . There has  been  however a  general decline since

In March and April 2012 , I blogged in some  detail about the Pictish heritage  of Strathearn and its ancient capital  located at Forteviot . The Kingdom of the Picts occupying the lands of Menteith and Strathearn has been generally known as Fortren or Fortriu . Historians perhaps  have the fault  of attempting  to compartmentalise great  wads of  history under convenient labels . We  have , it seems , made  some errors  or  basic assumptions  that stand  to be corrected . These refer specifically to Fortren or Fortriu and in the interests of exactitude let us start at the beginning ! A handful of Irish annals refer to a Pictish Kingdom or region called  Fortriu . Historians  for many years  have equated this with Strathearn and its  neighbour  to the west , the district of Menteith .We can trace  this back to the 19 th century and the writings of  a respected scholar William Forbes Skene . Skene wrote  a scholarly tome in three volumes entitled Celtic Scotland . In