PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History

  The Last Thatched House In Crieff   Extracted from Crieff Past & Present published 21 January 1888   Hill Street or Hill Wynd   Among the many new and fine buildings in the town, the churches are a leading feature with their handsome outlines and lofty spires. Within the past few years The Established, Free, UP and Episcopalian Churches have erected noble edifices costing over £20 000 the hotels are also splendid buildings, and the banks are well represented in the architecture of the town All kinds of property have rapidly improved during the last 30 years and , with one exception in Hill Wynd , all the thatched houses have disappeared In the mode of living there is a very great difference from what it used   be . It is not so long since a room and closet were considered sufficient for a family , and ventilation was never taken into consideration . According to the size of the family there would be from one to five beds ...

Trades and Industries That Have long Gone Crieff Past And Present (1885)      There is an old Scots word " couthie " which conveys a meaning oft lacking in the" Queen's  English ". Perhaps gentle - agreeable or kindly is an apt translation . The following extract is from one of my favourite collections " Crieff : Its Traditions and Characters " written in 1881 by a certain D McAra . MacAra is somewhat   overshadowed   by the rather   patrician historian Porteous whose 1908 epic “ A History of Crieff ” is still regarded   as the ultimate account of things in and around the town . MacAra – a couthie individual by all accounts, captures   much of the lost sentiment of yester year when the pace   of things   in that pre technology age was that little   bit slower ! The appended tale of trades of the past   depicts a world of rural artisans working at things   which in this   modern   age are ...

  Staute of William McGregor outside Villa Park    Grigor McGrigor was a tailor born in Balquhidder in about 1796 . He married   Jean McNicol in Muthill Parish in 1825 and settled down to raise a family in the village of Braco . Eleven children were born to the couple including William in 1846 . The family live in Front Street near the Braco Hotel ( now known as the Frog and Thistle ) . Young William according to legend witnessed his first football match with his three older brothers near to where the Ardoch Roman Camp is situated . He seemed a bright lad being described in the 1861 Census for the village as a “ pupil teacher “. Shortly after this he headed to Perth where he was apprenticed as a draper. Seeking opportunities that were not readily available in the Fair City , young William headed south to Birmingham where he established his own drapers business in the town and rapidly prospered. McGregor became associated with Aston Villa Football Club...

The Witches Maze At Tullibole Castle Crook of Devon     This week   my   eye   caught the   newspaper article and the BBC News story on the opening of the “ Witches Maze “ at Tullibole Castle in the Crook of Devon . Quite an appropriate “blog “ as Halloween approaches   complete with witches , black cats , turnip lanterns and the inevitable guysers ! Tullibole Castle   Lord Moncrieff and Lesley Riddoch (  who used to live in Fowlis Wester )at the opening     The memorial however is a somewhat sad reflection on the evil and indeed   bizarre behaviour of our ancestors and in particular our   Established   Church . These pillars of society undertook a spate of trials   which on reflection   make the Salem Witch Trials across the “ Pond “ resemble a Sunday school picnic ! The Witches Maze at Tullibole Castle commemorates the victims of the Crook of Devon witch trials in 1662. ...

St Fillans – a look into its past   Much of the input in this   blog   was published in the “Guide to St Fillans “ about 1980 . It is said that Queen Victoria swithered at   one   time   between St Fillans and Balmoral when she   was seeking a Scottish Estate . I   my self   was delighted   to   be invited to appear in the BBC TV   Landward programme in 2010 concerning the village   and its origins .  Some two hundred years ago it was known as   Port of Lochearn and consisted of a few   thatched biggins or cottages   . The largest one was   called Portmore and another was called   Portbeag or Littleport . Above   St Fillans as we know   it   today lies the remains   of an old township called Morell located to the west of Glentarken Wood . It   was eventually abandoned at the beginning of the 19 th Century when the occupants   moved down the hill a...

  Fowlis Wester Kirk       Once I am sure there's nothing going on I step inside, letting the door thud shut. Another church: matting, seats, and stone, And little books; sprawlings of flowers, cut For Sunday, brownish now; some brass and stuff Up at the holy end; the small neat organ; And a tense, musty, unignorable silence, Brewed God knows how long. Hatless, I take off My cycle-clips in awkward reverence, Move forward, run my hand around the font. From where I stand, the roof looks almost new- Cleaned or restored? Someone would know: I don't. Mounting the lectern, I peruse a few Hectoring large-scale verses, and pronounce 'Here endeth' much more loudly than I'd meant. The echoes snigger briefly. Back at the door I sign the book, donate an Irish sixpence . . Religion is an intensely personal thing and indeed   traditionally it is passed   down   through the generations . I come   from a long line of non conformist Presbyterians...