PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History

Daniel Robertson - Monzievaird ploughboy and millionaire  NOTE :** Scottish idiom - A  lad o' pairts  is a youth, particularly one from a humble background, who is considered talented or promising. I have researched  more than a few  families  from Strathearn as a professional genealogist .In common with the rest of  Scotland historic and economic  pressures  often  forced  families   to  depart these  shores  for the “ New World “ that is North America  or  perhaps to Australia South Africa or New Zealand  . There was  indeed in the  18 th and 19 th century a  pattern of  step migration as families  left  many of their rural or Highland roots  to head  for  the  burgeoning Central Belt locations  such as Glasgow or the  mining  towns of Ayrshire or Lanarkshire . I blogged  some  months...

Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Volume 2  By Society of Antiquaries of Scotland ( 1822 ) The Old Strowan Kirk closed to worship about 1802 Extracts From  A History of the Parishes of Monivaird And Strowan In the Archives of the Society By Mr Porteous , Minister of Monivaird The united parishes of Monivaird and Strowan are almost in the midst of Perthshire , sixteen miles north west from Stirling and thirteen miles west from Perth ; to both which places small ships and the tides come . The inhabited part thereof is a parallelogram of four miles from east to west . , and two miles from north to south : but it has another parallelogram of the Grampian Hills and moorish ground on the north , of four miles in length , and two in breadth ; and a smaller one on the south , of moor , of the same length , but only half a mile in breadth ; and its is bounded on the north by the tops of high mountains; which lie betwixt...

The stigma of social and physical handicap Poorhouses in Scotland Scotland  has  had a different Poor Law system to that of England . In 1579 the Scottish Parliament legislated enabling individual  parishes to remunerate the impoverished  living therein .It established a system which was not just an enumeration of the destitute but an examination  of whether these individuals could find alternative  means of support from other individuals or family members .They made begging and vagrancy public nuisances The Act intended  to remove the responsibility for the support of the poor from the church to the parishes . Magistrates were ordered to build Correction Houses or workhouses so that beggars could be made to work. In 1843, a Commission of Enquiry was set up to suggest improvements to the Scottish Poor Law system. Proposals suggested included: Setting up a Board of Supervision and Parochial Boards ,the levying of a poor rat...

Rev Finlay McAlliste r I have written on several occasions  in these  blogs  about churches and in particular church buildings . Crieff has had  over the last  two centuries a host  of  large  and small places of  worship . Some  like  the old Relief Church hidden and inaccessible between Addison Terrace and High Street are sad remnants of different way of life . Of  all the church buildings in Crieff , two I find unique and worthy of preservation .The Catholic  Church in Ford Road is a wee gem having  been built  in 1871 to the design of  Andrew Heaton Jr who believe it or  not  designed Keillour Castle  near Methven some  eight years later . My other  favourite is  the dominant sand stone  edifice  of the old Crieff Free Kirk and latterly designated  the Crieff South and Monzievaird Church . Built in 1881- 82 to the design of JJ Stevenson and Robert Ew...

Barvick Bridge on the south  facing slopes above Crieff . This old  pack bridge saw the " pack man " ( travelling salesman ) with his ponies visit the many isolated habitations  with his goods .  T he boathouse at GlenTurret is  quite striking in its design perched on the edge of the dam built in the late 1950s  to  provide  water  for  the Central Belt's  new  industries  especially  Grangemouth and its petro chemical complexes . Now  owned  by Famous Grouse ( whisky distillers )  it hosts the occasional " soiree " for  privileged guests .  Cuthberts  was a small grocer's  shop in East High Street Crieff . The shop is  now  run by Mike Sweeney as  a gents hairdressers .Pic  dates back to about early 1900s . Dewars was a plumber's business also located in  East High Street Crieff. Again the pic  dates to the early 1900s  This ...