PerthshireCrieffStrathearn Local History

Alexander Porteous  wrote the “ The History of Crieff “ which was published in 1912 and to this  day is  recognised  as the definitive  account  of the towns illustrious and historic  past . The following  account reflects clearly  how traditions  can quite  easily  be  forgotten as the  social pattern change  with the passing years  . We look at two  festivals  which occurred  close  to one another at  the start of the new year . Handsel Monday , alas  is  gone but the other Hogmanay has  gone  from strength to strength both locally  here in the Strath , in Scotland and indeed the World ! “Two time honoured  institutions – or perhaps  they may more suitably  be  called festivals  - for long celebrated in Crieff , as  elsewhere , were “ Hogmanay “ the last evening of the year , and “ Handsel Monday “ , the fi...

Crieff Home Guard After the onset of WW 2 , the safety of small towns  such as Crieff was in the hands of  what was termed  the LDVF – the Local Defence Force Volunteer This somewhat cumbersome title  was  changed  on the 9 th of August 1940 to the Home Guard . The BBC series  Dad’s Army ran from 1968 to 1977 with a number of well known “ vintage “ actors of the time including  Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring ( pronounced Manner - ing ! )  , John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson, Clive Dunn as Corporal Jones  and a host of others . This  sit com was based very much on the belief  that the Home Guard  was  made  of bumbling  incompetents  who were either  retired  or were in reserved  occupations .My own father  who was employed in the general office of  a large steel manufacturing company in the West of Scotland fell into  the latter category and I kno...

Castle Cluggy and Loch Monzievaird   , Ochtertyre Loch Monzievaird ( above )    Sir Patrick Keith Murray with the castle in the trees  behind the crannog  Castle Cluggy We have discussed at some  length in these “ blogs “ the presence of  crannogs  or artificial islands  in Strathearn and north in Loch Tay in ancient Breadalbane in April 2013 ( http://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.co.uk/2013_04_01_archive.html ) These are an incredible reminder to us  how and where our ancient forbearers dwelt and existed at  time  when native  soil was inhabited by wild animals as well as aggressive natives ! Loch Monzievaird  has  excellent examples of these crannogs  but in addition  on the north shore  lies one of Strathearn’s ancient dwellings , namely Castle Cuggy . Located and accessed from the west at Loch Mozvievaird Chalets , the Castle is ver...

Perthshire Crieff Strathearn Local History Blogs A Current Index The Blog has been running since February 2012 and has  published well over 100 stories of the Strath . This Index  will allow  you  to see clearly  what is  available . To look at the   chosen subject look at the "Archive " heading  on the right hand of the opening page an  click on the  year The Blogs are in chronological order so scroll down  till the  chosen one  is accessed .  1.        26 February 2012 : Welcome  ! 2.        26 February 2012 : Colin's Books on Perthshire 3.        27 February 2012 : The Lost Castle of Fowlis ! 4.        27 February 2012 : Gone ! Gone ! Gone! 5.        27 February 2012 : Ferntower House 6.        28 Fe...

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 record...