NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS
THE BEAUTIES
OP
UPPER STRATHEARN.
PRINTED BY W. H. LIZÀRS, EDINBURGH.
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THE
BEAUTIES
OF
UPPER STRATHEARN,
DES-CBIBED IN
Si* $*tarsions from tjjr Soíon of Critff,
BY
CHARLES ROGER, LL.D., F.S.A. SCOT.
ILLUSTRATED WITH A COLOURED MAP OF THE DISTRICT.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,
Booksellers and Publishers to Her Majesty;
AND GEORGE MACCULLOCH, CRIEFF.
1854.
<5 I 4- A3
"In every place where there is any thing worthy oi
observation, there should be a short printed directory
for strangers." — SosweU's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.
vnive,.^
¿ S/¿
ulC 26 1935
_LibraR1
p ire g a er
The town of Crieff will speedily be rendered ac¬
cessible to the travelling Public, by the formation
of a line of railway between it and Loaninghead
on the Scottish Central Bailway, ten miles dis¬
tant. Like the celebrated Scottish Spa of Bridge
of Allan, it is completely surrounded by wild
and romantic scenery. In this little volume an
attempt has been made to direct the Tourist to
the most interesting portions of the scenery, and
to inform him of the more curious historical
events and traditions with which these have been
associated. Much credit, if the book should ful¬
fil the Author's intentions, is due to Dr. Dean
Fairless, physician in Crieff, who has been in¬
defatigable in supplying him with information;
and he likewise tenders his acknowledgments to
his venerated friend, Dr. Irving of Edinburgh,
for revising the proof sheets.
Bridge of Allan,
Jan. 1864.
CONTENTS.
®\t geaaiits of ttpper Sfraí^arit.
PAGE
Strathearn—Crieff, its Situation, Prospects, Religious and
Educational Institutions — Stewartry of Strathearn —
Gallows of Crieff—The Tolbooth—The Old Annual
Fair — Eminent Natives and Residents—Antiquities... 11
<$Ktarsion ¿first.
Ochtertyre—Family Mausoleum of Murrays—Old Church
of Monzievaird—Destruction of the Murrays by the
Drummonds and Campbells—Loch and Castle of Mon¬
zievaird— Kenneth IY. — Mansion of Ochtertyre—The
Poet Burns—Miss Murray of Lintrose—The Murrays
of Ochtertyre — Beautiful Prospect of Strathearn —
Tom-a-chastel, and Monument to Sir David Baird —
Old Castle of Earls of Strathearn—Strowan Bridge and
Mansion—St. Rowan—Cross of Strowan—Clathick—
Lawers—The Campbells of Lawers—Comrie—Earth¬
quakes of Comrie—Glen Lednock and its Scenery—
Hill of Dunmore and its Prospect—Lord Melville's
Monument—Dunmore Mansion and Park—St. Fillan's
Hill and Tillage—Legends of St. Filian and Super¬
stitious Practices — Highland Games — Lochearn —
Ardvoirlich — Dalchonzie — Abruchill — Dalginross —
Glenartney 17
viii
CONTENTS.
®*tur8Í0jt J5ironl>.
PAGE
Yale of Monzie—Monzie Castle and Park—Old Larches of
Monzie—Kate M'Niven's Craig — Monzie Village —
Scenery of the Barvic — Glenturret— Toshach's Castle
— Loch Turret — The Poet Burns — Loch Ouan 46
(Ê jftursitni íEjjiríl.
Fern-Tower — Sir David Baird—Gilmerton— Fendoch
Camp — Small Glen—Ossian's Tomb—Soldier's Grave
— Dunmore Hill — Wester Glenalmond—Corrymuch-
loch — Amulree — Glenquoich — Easter Glenalmond —
Buchanty—Trinity College, Glenalmond 54
®*t«rßion Jouríji.
Cultoquhey — Family of Maxton — Inchbrakie — Family
of Graeme—Abercairney—Family of Moray of Aber-
cairney—Fowlis — Prediction of Thomas the Rhymer
— Druidical Remains — The Earls of Strathearn —
Abbey of Inchaffray — Village of St. David's 65
éstarsioit ¿fiftjj.
Library, Chapel, and Castle of Innerpeffray — Colquhalzie
— Millearn — Auchterarder House — Abruthven Village
and Chapel — Burial Place of Dukes of Montrose—
Auchterarder Village — Malcolm Canmore's Castle —
St. Mungo's Chapel — Kincardine Castle and Glen —
Pass of Gleneagles — Family of Haldane—Chapel and
Castle of Tullibardine — Castle of Strathallan 76
CONTENTS.
ix
<8xtuxz ion áStxtfj.
rAOK
Bridge of Crieff—Broich — Drummond Castle — Account
of the Noble Family of Drummond and Earls of Perth
— Muthill—Roman Camp and Chapel of Strageath—
Culdees Castle—Orchill House—Empress of Morocco
— Roman Camp of Ardoch — Battle of Mans Gram-
pius — Braco Village—Grinnan Hill of Keir —Ardoch
House—Greenloaning 85
Map of District fronting title.
Roman Camp of Ardoch
98
geaitiies of ®pper Sfrat^earrr.
" A scene that even the hind
Could not survey with careless mind,
Although accustomed well to see
Nature in mountain majesty.
The river, like a baldrick bright,
Upon the vale, lay bathed in light;
And all her burns and branching rills,
Like silver serpents of the hills." — Hogg.
Strathearn—Crieff, its Situation, Prospects, Religious and Edu¬
cational Institutions—Stewartry of Strathearn — Gallows of
Crieff—The Tolbooth — The Old Annual Fair — Eminent
Natives and Residents — Antiquities.
Strathearn, the valley through which the river Earn
pursues its course, from its source in Lochearn to the
confluence of its waters with the Tay, is a district of
central Scotland, chiefly interesting from its rich com¬
binations of picturesque and mountain scenery,* but is
also known to the student of history as the ancient
* Geologically considered, the vale of Strathearn consists of
the same old red sandstone which may be traced across the
island from Dunbartonshire to the east coast. In Strathearn,
the formation rests on the clay-slate, which bounds the Gram¬
pians on the east. The sandstone is penetrated in Upper
Strathearn by several trap dykes, of which there is an impor¬
tant one at Monzie, and another, the most remarkable of the
whole, proceeding from west to east for several miles, seen from
the turnpike between the towns of Crieff and Muthill. It bears
the name of the Concraig. There are some isolated hills in the
strath, which are uniformly composed of greywackè.
A
12 TIIE BEAUTIES OF UFPER STRATHEARN.
scene of battles and chivalrous exploits. It was the
theatre of important conflicts between the Romans
and the hardy tribes of ancient Caledonia. A descrip¬
tion of the upper or western portion of the valley,
chiefly forms the subject of this publication.
Of the vale of Upper Strathearn, the town of Crieff
is provincially known as the capital ; a distinction to
which it is entitled, from its central and commanding
position, and as being the most considerable place in
respect of population and of mural bounds in the dis¬
trict. Crieff is distant from the town of Perth, on the
east, seventeen miles, and is twenty-two miles north
of the town of Stirling. It has long been celebrated
for the balmy mildness of its climate. The situation
of the place is singularly romantic ; it rests on the
southern slope of a steep eminence on the north side
of the valley, and, with its imposing background of
mountain-summits, has been accurately described by
Mr. Robert Chambers, as presenting from the plain
an appearance like that of " a troop of men hurrying
up out of the low country into the Highlands." The
town, which is chiefly built at an elevation of 295 feet
above the ocean's level, has immediately on the north
the round pine-clad hill of Knock ;* the Earn glides
gently past by the southern boundary ; and the pro¬
spect which it affords is that of a far-extending valleyj
rich in culture, garnished by foliage, and varied by
wooded eminences, while bounded on the north-east by
* The name of Crieff is derived from the situation of the
town being on the slope of the Knock; the Gaelic words
Crubha Cnoc signifying the haunch of the hill. The Knock
rises 400 feet above the level of the sea.
CttIEFF—PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
13
the range of the Ochils, and in the opposing north-west
by the sterner and more stupendous Grampians.
Crieff has few architectural attractions. The
three streets which principally compose it, concen¬
trate in a square, in which has been erected a plain
building as a public well, surrounded by several
flourishing lime trees. There is a neat Town-House,
newly built, a handsome Extension Church, and an
elegant Episcopal Chapel. The other public buildings
consist of the Parish Church, a Free Church, two meet¬
ing-houses of the United Presbyterian Church, a Ma¬
sonic Hall, an institution for the education of young
ladies, an academy for the instruction of the children
of decayed residents, and a spacious and excellent
hotel. A small body of the Baptist persuasion con¬
template the erection of a church. The institution for
the education of young ladies, known as St. Margaret's
College, is under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr.
Lendrum, the Episcopal clergyman, who expects the
pupils to conform to the rites of his communion. The
academy, which has been designated Taylor's Insti¬
tution, was founded in 1843, in terms of a deed of
settlement executed by Mr. William Taylor of Corn-
town, a shopkeeper in the place, bequeathing two thou¬
sand pounds, and certain residues, for the erection of a
seminary, in which the children of indigent townsmen
should receive gratuitous instruction. A seminary of
a kindred nature is soon to be reared from a portion
of a bequest* of another native of the district, like-
* Mr. Thomas Morrison, builder in Edinburgh, who died in
1826, bequeathed the greater amount of his considerable fortune
for the purpose of erecting and endowing an academy either at
14 THE BEÁUTIES OF UI'FER STRATHEARN.
wise actuated by a laudable zeal 011 bebalf of educa¬
tion. The population, computed in 1851 to number
3824 souls, are chiefly employed in linen, cotton, and
woollen manufactures, and in some extensive tanneries.
They support a subscription library ; and their Mecha¬
nics' Institute, during the winter months, regularly
secures the services of ingenious and accomplished
lecturers.
At a remote period, Crieff appears to have been a
place of no inconsiderable importance. It is recorded
as such during the thirteenth century ; and in the
middle of the fifteenth, when it became the seat of the
Steward of Strathearn's court, its importance must have
been considerably increased. Before this period, the
courts of the Steward or Palatine of Strathearn were
held in the village of Fowlis, some miles to the west¬
ward ; the castle of the Earls of Menteith, the former
hereditary holders of the oflice, being in that vicinity.
The seat of judgment was changed to Crieff, from its
convenient proximity to the residence of the noble
House of Drummond, in whom the office became vested,
and the representatives of which continued to exercise
certain privileges connected with it till the year 1748,
when heritable jurisdictions were finally abolished.
Muthill, his native place, or at Edinburgh, where he realized
his wealth. His trustees, unable to procure a convenient site
at Muthill, resolved to establish the seminary at Crieff; but
the negotiations for this purpose were at first unsuccessful.
They have lately been resumed, and the fourth part of
£20,000, the amount to which the funds have accumulated, it
is understood, will be expended in the construction and endow¬
ment of a seminary at Crieff.
THE STEWAED OT 6TEATHEAKN.
15
The authority of the Steward, within the entire dis¬
trict of Strathearn, was'nearly co-ordinate with that of
the Sovereign ; it extended over the lives and proper¬
ties of the inhabitants, and there was no appeal from
the sentence of the court, nor complaint available
against the supremacy of the jurisdiction. Individuals
arraigned at the tribunal were often summarily con¬
demned, and "the kind* gallows" of Crieff became a
proverb. The courts were at first held in the open air.
The scene of the sittings, denoted by a circular rampart,
is still pointed out in a field about half a mile south¬
east of Crieff ; and the spot of execution, at the western
extremity of the town, is indicated by an eminence,
on which a large tree has taken the place of the fatal
beam. The beam was removed at a period compara¬
tively recent, and, as an object of vertu, was converted
into snuff-boxes. In 1665, the Steward of Strathearn
erected a tolbooth for the more convenient accommoda¬
tion of his court, and fatal sentences for minor delin¬
quencies becoming less common, had constructed an
iron cage for the imprisonment of offenders. A por¬
tion of this instrument of punishment was, till lately,
retained in the structure. A pit sunk under the build¬
ing, which had been used as an ordinary place of con¬
finement, existed in the same fabric.
Crieff is a borough of barony ; but the superiority
is vested in two different proprietors, who, severally
* Sir Walter Scott, in a note to Waverley, is disposed to re¬
gard the anomalous expression of " kind," applied to the Crieff
gallows, as " owing to this fatal beam being a sort of native or
kindred place of doom to those who suffered there, as in fulfil¬
ment of a natural destiny."
A 2
16 THE BEAUTIES OP UPPER STRATHEAUN.
appointing a baron bailie, render nugatory the autho¬
rity of both. A committee of the inhabitants regulates
the affairs of the town. A great annual fair held
here, at which 30,000 cattle might generally have ex¬
changed owners, was, to suit purchasers from the south,
about eighty years since, transferred to Falkirk. This
fair was regularly opened by the Earl of Perth, as
Steward of Strathearn ; he held a court in the morning
in the Tolbooth, and proceeded to the scene of the
market at the head of his tenantry, who attended him
with halberts.* In times less remote, Crieff became a
place of birth and residence to several persons of dis¬
tinction. Dr. William Wright, the eminent naturalist,
and Dr. Thomas Thomson, the accomplished chemist,
were natives ; Mallet the poet, and Dow the historian
of Hindostán, were educated here ; and at Ferntower/
in the vicinity, Sir David Baird, the hero of Seringa-
patam, spent his latter years. There are two remains
of antiquity in the town : an erect stone, having in
front the representation of a Gothic cross, which for¬
merly stood on the farm of Trowan, and is now erected
in the street eastward of the Town-House; and the
Stocks, which were attached to the Tolbooth, for se¬
curing to the wall by iron fastenings the persons of
delinquents. A parcel of ground, beautifully situate
near the river, was lately granted to the town by
Lord and Lady Willoughby de Eresby, for conversion
into a parochial cemetery.
* These ensigns of feudal authority are still preserved in the
armoury at Drummond Castle.
17
fiïtHrsion dfirsí.
In ancient times, as ancient bards have sung,
This was a forest. Here the mountain oak
Hung o'er the craggy cliff, while from its top
The eagle mark'd his prey;
Now sober Industry, illustrious power!
Bids the bleak hill with vernal verdure bloom,
The haunt of flocks ; and clothes the barren heath
With waving harvests, and the golden grain.
Bruce.
Ochtertyre—Family Mausoleum of Murrays — Old Church of
Monzievaird— Destruction of the Murrays by the Drum-
monds and Campbells—Loch and Castle of Monzievaird—
Kenneth IV. — Mansion of Ochtertyre—The Poet Burns
— Miss Murray of Lintrose—The Murrays of Ochtertyre—
Beautiful Prospect of Strathearn—Tom-a-chastel, and Mo¬
nument to Sir David Baird—Old Castle of Earls of Strath¬
earn— Strowan Bridge and Mansion — St. Ko wan—Cross of
Strowan — Clathick—Lawers—The Campbells ofLawers—
Comrie—Earthquakes of Comrie— Glen Lednock and its
Scenery— Hill of Dumnore and its Prospect—Lord Melville's
Monument—Dumnore Mansion and Park—St. Fillan's Hill
and Village—Legends of St. Filian and Superstitious Prac¬
tices — Highland Games — Lochearn—Ardvoirlich — Dal-
chonzie —Abruchill—Dalginross—Glenartney.
The visitor at Crieff will make his first excursion
westward ; the picturesque loveliness and mountain
grandeur of the scenery in this direction sufficiently
indicate the priority of its claims. At the Drummond
18 TUE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
Arms Hotel vehicles are abundant ; and we shall now
suppose the tourist whirling along the upper or north
road to St. Fillans, our intention being to return with
him by the lower road on the south. The road encom¬
passes the north-western base of the Knock, has on the
left the banks of the Turret river, with the numerous
mills driven by its waters, and in one mile, crossing
the Turret by a bridge, it reaches the toll-bar of Dal-
vreck. Here a road leading up Glenturret diverges
on the right, but our course is at present directly
onward. Before us, but chiefly on the right, are
the singularly beautiful and picturesque grounds of
© tij trrtgre.
This place of countless charms every tourist pauses
to admire, and every saunterer among the sweets of
Scottish scenery has striven to celebrate. In Scotland
it has certainly few equals, and it can hardly be sur¬
passed in the classic grandeur of its landscape. Com¬
bining the rarest graces of nature with the most ex¬
quisite conceptions of art, it presents an harmonious
picture of unbroken and unclouded beauty, such as the
landscape painter trembles to depict, and the poet
hesitates to portray. Extending down the slope of
the lower terrace of the Grampians, with a fine
southern exposure—its upper portion richly studded
with plantation, and the lower displaying a glittering
lake, relieved by a romantio promontory, and inter¬
spersed with foliage-clad islets, with the substantial
manor-house resting softly on the shoulder of the bank,
the grey ruins of the old castle beneath it, the white
OCHTERTYRE.
19
front of the new observatory west of the mansion, and
the family Mausoleum just visible among a mass of old
timber — the park exhibits a prospect from the turn¬
pike which the traveller delights to contemplate. Sir
William Keith Murray, the proprietor of Ochtertyre,
is one of those liberal and enlightened country gentle¬
men, who, valuing their possessions as affording the
means of enjoyment to others as well as to themselves,
permit the public to visit their enclosures. The
tourist, sending forward his vehicle to the western
lodge, may enter the grounds by the east avenue. On
the left, at half distance between the lodge and the
mansion, may be seen the Mausoleum, a structure of
handsome Gothic, rebuilt in 1809, and curiously pro¬
vided with windows of richly-stained glass. On a
black marble tablet in the interior are recorded, in
letters of gold, the names and ages of the family of
Ochtertyre, with the achievements of those distin¬
guished in arms, for a period of several successive
generations. A churchyard, enclosed by a neat modern
wall, surrounds the Mausoleum ; and on the site of the
structure formerly stood the parish church* of Monzie-
vaird,t this place of graves being then the parochial
cemetery. In its original form, the church was the
* During the course of the last century, a barrow was opened
100 yards west of the church, in which was found a sarcophagus
enclosing two coarsely-fashioned cinerary urns, which contained
calcined bones. A stone hammer or celt was also found in the
interior, which was deposited in Ochtertyre House. There
were formerly numerous barrows in the district, but these have,
for the most part, been recklessly removed during the course of
agricultural operations.
f The plain of the bards.
20 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
scene of an unhappy tragedy, which Sir Walter Scott
has partly depicted in his Introduction to the " Legend
of Montrose." A feud had existed between the clans
of Murray and Drummond; and on a battle being
fought between them at Cnoc-Mary, in this vicinity,
the Murrays obtained a victory, which was followed by
their carrying off a large portion of the goods of the
Drummonds, besides certain tithes which they had
originally exacted. The Murrays chiefly resided in a
village which stood adjacent to the church of Monzie-
vaird, and thither they returned with their booty.
They did not long enjoy it : the Drummonds received
unexpected reinforcement by meeting in their retreat
a party of the Campbells, who were returning from
avenging a course of slaughter on their relations in
Argyleshire, and were ready for any other daring and
desperate adventure. £'he united clans hastened to
Monzievaird, while the Murrays, on their approach,
forsook their huts and their booty, and took shelter
within the church. The sacredness of the place might
perhaps have insured their preservation, but for the
rashness of one of the party, who discharged a firelock
among the besiegers. A desperate attack was now
made upon the building by the assailants, who being
however unable to reduce it by arms, cast fire upon its
thatched roof, and succeeded in throwing it in flames.
With the exception of one individual, David Murray,
who escaped by the humanity of one of the Drum¬
monds,* all the inmates, together with their wives and
* This clansman of the Drummonds afterwards owed his free¬
dom to the party whom he rescued. On account of the subse¬
quent persecution of his clan, he fled to Ireland, but was enabled
OCHTERTYRE.
21
children, to the number of eight score persons, perished
among the ruins. This barbarous occurrence took place
in the year 1511, and was terribly avenged by James
IV., William, Master of Drummond, son of John, first
Lord Drummond, along with a number of his followers,
being condemned for their concern in the deed, and exe¬
cuted at Stirling. The church was subsequently rebuilt,
and remained, surrounded by some plain cottages, till
the latter portion of last century. " I know of no spot,"
writes an accomplished lady, " associated with any
legend of cruelty and violence, which contrasts so power¬
fully with the peaceful beauties of the present as this
old burying-ground ; nor any thing so pleasant as the
contrast of its sombre yews with the smiling drop-trees
of the surrounding park."
A little onward from the Mausoleum, as we ascend
the bank, we gain a point which commands an interest¬
ing view of the beautiful lake, its surface glancing
brightly in the plain. This fine sheet of water, popu¬
larly known as the Loch of Monzievaird, covers thirty
Scottish acres, abounds in pikes and perches, and is
valuable for its shell marl, which frequently has been
dredged to add richness to the adjoining pastures.*
to return through the grateful intervention of this individual.
He was possessor of an estate on the banks of the Earn, near
Comrie, which was long retained hy his descendants, who were
afterwards known by the cognomen of Drummond-Ernoch,
». e. Drummonds of Ireland.
* The praelongus variety of Potamogaton luceus, or pond-
weed, was discovered several years ago in the lake by Lady
Keith Murray, while it has not been discovered elsewhere in
this country. In 1805, the bronze head of a spear was found
in this lake.
22 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
The turrets of an old fortalice will be seen at the
lake's north-eastern extremity ; it is built upon a
peninsula, and had at one period possessed an entirely
insular situation. The square donjon or tower only is
entire, and is constructed of walls six feet in thickness ;
but the fabric must originally have been of consider¬
able extent. It is said to have belonged to- the Red
Comyn, one of the rivals of Robert Bruce for the throne.
During the protectorate of Cromwell, it was inhabited
by Sir William Murray, the first baronet of Oehter-
tyre. A prison in connexion with the fortalice stood
on an artificial islet in the lake, about eighty yards to
the westward. Near the lake, on the level portion of
the park, Kenneth IV. is believed to have fallen in
battle, in the year 1003 ; the highest summit of the
Grampians, overlooking the spot, bears the name
Cairnchainachan, or the cairn of Kenneth.
The mansion of Ochtertyre, which we shall suppose
now to be reached, is a plain substantial structure,
raised on a broad artificial terrace, and surrounded by
magnificent oaks. The front and banks of the terrace
are studded with a profusion of the most fragrant
native plants and the most flourishing exotics; the
view beneath, when the sun bathes the landscape in
light and shade, or when the mellow tints of autumn
are just beginning to appear, may not admit of an
adequate description. " The beauty of the environs,"
says Gilfillan, " the richness of the wooded braes, the
placidity of the little lake, and the feeling of Sabbath
solitude and quiet cast oyer the whole, speak for them¬
selves — as 'to the mellow earth an autumn to the
year,' and need no reflex emotion, beaming from even
THE POET BURNS.
23
the grave of a great poet, to touch the heart and to
brighten the eye." The ingenious writer poetically
alludes to the visit of the poet Burns to those classic
bowers. He was at Ochtertyre with the kind pro¬
prietor, Sir William Murray, and his amiable spouse,
Lady Augusta Murray,* in June, 1787, and again, it
is believed, on a short visit during the autumn of the
same year. It was on one of these occasions that he
formed an acquaintance with the beautiful. Euphemia
Murrayt of Lintrose, a favourite relative of Sir Wil¬
liam, then residing at Ochtertyre, and who had so in¬
terested the poet, as to induce him to compose one of
his best songs in commendation of her meek and mo¬
dest virtues. We quote the three opening stanzas :
By Auchtertyre grows the aik,
By Yarrow's banks the birken shaw;
But Phemie was a bonnier lass
Than braes o' Yarrow ever saw.
* This lady was a daughter of the Earl of Cromarty, who
was condemned to suffer decapitation, with the lords Balmerino
and Kilmarnock, on account of his share in the Rebellion of '45.
He was pardoned, chiefly through the persevering intercession
of his wife with the female members of the royal family ; and
it is said that Lady Augusta, who was born a few months after
the pardon being obtained, had upon her neck the impression of
an axe, in strange memorial of the anxieties of her mother.
t Miss Murray was the only daughter of the proprietor of
Lintrose in Perthshire. When Burns met her, she was in her
eighteenth year, and was then known, on account of her charms,
as the " Flower of Strathmore." She was married, in 1794, to
Mr. Smythe of Methven, a Lord of Session, and became the
mother of several children.
B
2-1
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
Her looks were like the flower in May,
Her smile was like a summer morn ;
She tripped by the banks of Earn
As light's a bird upon the thom.
Her honnie face it was sae meek,
As ony lamb upon the lea;
The evening's sun was ne'er sae sweet
As was the blink o' Phemie's e'e.
The family of Murray of Ochtertyre is a younger
branch of the ancient house of Murray, which, tradi¬
tionally reported to have come frohi Moravia, a pro¬
vince in Bohemia, is so old, as to be entirely involved
in the mists of antiquity. The founder of the Ochter¬
tyre branch was Patrick, third son of the ninth Baron
of Tullibardine, and the ancestor of the ducal house of
Athole. The present proprietor, Sir William Keith
Murray, highly distinguished for his scientific attain¬
ments and successful cultivation of the arts, is the
fourteenth in the direct line of descent from the
founder. Sir Patrick Murray, the late proprietor, was
a Baron of Exchequer and a zealous agriculturist : his
brother, Sir George, by his military talents and suc¬
cesses, obtained high offices and honours. A general
in the army and a Knight of the Bath, he held suc¬
cessively the appointments of Governor-General of
Canada, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance, and
Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland. He
afterwards became Secretary of State for the Colonies,
and under both the administrations of Sir Robert Peel,
was Master-General of the Ordnance.
Passing the newly-constructed Observatory, we
emerge from the fine enclosures of Ochtertyre by the
TOM-A-CHASTEL.
25
western avenue. We now gain a bend in the turn¬
pike, where the traveller from Crieff, who has not
beheld the prospect from the slopes of Ochtertyre, will
be struck by the scene suddenly presented to him.
The rich wide plain, interspersed with plantations, and
smiling with luxuriance, is romantically skirted on
the south-west by the copse-clad and fir-covered knolls
of Laggan and Thornhill, while the tempest-riven
hills of Abruchill appear towards the west in stern
grandeur, and yielding nothing of their character be¬
fore the great mountain of Benvoirlich in the distance.
When we proceed onward, having on the left the rich
level carse through which the Earn rolls its waters, and
on the right the richly-wooded crags at the base of the
Grampians, other two imposing features gradually
open on the landscape. Over the shoulder of the
heights of Thornhill, first appears the hill of Tom-
a-chastel, surmounted by its monument, and then
farther to the left the massive form of the dark pine-
covered Turleum. Monzievaird Church, romantically
situate at the base of the wooded Grampians, is now
passed on the right. Opposite to the school-house, a
short distance westward, a road diverges from the
turnpike, proceeding directly across the plain ; it con-
duets to the hill of Tom-a-chastel and the grounds of
Strowan. These claim the inspection of the tourist.
The base of Tom-a-chastel is reached at the distance
of about half a mile from the turnpike; the hill is
protected by an enclosure ; but individuals desirous of
ascending it will obtain admission at the lodge. The
ascent is not difficult, and every tourist should be sure
to accomplish it. The prospect is thus graphically
26
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
described by Gilfillan : " To the east you see the course
of the river, distinct from its fringe of woods, almost
as far as the Bridge of Earn. Crieff and the fine
knock or hill behind it are conspicuous. The Ochils
seem to sleep in the distance. Nearer at hand, the
groves of Drummond Castle appear above the horizon.
Southward, and close beside, rises Turleum, with his
great green veil of woods ; a garniture so complete,
that when the wind is high, you might fancy the
mountain itself is moving in the storm. Northward,
at the foot of Benchonzie and Cairnachosie lies Lawers,
with its red towering pinnacles, rich woods, and glorious
avenue of a mile in length, and fine sheltered parks.
On the west, and immediately below, is a plain, level
as the face of a lake, and with the Earn curving, and
carolling, and warbling through it, as though loth to
leave a valley so beautiful. Its loops remind you of
the links of Forth. At the west end of this dead level
spring up, as if rising before some deep impulse from
below, at a sharp strong angle, the Abruchill Hills,
three in number, equal in height, bound to each other
as by a band of iron, and forming a noble battlement
to the valley. From their north flank there just peers
into view the top of another huge and exceedingly
rugged mountain, ' Dundurn ' by name, which sends
up its razor-like edges, cutting the air on all sides,
from the vicinity of Loch Earn. At the north-west
boundary of the plain, in a kind of corner, lies the
sweet village of Comrie, its simple spire pointing
peacefully in dumb devotion to heaven ; woods cluster¬
ing around it on all sides, as if fondling their favourite
child; and on a rock behind it, rising from above a
TOM-A-CHASTEL.
27
sea of copsewood, there stands a monument of granite,
erected to the late Lord Melville, and which here
appears like a white streak upon the bosoms of the
black hills beyond." The obelisk on Tom-a-chastel is
eighty-two feet in height, is built of granite, and ex¬
actly in the form of Cleopatra's Needle. It was reared
in 1832 to the memory of Sir David Baird by his
widow. A castle of the old Earls of Strathearn stood
upon the spot, a circumstance to which the hill owes
its designation, Tom-a-chastel signifying the hill of
the castle. The building was destroyed by fire, and
several ladies of noble rank are reported to have
perished among the ruins. Among these was Joanna,
daughter of Malise, Earl of Strathearn, and wife of
Earl de Warenne, who being convicted of treasonable
practices against Robert I. by the Black Parliament
which assembled at Scone in August, 1320, was con¬
demned to perpetual imprisonment in the castle. On
the clearance of the old foundations for the erection of
the monument, a bracelet, a quantity of charcoal, some
human bones, and the debris of animal matter, were
discovered. The castle had well suited the noble
owners at the era of its occupation : a light kindled
upon its summit, at the period of danger, would have
aroused their followers throughout the valley.
Descending from the summit of Tom-a-chastel, we
cross the Earn by the Bridge of Strowan, when we
have a little way onward the manor and park of
Thomas Graham Stirling, Esq. of Strowan. Strowan
Bridge has been described as " the most sweetly situ¬
ated in the world it is indeed a lovely spot, a nook-
of beauty. There is perfect seclusion, and the only
B 2
28
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
sounds heard are the song of the thrush, the music of
the waters, and the rustling of the leafy boughs of the
surrounding plantation. Nowhere is Tom-a-chastel
seen in greater beauty ; it rises in rural simplicity, the
natural bulwark of the place, a grand sentinel pro¬
tective of the quietude of the scene. The mansion of
Strowan is plain, but seems ornate from the profusion
of foliage in which it is environed. The name is a
corruption of Saint Rowan, a personage who was pro¬
prietor of the place in the seventh century, and who,
being a zealous ecclesiastic, was afterwards canonized.
He is mentioned by Beda as having engaged in a con¬
troversy with Finan, bishop of Lindisfern, as to the
precise day when Easter should be celebrated; and
the same authority records, that he became a Professor
in one of the German seminaries, on account of his
reputation as a scholar. He bequeathed three acres
of land to his bellman at Strowan, in perpetual en¬
dowment, on condition that the functionary should
ring a bell, which he had pronounced holy, during the
celebration of mass ; and, singular to add, a family of
the name of Dewar, which in Gaelic signifies a bell¬
man, possessed a portion of land at Strowan till a
recent period. Some members of this family still live
in the vicinity, and the bell having been preserved, has
come into the possession of the proprietor of Strowan.
Near the south-east corner of Strowan House stood the
hamlet of Strowan, of which however not a vestige
remains. At the opposite corner, in front, a cross, with
the common initials, I. N. R. I.,* indicates where the
* "Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Judseorum"—Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews.
CLATHICK — LAWEH8.
29
market was held. The ruin of an old church, clad
with ivy, and surrounded by a graveyard, is nearly
opposite to the mansion ; it formed the parish church
of Strowan. We now return to the turnpike. The
manse of Monzievaird, with its sweet and pleasant
enclosures, is passed on the right, and on the same
side, about half a mile onwards, the park of Clathick
House, the beautiful residence of W. L. Colquhoun,
Esq. We speedily reach the noble park of Lawers ; an
emerald plain, bounded on the north by forest-decked
cliffs and bold naked crags, and displaying, amidst
trees of a patrician character, a villa almost Roman.
The mansion is on the right of the turnpike, behind a
spacious lawn ; and on the left, in its immediate front,
we discover a broad verdant glade, skirted by double
rows of magnificent trees, and pursuing its straight
course about a mile southward to the Earn, or, as
appears to the eye, considerably beyond to the wooded
heights of Drummachargan. " The scenery in the park
of Lawers," writes Gilfillan, " is intensely English in
its character, and contrasts well with the Alpine region
amid which it has been flung down, like a fair maiden,
at the feet of a mailed warrior."
Lawers is the property of David Robertson William¬
son, Esq. ; it belonged to the lady of his grand-
uncle, the late Lord Balgray, a Senator of the Col¬
lege of Justice, who enthusiastically devoted himself
to the decoration of the demesne. At the time of
the Reformation, Colonel Campbell of Lawers com¬
manded a regiment of the Reformers, and essen¬
tially aided the Protestant cause. His nephew, who
succeeded to the estate, was intrusted by the Estates
30 THE BEAUTIES OP UPPER STRATHEARN.
with the command of a company of soldiers, to sup¬
press the system of freebooting in his vicinity. In
the discharge of his duties, he had arrested a plun¬
dering party of the Macgregors, who were condemned
and executed. The occurrence excited the clan to
seek ruthless vengeance; a company of them broke
at night into the mansion of Lawers, and seized
Campbell in his bed, with the intention of forthwith
putting him to death. They were however induced
to desist from their desperate purpose, on the pro¬
mise of being paid 10,000 marks as ransom, on an
early day which was named. The laird was punctual
to his engagement, and paid to the desperadoes the
stipulated sum ; but forthwith had them seized, and
conveyed to Edinburgh, along with their chieftain,
Oig Macgregor, for public execution.
The turnpike now presents the aspect of an avenue,
having on each side a row of ornamental trees, while'
on the right still extend the craggy or wooded supports
of the Grampians, which have accompanied us from
Ochtertyre. A well-cultivated vale appears on the left.
On crossing the bridge over the Lednock mountain-
stream, two miles from Lawers, we enter the town of
©ontrir,
a place having a decided claim to the character of the
picturesque. It is situated on the north bank of the
Earn, where the Lednock and Kuck ill streams discharge
their waters into its channel, to which circumstance
it owes its name, Comrie signifying in Gaelic the
meeting of the waters. The park of Comrie House,
COMRIF.
31
the ravine of the Lednock, and the obelisk-crowned
hill of Dunmore rising immediately on the north, sig¬
nally contribute to the grandeur of the scene. The
place is topographically unimportant ; there is only
one good street, which is irregularly built ; there are
few public walks ; and the population, which numbers
between two and three thousand, chiefly support them¬
selves by weaving.* Comrie has obtained notice, apart
from the beauty of its situation, as being the centre of
those subterranean movements which, for upwards of
half a century, have frequently convulsed this district
of the kingdom. The first earthquake experienced at
Comrie took place in the autumn of 1789 ; but since
this period, shocks have been felt, at periods of irregular
interval, with a singular rapidity of succession. They
have occurred at every season, but generally in calm
misty weather, and during or after rain. The convul¬
sions have been accompanied by loud rumbling noises ;
these noises were heard near Comrie in 1789, before
any vibration was experienced, and have since gene¬
rally followed the occurrence of the shocks. In the
years 1789, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1799, 1801, 1821, and
1839, the more alarming convulsions took place ; these
being felt to some extent over the northern and eastern
districts of Scotland, especially along the eastern range
of the Grampians, and in the line of the Ochils.f
* The town is illumined with hydro-carbon gas, which is
only used in another place in Scotland.
f Describing the dykes or veins in the trap rocks, Dr. Ander¬
son remarks, " The etymology of the term Ochil would seem
to be connected in some way with these geological phenomena.
A tradition exists, that from time immemorial, the earthquakes
32
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATH EARN.
As to the cause of the earthquakes at Comrie, many
opinions, some of them highly fanciful, have been en¬
tertained. A writer of no inferior reputation seriously
regards them as indices of civil convulsions throughout
the world, and hence as being of supernatural origin !
He discovers, that the horrors of the first French
Revolution commenced during the year 1789, when
the subterranean convulsions were first experienced;
and remarks, that the concussions at Comrie became
less violent toward the period of Napoleon's fall.
A respectable artizan in Comrie, Mr. James Drum-
mond, has recorded some interesting facts in connexion
with the earthquakes, which, if not entirely justifying
the hypothesis which he has founded upon them,
may be of use in assisting us to arrive at a true
solution of the disturbing forces. In the year 1787,
according to Mr. Drummond, a quarry of trap rock
was opened on the banks of the Lednock, north
of the village, which continued to be wrought till
of Comrie were contemporaneous with subterranean movements or
noises in the Ochil range near Devon. The Gaelic word ochain,
or ochail, signifies, according to Armstrong, 'moaning, wailing,
howling and hence it is inferred, that the name of the ' Moan¬
ing Hills' may have been given to the range, from the sounds
so frequently heard in the district. There can be no question
as to the probability of a subterranean sympathy betwixt the
two localities, through the instrumentality of these dykes, or
otherwise ; and though the series of events referred to above
belong to an anterior age—far remote, indeed, from the human
and ail its traditions—a plausible origin is thus given to the
name, in connection with an analogous series of events that did
happen within the human period."—( The Course of Creation,
by John Anderson, D.D. London, 1850, p. 81.)
COMRIE— EARTH QUAKES.
33
1809 ; while from 1789 till the latter year, the move¬
ments were frequent and severe, especially subse¬
quent to the thorough opening of the quarry in 1789.
The quarry was unwrought from 1809 to 1817, and
during this period the convulsions were rare, and
uniformly gentle. In 1817, when the quarry was used,
the convulsions at once resumed their frequency and
violence. In 1834, the quarry was again wrought, and
again the earthquakes, for some years almost unfelt,
were experienced. A new quarry was opened in the
same trap rock in 1838, and from the following year to
1846, when the quarrying operations were abandoned,
the earthquakes were felt with a greater frequency
and violence than at any previous period. There has
been no quarrying in the rock since 1846, and the
shocks have since been very rare and uniformly gentle.
Mr. Drummond, from these data, concludes that the
earthquakes are the product of electric influence on the
trap rock, of which important dykes traverse the old
red sandstone of the district.*
Some other particulars have been recorded in rela¬
tion to the earthquakes. They do not occur during
easterly or westerly winds ; the movements are in the
general direction from west to east, and the shocks are
preceded by a gray mist creeping upon the middle of
the mountains, an appearance such as that which pre-
* Professor Nicol, in his Geology of Scotland, p. 169, re¬
marks, that at Comrie granite occurs far removed from any
similar rock, forming two great veins, often projecting above
the surface, and running for miles parallel to each other. He
considers these formations interesting in connexion with the
earthquakes.
34 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
cedes the eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna. The vibra¬
tions seem to proceed from one centre, which was long
believed to be at Dunmore Hill, but which has been
ascertained to be under the Hill of Cluan, two miles to
the north-west. The more severe concussions at Comrie
are generally accompanied by volcanic eruptions in
other parts of the world ; and it has been abundantly
established, that in such subterranean movements,
sympathies have existed between our island and dis¬
tant countries. During the occurrence of the terrible
earthquake at Lisbon in November, 1755, the waters
of Loch Lomond suddenly rose on their banks so high,
as to carry a boat forty yards into the land, while the
water several times receded and returned with the same
extraordinary flow. Loch Katrine and several other
Scottish lakes were similarly agitated. That earth¬
quakes are constantly changing their scene over the
world, is a truth completely established ; and that a
region originally volcanic should again become the
scene of subterranean movements, is consistent with
ordinary probability. That the earthquakes at Comrie
will increase in number and violence, it would not
however be edifying to conjecture ; it is a mystery
concealed from human foresight, and remains in the
counsels of Him " who looketh on the earth, and it
trembleth ; who toucheth the hills, and they smoke."
The visitor at Comrie must inspect the scenery of
Glen Lednoch, and ascend the Hill of Dunmore. Both
are reached by a road leading northward from the.
western extremity of the town. To see the Lednoch
pursuing its roaring and jarring course through the
romantic glen which encloses it, we may leave this
dejl's caldron.
35
road about one mile onward from Comrie, at a spot
adapted for tbe turning of vehicles, and, by the foot¬
path conducting along the wooded bant, descend to the
margin of the chasm. We again avail ourselves of
Gilfillan's picturesque description. "Devious," says
he, describing the footpath, " as the rambling little
stream, and rugged as its wayward course, it conducts
through scenes of varied enchantment. It is completely
overarched and surrounded by woods ; but through
breaks and openings it shows us, ever and anon, some
little linn or tiny cataract of the near river, besides
glimpses of the high wooded bank above it. After a
good many turns and windings, you come upon a scene
of tremendous beauty and grandeur, called the Deil's
Caldron. It is a black and boiling pool, girt with dark
rocks, ' in pitiless horror set,' overhung by thick and
clustering woods; and through a ghastly gap in the
onward cliffs—so deep and utter, that you at first fancy
that some former convulsion, and not the mere edacity
of the stream, has made the fierce fissure—you see the
mountain river dashing and foaming down between
their black and polished sides. The walk conducts you
to a point above the pool, and opposite the cataract,
where, with only a slight screen, in the shape of a low
ledge of the rock, surmounted by a piece of paling be¬
tween you and death, you can look down upon the scene
with a dreadful pleasure and trembling joy." " Mag¬
nificent," adds the writer, " especially the scene after
a storm, when the waters are roused and raging, and
white with the foam of their madness, when the wind
is bending the trees above and around them, when
heavy drops are still falling, when the moan of distant
c
36 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
and dying thunder is heard upon the breeze, and the
roar of the pool is as that of the angry ocean." A
rustic bridge across the caldron would add to the fulness
of the effect, and promote a better view of the wild
scene beneath; it is the only feature desiderated in
contemplating the grandeur of the scenery. About
two miles upward there is another cataract on the
Lednoch, which bears the name of Spout Rollo. The
spot was tenanted by a spirit, who held converse by
the winds with another spirit, whose abode was in the
caldron we have surveyed. According to the legend,
an emissary of the latter, as he sought refuge in
the dwelling of an old woman, permitted himself to
be terrified by her casting upon him a live coal, and
he so alarmed his superior by the details, that he was
induced, with his spiritual companions, to depart for
ever from those scenes.
A footpath conducting from the spot at which we
left the turnpike for the banks of the Lednock, leads
to the summit of Dunmore. The path ambulates
through a forest of pines, till it terminates in the
bare and craggy crest of the hill. Here stands a
granitic monument to Henry Dundas, first Lord Mel¬
ville, in the form of an obelisk, seventy-two feet in
height, resting upon an appropriately massive base.
It exhibits an inscription, bearing that it was erected
by the private friends in Perthshire of the deceased
viscount, to testify their admiration of his public
services and private virtues. The erection cost £1400.
The view from Dunmore has not been exceeded
by any of the prospects hitherto presented to us
during our excursion, and it is perhaps wider, more
DUNMORE BILL.
37
varied, and more truly magnificent than any other
which can he obtained in the district of Strathearn.
Looking northward, the eye rests upon the majestic
forms of the stern and rugged Grampians, with their
more towering summits of Benchonzie and Cairn-na-
honzie ; north-eastward, Glen Lednock, at first a ver¬
dant ravine among the mountains, appears close by, a
densely-wooded gorge, while the hoarse sound of its
caldron beats upon the ear as the voice that spoke to
the spirit of Rollo. Eastward extends the foliage-clad
range of the Grampian supports, with the town of Crieff
just seen in the distance. Turning gently round, as on
the rising of the curtain from some gorgeous panorama,
we are gradually brought to realize the surpassing
glories of Strathearn. Comrie is beneath, the abodes
of men among the richest garniture of nature — green
banks, gay woods, and silvery streams ; beyond is
Dalginross, the plain of encampments and of battles,
traversed by the river of Earn glittering proudly in
the sunbeams. South-eastward, in the distance, repose
the chain of the Ochils, surmounted by the more dis¬
tant peaks of the Lomonds ; and further eastward rise
the hill of Moncrieff and distant range of the Sidlaws.
Nearer, in the midst of the champaign, is Tom-a-
chastel, with its obelisk, and Turleum, with its covering
of pines. South-westward are the fronts of the torn
and splintered Abruchills, the whitewashed mansion at
their base, and Benvoirlich beyond. Westward is a
contracted deep green valley, bounded on the south by
the hill-chains of Abruchill and Dundearn, and on the
north by those of Crappock and Cluan, and interspersed
with little wooded eminences, islets in the gulf before
38
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPF.R 6TRATHEARN.
the upheaval of the district from the deep. At the
western extremity of the vale is just seen a corner of
Lochearn, sparkling under the edge of St. Fillan's
Hill. Beyond towers the summit of Benmore, rising
proudly among the heights of Balquhidder ; nearer are
the mansion, rich lawn, and wood-crowned mountain
of Dunira.
But we must now resume the turnpike. It conducts
westward from Comrie, between the north bank of the
Earn and the base of Dunmore, and soon enters the
narrow valley which we had contemplated from the
hill. In a level field on the right, about half a mile
onward, are four erect stones, believed to be Druidical.
Passing the towering eminences of Crappock and Glen-
tulchan, which guard the vale on the north, and fronting
the hills of Abruchill, which at first appear to intercept
the progress of the route, we reach the charming grounds
of Dunira, with the noble background of waving woods,
breathing a loveliness of retirement and a gracefulness
of scenery well calculated to excite the glowing aspira¬
tions of the poet. Every lover of true Scottish verse,
on visiting those scenes, will remember the beautiful
song of Kilmeny in the " Queen's Wake
Bonnye Kilmeny gede up the glen;
But it walsna to meite Duneira's men,
Nor the rozy munks of the isle to see,
For Kilmeny was pure as pure cuide be. »
It was only to heir the yorline syng,
And pu' the blew kress-flouir runde the spryng;
To pu' the hyp and the hyndberrye,
And the nytt that hang fra the hesil tree;
For Kilmeny was pure as pure cuide be.
DDKIKA — DUNFILLAN.
39
At Dunira Lord Viscount Melville resided during
some of his latter years, enjoying the seclusion which
it afforded from the cares of politics and bustle of
public life. A mansion, in Grecian architecture, just
erected by Sir David Dundas, the present proprietor,
is in strikingly harmonious keeping with the richness
of the scenery. The family cemetery, surrounded by
trees, and about a hundred yards from the road, is
passed on the right at the bridge of Kindrochat.
The vale now narrows itself to the strict limits of a
mountain pass, but again unexpectedly expands into
a richly cultivated strath, begirt by picturesque and
wooded eminences. A peasant's hut by the wayside,
a short distance beyond a bridge that crosses the Earn,
denotes the spot where the laird of Ardvoirlich sus¬
pended on a gibbet certain of the clan Macgregor, who
had been concerned in the cruel murder of his relative,
John Drummond of Drummond-Ernoch, in 1589; a
shocking tragedy, which has been described by Sir
Walter Scott in his Introduction to the Legend of
Montrose. Some bones of the culprits were exhumed
about the commencement of the century. The hills of
Morall on the right, and the heights of Dundearn on
the left, of which one raises its bold pinnacle 2000 feet
above the plain, succeed to the hills of Dunira and
Abruchill as the native guardians of the pass, while in
front is Dunfillan, or St. Fillans, resting " like a young
Ochil amid the gloomy Grampians," in the distance
overtopped by the broad shoulder of Glentarkin. A
small chapel on the left of the road, and in the centre
of the plain, is now the burying-place of the Stewarts
of Ardvoirlich ; like the eminence of St. Fillans, it
c 2
40 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
is associated with the memory of this ancient eccle¬
siastic.
Saint Filian, who has given his name to many
churches, localities, and healing springs throughout the
country, and is especially associated with the scene
before us, is said to have flourished during the seventh
century. He was Prior of Pittenweem ; he afterwards
established himself at Breadalbane, where he reared
three churches, one at Strathfillan, another at Killin,
the third being the prototype of the small chapel to
which we have referred. He died in 649. According
to the legend, his body was carried off by his followers,
who however disputed on the way as to whether Killin
or Strathfillan should receive the honour of being his
resting-place, when a second coffin, entirely similar to
the other, appearing supernaturally, a quarrel, which
might have been attended with bloodshed, was averted,
and each of the two parties was satisfied with securing
the coveted prize. The memory of the saint had been
peculiarly venerated during the times of superstition;
Robert the First, being defeated in a conflict with
Macdougall of Lorn, near Strathfillan, and narrowly
escaping with his life, ascribed his preservation to the
saint. At the battle of Bannockburn, he had the bone
of an arm of St. Filian, enclosed in a silver shrine,
carried before his army by the Abbot of Inchaffray.
The stone font of the original chapel of the saint at
Dundearn, on the site of which the present structure
was built about three centuries since, is preserved in
its interior.
The hill of St. Filian, or Dunfillan, stands isolated
in the plain westward of the chapel, and, covered with
D lîNFILLAN.
41
verdure, presents an interesting contrast to the bleak
mountains by which it is surrounded. It is 600 feet in
height, inaccessible from the south and east, but may be
easily ascended on the other two sides. A rough crag on
the summit is known as St. Fillan's Chair ; seated upon
it, he imparted his benediction on the district. Two
hollow places in the rock near the chair were formed,
it is reported, by his knees in the posture of devotion.
A spring which formerly existed here is said to have
disappeared, in disgust at the Reformation. A spring
exists at the southern base of the hill, and was for¬
merly believed to possess some miraculous efficacy.
Till the close of last century, it was frequented by
numbers on the first days of May and August, when its
qualities were understood to be specially remarkable.
At these visits various ceremonies were observed ; the
invalid walked or was carried around the spring from
east to west three different times, and then was re¬
quired to perform the ablution of his person in its
waters. To this charmed fountain Sir Walter Scott
refers in the opening lines of his most popular poem :
Harp of the North ! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades St. Fillan's spring.
The rock-seat of the saint was also reputed to be pos¬
sessed of curative powers. Invalids suffering from
rheumatism were seated on it, and afterwards dragged
on their backs to the base of the hill. Some old per¬
sons still retain confidence in the possibility of the
cure, notwithstanding the roughness of the process.
Adjoining Dunfillan on the west is a level sward, on
which, for a period of twenty years, extending from
42 THE BEAUTIES OF UFPEB STRATH EARN.
1819 to 1839, an annual gathering took place for
the prosecution of national fetes and exercises. The
meeting was held in the month of August, and many
patriotic individuals from a distance usually assembled.
An interest in these sports, which for a period has
intermitted, it is to be hoped may be resumed. At the
eastern extremity of Lochearn, which rests placidly,
surrounded by towering eminences, immediately beyond
the scene of the games, is the small hamlet of St. Fil-
lans, situate at the distance of five miles and a half from
Comrie. It was formerly called Portmore. There is a
good hotel, with an intelligent landlord ; and the village,
with its flower-environed doors and clean comfortable
cottages, has been pronounced one of the most attrac¬
tive in the Highlands.
Lochearn is one of the most picturesque of the
Perthshire lakes ; it is seven miles in length and one
in breadth. Shortly distant from the shore at St. Fil-
lans is an islet of artificial formation, which claims
especial notice. It was the scene of a cruel tragedy
during the reign of James V. A remnant of the clan
Neish, which had been nearly destroyed, in chastise¬
ment for certain predatory incursions on their neigh¬
bours, here took shelter from the farther vengeance
of their enemies. They remained unmolested for a
period, but were at length suddenly assailed during
night by a party of the Macnabs, who had carried a
fishing-boat on their shoulders from Loch Tay, to
procure access to the islet. All the Neishes were put
to the sword, with the exception of a youth, who con¬
trived to effect his escape. From this person, those
bearing the name of Neish are said to be descended.
LOCHEAItN.
43
A road encompasses the lake, and the circuit, to
the visitor who can command leisure for the purpose,
would prove sufficiently interesting. In the vale of
Glentarkin, three miles upward from the northern
shore, from which it opens, is a large stone, which,
resting on its narrowest end, might shelter sixty per¬
sons under its projecting sides. This natural curiosity
is known as the Great Stone of Glentarkin. The
village of Lochearnhead, with a good inn, is at the
westernmost extremity of the lake. On the southern
shore are the mansion of Edinample, a seat of the
Marquis of Breadalbane, with a beautiful cascade on
the mountain stream of the Ample, and the house of
Ardvoirlich,* the residence of Robert Stewart, Esq.,
picturesquely situate at the base of the great moun¬
tain of Benvoirlich.
In returning to head quarters at Crieff, the visitor
may leave the turnpike by a road conducting south¬
ward, about three miles east of St. Fillans. This road
crosses the bridge of Dalchonzie ; and entering a
finely-shaded avenue of oaks and elm trees, we discover
on the left the long whitewashed front of Dalchonzie
House, sweetly situated on the south bank of the Earn.
* Near the middle of the lawn, in front of the mansion of
Ardvoirlich, there is a large thorn tree, of singular shape, said to
be 200 years old. A relic in the possession of the proprietor is
deserving of notice, from the superstitious practices with which
it has been associated. It is apparently a lump of white rock
crystal, about the size of a large egg, and is surrounded by four
antique hoops of silver. The water in which this stone has been
dipped is still believed in the district to he a remedy for diseases
of cattle. No history is attached to the stone, hut it has been
conjectured to have been a badge of the arch-druid.
44 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STBATHEARN.
On the right, farther on, appear in all their wild and
stern grandeur the Abruchill Hills, with the Castle of
Abruchill at their base, embowered amidst a grove of
luxuriant plantations. Formerly a seat of the Camp¬
bells of Kilbryde, the castle was the scene of many
cruel broils between the followers of the proprietor
and the proscribed clan of the Macgregors. It was
built in 1602, but has been modernized and extended.
It is now the property of John Drummond, Esq. of
Strageath. A cascade in a romantic ravine behind
the castle-garden is worthy of being visited. At
the Bridge of Ross the road reunites with the turn¬
pike, when we enter the town of Comrie. Having
passed through it, we may, by another bridge, resume
our course on the south side of the'Earn. The road
from Comrie first proceeds by a straight line through
the plain of Dalginross, a scene associated with the
history of Roman warfare. There are the remains of
a Roman camp, which, when entire, measured 1020
feet in length by 950 in breadth; dimensions which
would indicate its construction for the accommodation
of 10,000 men. Some antiquaries have, without autho¬
rity, assigned Dalginross as the site of the battle of
Möns Grampius ; but a battle appears to have been
fought in the vicinity. A wooded hill to the westward
bears the name of Dalrannock, signifying " the hill of
weeping ; " it may perhaps have been the scene from
which the women and children of Caledonia had wit¬
nessed, during the battle, the slaughter of their country¬
men. At Blair-an-roan, a place two miles southward of
Dalginross, the Romans had another station, which was
connected by an iter with the permanent station at
DALG1NR0SS.
45
Ardoch. The road at Dalginross turns eastward, and
is afterwards formed into a beautiful beech avenue,
having on the left the smooth-flowing waters of the
Earn, and on the right the lofty heights of Drummond-
Ernoch, and the opening to a pass conducting to the
ancient royal deer-forest of Glenartney, amidst whose
"hazel shade" Sir Walter Scott, in the Lady of the
Lahe, has laid the commencement of The Chase. We
afterwards traverse the grounds of Strowan, and pass¬
ing by the base of the lofty height of Tur le urn, con¬
clude a long and interesting excursion by arriving,
across the old bridge, at our head-quarters of Crieff.
46
the beauties of upper strathearn.
®*tarsintt Srronir.
Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain,
Here earth and water seem to strive again;
Not chaos-like, together crushed and bruized,
But, as the world, harmoniously confused.
Pope.
Vale of Monzie—-Monzie Castle and Park—Old Larches of
Monzie—Kate M'Niven's Craig—Monzie Village—Scenery
of the Barvic—Glenturret—Toshach's Castle—Loch Turret—
The Poet Burns—Loch Ouan.
In prosecuting the present excursion, we follow the
north road to Comrie, by which we proceeded on the
former tour, till we reach the toll-bar of Dalvreck, one
mile onward, when we adopt the road thence diverging
towards the north, through the vale of the Turret.
We pass on the right the distillery and farina manu¬
factory of Hosh, and on the left an entrance to the
park of Ochtertyre. A mile onward, opposite to the
farm-homestead, and corn-mills of Hosh, we leave
Glenturret, cross the river hy a bridge, and proceed
by the road conducting north-eastward into the vale of
Monzie. This romantic valley, which is nearly five
miles in length, is separated from Strathearn chiefly
by the Knock, the pine-covered shoulder of which at
its western portion forms its southern boundary. On
the north, its barriers are the Grampians, of which the
skirts are here profusely covered with plantation. The
MONZIE CASTLE.
47
stream of the Shaggy pursues its uneven course through
the centre of the plain, to unite its waters with the
Turret.
ffioitjir ©astir,
one of the seats of Alexander Campbell, Esq., lately
M. P. for Argyleshire, is beautifully situate in the
valley, about one mile from its western boundary.
With the noble background of the wooded Knock, the
park of Monzie, extending along the flat green vale,
and thickly interspersed with plantation, may not in¬
aptly be described as a Paradise among the mountains.
Admission is freely permitted to the public, and a
promenade through the spacious demesne will afford
entire gratification to every admirer of the picturesque.
" But the beauties of Monzie," as writes Dr. Macculloch,
" are only to be fairly appreciated from the hill above,
where it forms the middle ground, and the conspicuous
feature of one of the most magnificent of the extended
landscapes of Scotland. The house itself is sufficient
to give a centre of unity to the picture ; and nothing
can exceed the felicitous arrangement of the rich woods
which surround it, occupying the valley and rising up
the hills in all that happy mixture of carelessness and
decision which holds the due line and limit between
the profusion of nature and the restraint and attentions
of art Few parts of Scotland can parallel
the noble landscape in which it lies ; a landscape which
seems to have been created for it, and for which it
seems to have been created ; a continuous scene of
richness and beauty, of wood, and cultivation, and hill,
retiring in varied and endless succession till it termi-
n
48 THE BEAUTIES OF UFPER STRATHEARN.
nates in the distant blue mountains of Loch Earn."
The castle is a plain modernized structure ; it is sur¬
rounded by fine old trees, among which, west of the
mansion, are several stately larches, which have been
assigned an antiquity coeval with those of Dunkeld.
The tradition is, that the messenger who was conveying
the first supply of those trees to the Duke of Athole
at Dunkeld, rested at the castle on the night previous
to his return, and was so gratified by his liberal enter¬
tainment, that he planted five of the young trees in the
lawn. A late Duke of Athole sent annually to inquire
as to the growth of the trees, and it is said was uni¬
formly dissatisfied by the unfailing report, that they
were prospering better than his own. One of the five,
exhibiting symptoms of decay, was recently cut down ;
but the others are abundantly healthy, and one of them
has attained a height of 102 feet ; another measures
at the ground twenty-two feet in circumference. In
the castle is preserved an interesting collection of na¬
tive and foreign antiquities and other objects of vertu.
Among many excellent paintings, some of them by the
old masters, is a remarkably correct likeness of Dr.
Thomas Chalmers, the distinguished divine, which was
painted for the present proprietor by Thomas Duncan,
Esq., R. A. The bold craggy summit of the Knock,
at the south-eastern portion of the park, is known as
" Kate Macniven's Craig." A female so named was
burned upon the rock, on the accusation of witchcraft,
about the second decade of the last century ; she was
one of the last victims in Scotland to a cruel and heart¬
less superstition. Several predictions, which are still
quoted with reverence in the vale, she is reported to
GLENTUBBET.
49
have uttered at the stake. There are in the park seve¬
ral remains of Druidical temples, and some weems, or
subterranean dwellings, have been discovered in it.
The hamlet of Monzie rests sweetly near the copse-
clad banks of the Shaggy and Shelty streams, north of
the turnpike. There are three cascades on the Shaggy,
north of the village ; and on the eminence of Knock
Durrock, immediately above it, are the remains of an
oval encampment, evidently of Caledonian origin.
Beside the village are the handsome new parish-church,
and the beautifully situate manse of the incumbent.
The most interesting portion of the vale of Monzie
having been surveyed, we may now retrace our course
westward to Glenturret. Proceeding up this romantic
glen, here richly overspread with plantation, in half a
mile we reach a bridge across the Barvic, a mountain
stream which has already in our progress united its
waters with the Turret. At this bridge a gate opens
on a footpath, which winds itself up the margin of a
ravine, in which the Barvic comes thundering down a
series of cascades and caldrons, the river falling 600
feet within the eighth part of a mile. A little distance
onward from the bridge across the Barvic, we attain
another bridge, which crosses the stream of the Turret ;
and about a hundred yards beyond, we reach a few plain
cottages, near which, on a spot indicated by a box-wood
tree, stood the old keep of Toshack, the chief of Clan
Mackintosh, and the last chief, according to thq story,
who, prior to the statutory abolition of feudal juris¬
dictions, exercised the power of " pit and gallows." A
legend reports the chief to have held nocturnal inter¬
views with a fairy, whom he had brought with him
50 THE BEAUTIES OP UPPER STRATH EARN.
on his return from a protracted absence abroad ; but
the mode of his reaching his place of colloquy, and the
precise nature of his companion, were long regarded a
mystery. His lady at length became jealous of the
frequent departures of her lord from his chamber dur¬
ing night, and being unable to discover whither he pro¬
ceeded, resorted to the scheme of attaching a piece of
worsted to his button ; thus guided, she followed him
down a concealed subterranean passage conducting
from the castle to the bottom of the ravine of the Tur¬
ret, when, after various circuitous paths, she discovered
him in close conversation with the fairy, who had the
aspect of a beautiful lady. The discovery excited
Toshack's wife with feelings of desperate jealousy;
she upbraided her lord with infidelity to her, and in¬
sisted on the immediate destruction of the stranger,
who thereupon suddenly fled, and " the sun of Toshack
set to rise no more." The extent of the chiefs cruelties
and barbarities excited the violence of the neighbour¬
hood ; the inhabitants rose against him, and he fled
from his place, and died abroad in obscurity. The
remains of the castle were removed, upwards of half a
century ago, by the late Sir William Murray of Och-
tertyre.
The road proceeds upward by the right bank of the
Turret. At a curve of the road, a footpath conducts
to a beautiful cascade on the river, known as " Spout
Hoich." The water has formed a chasm in the rock, and
it afterwards dashes down a cataract of thirty feet of
perpendicular descent. This natural object is seen to
peculiar advantage from a grotto immediately oppo¬
site, to which access is afforded by a bridge that has
LOCH TURRET.
51
been tastefully thrown across the stream. In some
hundred yards onwards from the spot whence we pro¬
ceed to the inspection of the cascade, the road enters
an open moor. We now follow the branch diverging
towards the right, recross the Turret, and pursue our
course upward by the left bank of the river through a
wild, dreary, and rugged mountain glen, only inhabited
by sheep grazing on its scanty pastures, and visited
chiefly by the wild denizens of the forest. The glen,
for some miles contracted, afterwards expands. We
pass a morass, through which the Turret follows its
devious way, and ultimately reach Loch Turret, one
mile long, and a quarter of a mile broad, which roman¬
tically reposes in this elevated region, surrounded by
towering and stupendous heights, often mantled by the
mist, and adown whose rugged sides dash the hundred
streamlets which feed its basin. The more prominent
mountain on the east is Craig Garioch; Benchonzie
rears its mighty moss-clad summit to the north-west-
ward ; and nearer in the prospect rises the elevated
crest of Cairn-chainachan. Till lately, the eagle built
his nest in the eastern clefts of Benchonzie ; and about
a century since, the falcon* maintained his eyry amidst
the same cliffs ; but both these princes of the feathered
tribe have been banished from the scene. The red
deer, formerly an inhabitant of the place, has likewise
changed his abode. On the summit of Cairn-chain-
* A pair of falcons, which was presented to George III. at
his coronation by the Duke of Atliole, as a symbol of his holding
his sovereignty of the Isle of Man as a lief of the Crown of
England, was procured from the cliffs of Benchonzie.
D 2
52
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER 8TRATHEARN.
ochan, a cairn* memorializes the death of Kenneth
IV., who perished at Monzievaird. Robert Burns,
when residing at Ochtertyre, visited Loch Turret, and
the incident of some water-fowl starting from the lake,
led him to compose the following verses, so full of
benevolent sentiment.
Why, ye tenants of the lake,
For me your wafiry haunt forsake?
Tell me, fellow-creatures, why
At my presence thus you fly?
Why disturb your social joys,
Parent, filial, kindred ties?—
Common friend to you and me,
Nature's gifts to all are free;
Peaceful keep your dimpling wave,
Busy feed, or wanton lave;
Or beneath the sheltering rock,
Bide the surging billow's shock.
Conscious, blushing for our race,
Soon, too soon, your fears I trace;
Man, your proud usurping foe,
Would be lord of all below;
Plumes himself in freedom's pride,
Tyrant stern to all beside.
The eagle, from the cliffy brow,
Marking you his prey below—
In his heart no pity dwells—
Strong necessity compels.
But man, to whom alone is given
A ray direct from pitying Heaven,
Glories in his heart humane,
And creatures for his pleasure slain.
* Henry, first Viscount Melville, gave instructions for this
cairn being surrounded by a railing, to effect its preservation,
but his unexpected demise prevented the execution of the order.
LOCH TURRET.
Iii these savage liquid plains,
Only known to wand'ring swains,
Where the mossy rivlet strays
Far from human haunts and ways,
All on Nature you depend,
.And life's poor season peaceful spend.
Or, if man's superior might
Dare invade your native right,
On the lofty ether borne,
Man with all his powers you scorn;
Swiftly seek, on changing wings,
Other lakes and other springs;
And the foe you cannot brave,
Scorn at least to be his slave.
By the eastern shore of Loch Turret is situate the
turreted and whitewashed shooting-lodge of the pro¬
prietor of Ochtertyre, rising amidst a brake of young
wood. From the head of the loch a footpath conducts
north-westward to Loch Tay ; and one mile farther
north, among the mountains, is a smaller lake, Loch
Ouan, which yields a plentiful supply of trout to those
who are persevering enough to find their way to its
waters.
54
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPEll STBATHEAKN.
(¡éxcntaian SCirïr.
Between two mountains, whose o'erwhelmlng tops,
In their swift course arrest the bellying clouds,
A pleasant valley lies.
Bruce.
F em-Tower — Sir David Baird—Gilmerton—Fendoch Camp—
Small Glen—Ossian'a Tomb — Soldier's Grave—Dunmore
Hill — Wester Glenalmond — Corrymuchloeh — Amulree —
Glenquoich—Easter Glenalmond—Buchanty-—Trinity Col¬
lege, Glenalmond.
Leaving Crieff at the eastern toll-bar, we first pursue
our course along the upper road conducting to the town
of Perth, having on the left the Knock hill, and on the
right, stretched out in expansive luxuriance, the rich
flat vale of the Earn, bounded by the Ochils. On
the right we reach a profusely wooded eminence, known
as Callum's Hill, opposite to which, on the left of the
turnpike, is the western entrance to the grounds of
Fern-Tower, covering the south-eastern slope of the
Knock. These grounds, which supply a diversity of
scenery, and from the upper portion a noble prospect of
" the land of mountain and of flood," are accessible to
the public, through the indulgent liberality of Miss
Preston, the venerable proprietor. The mansion is a
plain structure; but it affords an interest as having
been the last place of residence of the gallant Sir David
Baird, and as still containing many trophies of his
FERN-TOW Ell. 55
prowess. Among these is the sword of Tippoo Saib,
which was presented to this brave officer by the
British troops, immediately after the storming of
Seringapatam. There are also in the mansion an origi¬
nal painting by Sir David Wilkie, of the discovery of
the body of Tippoo Saib amidst the desolation of his
capital ; window-curtains which were manufactured for
the Emperor Napoleon I. ; and the supposed bracelet
of the Countess of Warenne, who is reported to have
perished amid the ruins of Tom-a-chastel. With the
park some interesting occurrences have been associated.
Certain erect stones in the lawn would indicate, that it
had been a place of Druidical rites ; in 1413, it was
the scene of a hostile encounter between Patrick
Graham, Earl of Strathearn, and Sir John Drummond,
Steward of Strathearn, in which the former fell
mortally wounded ; and here, in 1745, Sir John Cope
established an encampment. A well in the park, near
the turnpike opposite to the first mile-stone from Crieff,
is designated Cope's Well.
Opposite to the next entrance to Fern-Tower, at a
curve of the turnpike, a straight road diverges to the
right, following an undeviating course to the pass of
Gleneagles in the Ochils. It was constructed by General
Roy on the site of a Boruan iter. At the village
of Gilmerton, two miles east from Crieff, a road
stretches to the north ; by this we must now proceed,
and then by that branch of it leading towards the right,
on its dividing itself into two branches at a little dis¬
tance onward. As the road winds along the gently-
rising ground, the vale of Monzie on the south-west is
seen in all the enchanting loveliness of its beauty,
56 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATH EARN.
displaying its picturesque glories under the sheltering
influences of the heights which enclose it; the plain
rich in vegetation, and the eminences clothed with
plantations, except where the mountain torrents have
for ages forced themselves a way ; the Abruchill Hills
bounding the prospect in the distance, overtopped by
the heights of Benmore and Benvoirlich.
Encompassing the wooded hill of Glowr-owre-him,
quaintly so named from commanding a view over the
Knock, and proceeding north-eastward in sight of the
dark heathy slopes of the Grampians, we attain, at the
distance of three miles, the valley of Glenalmond, dis¬
playing on the right a richly cultivated district, but
presenting in front a stern pass among the mountains.
Near the opening of the pass are the remains of the
camp of Fendoch, supposed to be of Roman origin.
The encampment had included about 45 acres, and
accommodated 12,000 men. It had been protected on
the north by the banks of the Almond, on the west by
a morass, on the south by the stream of Fendoch, and
on the east by a natural declivity. Of the intrench-
ments,* the greater number has been obliterated.
At Fendoch camp, a road conducts towards the east ;
but we may first take that leading northward through
the " Small Glen," already opening on the view.
* A labourer, who had been digging across the eastern
intrenchment in August 1834, discovered several camp-kettles,
pieces of armour, and other implements, in a condition of
remarkable preservation. They were purchased by a gentleman
in Glasgow curious in antiquities, but were purloined in the
course of being transmitted to him. (See Dr. Wilson's
" Archaeology," p. 436. Edinburgh, 1851, 8vo.)
SMALL GLEN.
57
This is decidedly one of the finest passes in the Scottish
Highlands. The Almond flows through it, and on
each side arises, often perpendicularly, a range of
rough, craggy, weather-beaten mountains, torn by
fissures, or overspread by the debris of the clay-slate,
of which they are composed, and which here is con¬
torted in a thousand variety of forms. The scanty
patches of vegetation are grazed by a few goats, the
solitary occupants of the pass. The bed of the Almond
for several miles lies amidst the serrated forms of the
Grampians ; but the gorge we are surveying, through
which the river emerges into the low country, only
extends along two miles of its course. Near its upper
extremity the ravine considerably expands ; and on
the right of the road, on a level sward, a huge stone
rests upon the surface, to which tradition has assigned
the curious interest of denoting the grave of Ossian.
The stone, cubical in form, is 8 feet in height, and has
been designated Clach Ossian. When General Wade
was constructing the road in 1746, it was ascertained
by the soldiers to be resting upon four stones, placed
on edge, so as to form a chamber 2 feet long, 1J broad,
and 2 feet in depth. Within the chamber were found
the debris of bones and some fragments of coins. The
report of the discovery induced the Highlanders to
assemble from vast distances. They took up the slabs
and the reliques which they enclosed, and carried them
in solemn procession to a sequestered spot, among the
hills, where they re-interred them amidst the sound of
martial music, afterwards discharging their firelocks as
a salute over the spot. Whether the dust of Ossian
slumbers amidst these mountains, or within this glen,
58 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
it would be superfluous to inquire. The antiquity of
the tradition is denied by Dr. Macculloch, and few, it
is believed, could satisfactorily establish it ; but surely
no spot seems more suitable for the resting-place of
the Caledonian bard, than the scene which has here
been assigned as his tomb. It has been celebrated by
the genius of Wordsworth.
In this still place, remote from men,
Sleeps Ossian, in the Narrow Glen ;
In this still place, where murmurs on
But one meek streamlet, only one.
* * * *
Does then the bard sleep here indeed?
Or is it but a groundless creed?
What matters it? I blame them not,
Whose fancy in this lonely spot
Was moved; and in such way expressed
Their notion of its perfect rest.
* * * ♦
It is not quiet, it is not ease,
But something deeper far than these;
The separation that is here
Is of the grave; and of austere,
Yet happy feelings of the dead;
And therefore was it rightly said,
That Ossian, last of all his race,
Lies buried in this lonely place.
Adjoining the stone indicative of Ossian's tomb is a
small green mound. It was raised upon the grave of
a soldier who was killed during the construction of the
road. In connexion with it, we may be pardoned for
recording an amusing anecdote. Some years ago, two
soldiers who had obtained leave to visit their relatives
in the north, on their way through the Small Glen, sat
WESTEBN GLENALMOND.
59
down to rest upon the mound. It was gray evening,
and they had tasted of liquor somewhat too freely.
" A comrade has been buried here ; let us hail to him,"
shouted the-more inebriated of the two, and both forth¬
with commenced vociferating lustily. The noise awoke
a pedlar, who, unperceived by the soldiers, had,
wearied by his journey, been slumbering near the
edge of the bank ; and shaking himself, he suddenly
exclaimed, " I'm coming." The consternation of the
reckless men of war at what they imagined to be a
voice from the dead, gave swiftness to their limbs ; nor
did they abate the speed of their desperate retreat till
fairly within the hut of a shepherd a full mile off.
The Hill of Dunmore, the most elevated in the pass,
rises immediately on the east of the supposed grave of
Ossian. It had been surmounted by a fort ; and here
Fingal is said to have lived. There is a second fort
or cairn on the opposite hill.
At the termination of the " Small Glen," we cross
the Almond by the bridge of Newton, and proceed
northward by the turnpike. But the district of Western
Glenalmond, the rugged hill territory through which
the river flows before it passes into the glen, and
which at Newton Bridge is seen extending westward,
claims notice as the scene of some interesting occur¬
rences. In one of the lateral glens, in the face of a
crag, known as the eagle's rock, there is a huge cave,
in which sixty persons may find shelter ; and here one
Alaster Baine, a noted plunderer of the flocks feeding
on those hills, long found refuge from his pursuers,
till his retreat was discovered by the light of his fire
during night. He was carried hence to Perth and
E
60 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEAHN.
executed. Near the cave is a natural curiosity, known
as the " Kirk of the Green." It consists of a number
of large stones, singularly piled upon each other.
There is at the same place a solitary pine tree of
great age, formerly regarded with superstition. A
small chapel stood in the glen ; within it 120 youths
took the sacrament before proceeding to Culloden,
from which very few of them returned. The burying-
ground remains. An oblong cairn in the glen bears
the name of Clach-na-trom-pan ; it has been exa¬
mined, and found to contain a succession of chambers
of sepulture.
The road already indicated proceeds through a
bleak moor. A few miles onward from Newton
Bridge, and ten miles from Crieff, we attain the inn
of Corrymuchloch ; and in two miles further the
hamlet and inn of Amulree. The inn of Corrymuch¬
loch is somewhat celebrated for the civility of the
host and the excellence of the entertainment. Amulree
was' formerly resorted to by invalids to drink goat
whey ; but the goats have ceased to be sufficiently
numerous to afford a supply of that commodity.
Amulree is now chiefly known for the good trouting
to be had in the Braan Water, which passes it, and
in the small lakes in the vicinity. The principal of
these lakes are Lochs Fruchy and Corrymuchloch.
The late ingenious Professor Gillespie of St. Andrews,
who was enthusiastically devoted to the sport of
angling, having made a second fishing excursion to
the place, after the interval of some years from the
first, was so charmed with the renewal of his acquaint¬
ance with a scene so retired, and so well suited for his
AMULREE.
61
piscatorial amusement, that he was induced to cele
brate the event in verse.
Oh, Amulreel lone Amulreel
Dear are thy solitudes to me;
Thy mountain rocks that prop the sky,
While down their sides the shadows lie;
Loch Fruchy, with its margin gray,
Where sunbeams and where lambkins play;
Again the mossy Braan I see,
And live one day at Amulree.
Amulree is the scene of a great annual sheep mar¬
ket. In the entireness of its solitude, separated as it
is by a succession of stupendous mountains from every
thing like stir or excitement, and too bleak even for
the labours of the husbandman, it seems to afford the
most perfect retreat to those who come hither in sum¬
mer either for the purposes of solitary angling or of
undisturbed meditation. Sir Walter Scott is supposed
to have had it in view when describing certain scenes in
Waverley. In the vale of Glenquoich, some miles to
the westward, resided " Mückle John Menzies," the
prototype of " Y ich Ian Vohr," who at the head of
200 men proceeded to join the army of the Prince
in 1745. His estates were afterwards confiscated. A
neighbour, of strong Jacobite principles, was more for¬
tunate, being prevented from joining in the insurrec¬
tion by the " gudewife" pouring hot water into his
boots.
Easter Glenalmond next claims examination. Re¬
turning through the Small Glen, we proceed eastward
by the right bank of the river. We pass various
small cairns, and on the right a little eminence, used
62 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER. STRATHEARN.
formerly as a gallows hill or place of execution. In
three miles we attain the hamlet of Buchanty, near
which the Almond is carried over a series of cascades,
which present a beautiful spectacle from a bridge
which here crosses the river. At this bridge, Saint
Methven is reported to have had a chapel ; and here
it was that the Marquis of Montrose first erected
his standard. Proceeding onward, we pass on the
left Glenbolchan, the seat of George Mercer, Esq. of
Gorthy ; and afterwards reach, in the course of an
interesting drive through a finely cultivated valley,
the picturesque-situated structure of
2tríníts ©oUrgr,
distant from Crieff twelve miles, and about ten from
the town of Perth. A hotel is to be found in the vicinity.
The institution of Trinity College was originated with
the view of providing the means of proper and effi¬
cient instruction to youth connected with the Episcopal
communion in Scotland, especially those intended for
the Church. Funds for the foundation and endow¬
ment were raised by voluntary subscription through¬
out the country, and by certain loans ; and in 1841 the
erection of the College was commenced. The plan
comprehends a quadrangle 190 feet square ; and two
sides, besides the chapel, which forms part of a third,
have already been finished. The entire structure may
probably be completed in a short time. The insti¬
tution is generally well conducted, and has usefully
served the purpose for which it was intended. There
are about seventy lay and seven theological students ;
TUIN1TY COLLEGE, GLENALMOND. 63
and the charges for their board and education are such
as to warrant the expectation that the number may
considerably increase. The entire charge during the
term, for every item of maintenance, and of instruction
in all the branches of a liberal education, is £70 for
each lay pupil; but in the case of those who are
studying for the Church, the charge is restricted to
£30. The accommodation of the College is ample,
and well arranged. Each lay pupil has allotted to
him in the school-room a distinct compartment as a
study, and in the spacious and well-aired sleeping
apartments a separate bed-stall. The theological stu¬
dents have well-furnished apartments of their own.
The morals of the youth are carefully superintended,
and religious service is daily performed in the chapel.
This structure is fitted up in a manner sufficiently
imposing, and somewhat in the style of cathedrals on
the continent. The ceiling of the chancel is painted
cerulean, interspersed with stars of gold. The altar
window, of magnificent proportions, represents in
richly stained glass the more remarkable miracles of
the Saviour ; and the apostles are depicted on the
glass of the two side windows of the chancel. The
furniture is of massive oak, which has been carved and
decorated after the ancient models. During service,
the pupils appear in surplices ; but it is to be feared
that too much importance is attached to the pomp of
ecclesiastical ceremonies. It would be more edifying
to impress upon the youthful mind, that true reli¬
gion has its seat in the understanding and the heart ;
that devotion can only be genuine when it has no
dependence on mere formalities, however imposing
E 2
64 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
they may be to the external senses. The warden of
the institution, who has a residence in the building, is
the Eight Eev. Charles Wordsworth, a nephew of the
poet, and himself an accomplished scholar, and the
author of some learned publications. He is the titular
bishop of the diocese. The enclosure around the
buildng of the College includes twenty acres, and the
structure is approached by a handsome avenue.
65
ëxcats ion <Jf£r:artJj.
How fair a prospect rises to the eye,
Where Beauty vies in all her vernal forms,
For ever pleasant, and for ever new!
a a » # #
The traveller stops, and gazes round and round,
O'er scenes that animate his heart.
Bruce.
Cultoquhey — Family of Maxton — Inchbrakie — Family of
Graeme—Abercairney—Family of Moray of Abercairney—
Fowlis — Prediction of Thomas the Rhymer — Druidical
Remains — The Earls of Strathearn — Abbey of Inchaffi-ay —
Village of St. David's.
We shall suppose the visitor to have reached the
village of Gilmerton, formerly noticed, two miles east
of the town. Following the road eastward, we have on
the left Glowr-owre-him, and on the right the Tudor
mansion of Cultoquhey, the residence of James Max-
ton, Esq. The estate of Cultoquhey, without the addi¬
tion or diminution of a single acre, has been possessed
by the family of Maxton for a period of five centuries.
It had not however been uncoveted by some of the
neighbouring proprietors ; so that the laird, about a
century since, who seems to have been a person of
peculiar eccentricity, is said to have repeated every
morning an addition to the Litany, of his own com¬
position, praying that he might be delivered from
66 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
their evil propensities.* A small encampment had
existed at Cultoquhey, and urns and cists have been
discovered at the place. Here, according to the legend,
Comhal, the sire of Fingal, was defeated in battle by
the Romans.
The mansion of Inchbrakie, enclosed by its fine
grounds and plantations, is seen at some distance on
the right of the turnpike, about three miles distant
from Crieff. This place, the property of Major Drum-
mond Graeme, has long been the property of the family,
who, in the history of the ancient and distinguished
House of Graham, claim an honourable place. The
remains of the ancient castle of Inchbrakie, which had
been surrounded by a moat, are in the vicinity of the
mansion. This structure was destroyed by Cromwell,
in order to punish the proprietor, Patrick Graeme, who
was colonel of the Posse Comitatus of Perthshire, and
an active officer in the army of his cousin-german,
James, the distinguished Marquis of Montrose. A
* Cultoquhey's prayer was, that he might be delivered
" From the greed of the Campbells,
From the ire of the Drummonds,
From the pride of the Grahams,
And from the wind of the Murrays,"
According to tradition, the Duke of Athole, who was the chief
of the Murrays, having invited Cultoquhey to dinner, asked
him to repeat his addition to the Liturgy, believing that he would
decline to do so in his presence. He was however mistaken ;
and the duke demanded, that he should promise to omit his
name, otherwise he would crop his ears. " That's wind," said
the undaunted laird ; an imperturbable reply, which restored
the duke to his equanimity.
INCHBSAKIE.
67
grandson of Colonel Graeme, who was an officer in the
army of James II., having killed a friend in a duel,
was induced, as a voluntary penance, to become a
monk. He joined the mendicant order of the Capu¬
chins, and complied with the severe austerities of the
monastic rules. At his death, he was superior of the
convent of Boulogne. A portrait of Father Graeme is
among the family paintings at Inchbrakie. There is
preserved by the family a curious relic ; a bluish
stone, said to be an uncut sapphire, which has been
set into a gold ring. The supposed witch who was
executed on Monzie Craig, is said at the stake to have
cast it from her mouth to the laird of Inchbrakie, at
the same time uttering the prediction, that so long as
it was preserved by his family, his race would continue
to prosper. A yew tree in the park is said to be the
second largest in Scotland ; during a season of peril,
it afforded concealment by its thick foliage to the
gallant Marquis of Montrose. A musical air by Niel
Gow, is known as " Miss Graeme of Inchbrakie."
Passing the cottage of Arnbank, we speedily attain
the park of Abercairney, a scene which, though exhi¬
biting none of the wilder and more romantic of sylvan
decorations, has, apart from these, many charms to
excite the admiration of the traveller. The western
avenue leads by the margin of a ravine, within which
is heard the rush of murmuring waters beneath an
exuberant canopy of foliage. Emerging from the
avenue, appear all the glories of the spacious lawn,
studded by the noblest and most graceful children of
the forest. The mansion, a modern structure, reared
in the most handsome style of florid Gothic, in the
68 THE BEAUTIES OP UPPER STRATHEARN.
form of a cathedral, singularly harmonizes in its ele¬
gant proportions with the contour and beauty of the
park. The interior has been finished in a style of
great magnificence, and adorned with every decora¬
tion which taste could suggest or munificence supply.
In front of the mansion is a small lake ; and placing
himself by its margin, and looking westward on the
umbrageous splendour of Knock and Turleuin, the
craggy magnificence of Abruchill, and the rude vast-
ness of the remote Grampians, an ingenious artist
might command a picture sufficient to occupy the
pencil of the most gifted genius. The large estates of
Abercairney have for several centuries been in the
possession of an honourable branch of the very old
and distinguished house of Moray. They were ac¬
quired by Sir John Moray of Drumsergard, through
his marriage with Mary, only sister of Malise, Earl of
Strathearn, whose son had the earldom conferred on
him by David II., but which reverted to the Crown on
his being slain, in 1346, at the battle of Durham,
without surviving issue. Two members of the family,
Andrew and George Moray of Abercairney, fell at
Floddon. Sir David Murray or Moray of Gorthy, son
of Sir Robert Moray of Abercairney, was governor to
Prince Henry, and the author of some poetical pieces,
entitled, " The Tragicall Death of Sophonisba ; Cecilia,
containing certain Sonets ; and a Paraphrase of the
civ. Psalme."* His brother John, minister of Leith,
was an intimate friend of the celebrated Andrew
* They have all been reprinted for the Bannatyne Club,
under the title of " Poems by Sir David Murray of Gorthy."
Edinb. 1823, 4to.
ABEBCAIBNEY.
69
Melville. He was imprisoned by James VI., on
account of publishing a discourse containing some
remarks on the subject of bishops, which was offen¬
sive to the monarch. The estates of Abercairney are
in the possession of Charles Home Drummond Moray,
Esq. The Honourable Mrs. Moray, widow of the late
proprietor, resides in the mansion, comforting the in¬
digent around her by her wide-spread and generous
liberality.
Having inspected the grounds of Abercairney, which
are open to the public, about one mile onward, and
miles from Crieff, we leave the turnpike at the little
hamlet of New Fowlis, proceeding towards the left.
At the corner formed by the junction of this new
road with the turnpike, a clump of trees covers a
gentle mound, the cairn of some ancient warrior ; an
erect stone surmounts it. Ascending the rising ground
which borders the strath, we have on the left the
manse of Fowlis Wester, pleasantly situate, and
reach a little way onward the scattered and wretched
huts composing the old parochial hamlet.* A stone
cross, which formerly stood in the vicinity, is now
erected in an open space in the centre of the village.
On one side are represented in bas-relief some figures
* The beggars, proverbial for finding their way everywhere,
lose it in Fowlis. The village was formerly of greater impor¬
tance. An Earl of Strathearn having resolved to build a chapel
in the vicinity of his castle, determined to select as its site the
spot which the sun, as viewed from the rising ground, should
first strike. The first rays fell on the spot now occupied by the
village; and hence its position and name, Fowglish, signifying,
under the light. So the legend relates.
70 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
of men pursuing a wolf with, a blood-hound. The
wolf has a head in its mouth; and tradition reports
this to be the head of a youth, whom the ferocious
animal had decapitated. In the same group, six men,
grotesquely arrayed, are following an animal, which
is supposed to be conducted to sacrifice. On the oppo¬
site side, the figures are nearly obliterated ; but there
are gyves attached to it, in which culprits had an¬
ciently been secured. These instruments of punish¬
ment had probably been connected with the court of
the steward of Strathearn, which was held at Fowlis,
prior to the office being vested in the head of the
family of Drummond.
The parochial church, a mean structure, stands in
the hamlet. A projection on the north is the burial
vault of the family of Abereairney. The Saxon
arched entrance to the churchyard is of great anti¬
quity ; an inscription over the keystone, with the date
of 1611, being comparatively modern. An old dwarf
ash tree grows over the archway, the roots deriving a
scanty nourishment amidst the crumbling masonry.
A legend in connection with this tree relates, that long
prior to its existence, Thomas the Rhymer had pre¬
dicted, that when a tree should grow on the kirk gate
of Fowlis, large enough to bear a swallow's nest, the
church should be surrounded by troops ; and that when
the tree should be able to bear a crow's nest, the
church should be encompassed by cannon. The former
part of the prophecy, about the time specified, was
singularly fulfilled ; the parishioners of Fowlis, during
the late war, had refused to enrol in the militia, and
seized the parochial registers, that the names of those
FOWLIS-WESTEÜ.
71
eligible to be drawn might be concealed. Certain
persons in whom they reposed confidence carried the
records to church on the Sabbaths, lest they should be
seized in their houses ; an arrangement which, being
understood by Sir Patrick Murray of Oehtertyre, in¬
duced him to surround the church with troops while
the people were assembled for worship. A part of
the seer of Erceldoune's supposed prediction was ful¬
filled ; but the registers were not obtained ; they were
carried otf by some young women under their dresses,
while those of the male portion of the population, who
dreaded being forthwith compelled to serve as militia¬
men, remained during night upon the hills. It is how¬
ever to be recollected, that Thomas of Erceldoune
could never have heard of cannon.*
A short distance west of the village are two upright
stones, ten feet in height, and near them a large flat
stone, now broken into two portions, the whole evi¬
dently indicating the scene of Druidical rites. In the
flat stone are the remains of two fissures, or grooves,
one running lengthways, and the other across ; they
had evidently been used for the blood and oil which
flowed in the sacrifices. On the summit of the rising
* Barbour, so far as I have ascertained, is the earliest Scot¬
tish writer who makes any allusion to artillery. In Dr. Jamie-
son's edition of the Bruce, pp. 340, 392, we find the venerable
poet mentioning guns and " cracks of war"—
Bot gynns for crakys had he nane;
For in Scotland yeit than, but wene,
The wss of thairn had nocht bene sene.
The tothyr, crakys war of wer,
That thai befor herd neuir er.
r
72 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
ground, about one half mile to the northward, are two
Druidical circles, one of them a double concentric
circle. Between the circles is a large flat stone, where
the arch-druid may have stood in addressing his
subordinates. About ten feet north of the greater
circle there is a large erect stone, which is supposed
to be of monumental origin ; and from a mound near
it urns have been exhumed.
"We may now resume the turnpike at the village of
New Fowlis, and proceed eastward. In the course of
one mile, a grassy knoll, west of the small cottages of
Castleton, and about 200 yards north of the road,
indicates the site of an old castle of the Earls of
Strathearn. The history of these earls, which may
be in some degree associated with this ruin, has been
somewhat confusedly recorded by genealogists, yet
with sufficient plainness to indicate phases of alter¬
nate glory and misfortune ; glory attendant on deeds
of martial prowess and extraordinary bravery; mis¬
fortune, the consequence of injudicious counsels or ill-
directed ambition. Malise, Thane of Strathearn, for¬
merly the representative of the house, was raised to the
dignity of an Earl by Malcolm Canmore in 1068. His
descendants occupied eminent positions in the councils
of the kingdom, and were often distinguished in
battle.* On the death of Maurice, Earl of Strath¬
earn, at the battle of Durham, the title for the second
* According to Sir John Scot, the ancient earldom of Strath¬
earn included the whole territory between Cross Macduff at New-
burgh and the south end of Balquhidder, bounded on the nortli
and south by the Grampian and the Ochil Hills; but this ac¬
count is known to be exaggerated.
EARLS OF STRATHEARK.
73
time reverted to the Crown : it was then conferred by
David II. on his nephew, Robert Stewart, who after¬
wards succeeded him with the title of Robert II.
On his accession to the throne, this monarch granted
the earldom to his son David, the eldest by his se¬
cond marriage with Euphemia, daughter of the Earl of
Ross. The deprivation of the great-grandson of this
person of his estates and honours by James I., on his
return from his captivity in England, tended to raise
the conspiracy against that monarch's life, which was
accomplished by his assassination ; an event which was
followed by the complete confiscation of the earldom.
The title was subsequently bestowed on the Earl of
Menteith, but was recalled by Charles I. ; and changed
to a dukedom, it has since been retained in the royal
family. It was one of the titles of the sire of Queen
Victoria. On account of its being a supposed haunt
of a pestilence ravaging the locality, the castle was
destroyed by cannon some time during the course of
the seventeenth century.
At the toll-bar of Gorthy, one mile onward from
Castleton, the road which we now follow diverges to the
right, proceeding by the margin of a ravine, which
forms the channel of some mountain streams in their
course towards the Earn. In somewhat less than two
miles from the toll-bar, we have, close by the turnpike,
and in a position gently elevated, the ruin of the old
atb&fS of Sntijaffraj.
This ecclesiastical fabric, of which only the northern
gable and a single arched apartment remain entire, is
74 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPEU STBATHEAKN.
worthy of particular notice. In 1200 it was founded
and endowed as a religious house by Gilbert, Earl
of Strathearn, and his Countess, Matilda, and was
dedicated to the honour of God, the Virgin Mary,
and Saint John the Evangelist. It was planted with
canons-regular of the Augustine order ; and among the
original endowments were the churches of Abruthven,
Madderty, Strageth, Auchterarder, and Kinkell. Libe¬
ral endowments were added by the subsequent earls,
and likewise by some of the Scottish kings. The
Abbot Maurice attended King Robert at Bannockburn,
and engaged the Scottish army in devotion before the
commencement of the battle. He carried with him
the arm of St. Filian ; a circumstance which was sup¬
posed to have brought that saint to the aid of the Scots.
About the period of the Reformation, James Drum-
mond of Innerpeffray, second son of David, second
Lord Drummond, was Commendator of the abbey.
In 1609, this individual was created Lord Madderty,
and in his favour the abbey was converted into a
temporal lordship. The abbey is now the property of
the Earl of Kinnoull, who likewise retains the right of
presentation to twelve benefices, which was originally
vested in the members of the institution.
The Register of the abbey was formerly in the
custody of the Morays of Abercairney, but is now in
the library of the Earl of Kinnoull at Dupplin Castle.
It is an octavo volume, of fifty-one leaves of vellum,
and is in the handwriting of the fifteenth century.
From a transcript in the possession of Mr. Henry
Drummond of London, the Register was printed in
1847 by the Bannatyne Club, together with several
ABBEY OF INCHAFFEAY.
75
appendices of original documents connected with the
annals of the establishment.
The abbey had originally stood on a sort of islet
in the centre of a dreary marsh ; and from its insu¬
lar situation, it obtained its Latin name of Insula
Missarum, the island of the masses. So far back as
the year 1218, the canons had made considerable pro¬
gress in reclaiming the morass ; but it was not till the
year 1696, when an act of Parliament was obtained for
deepening and widening the Pow, a stream which
flows past the abbey grounds, that the surrounding
plain was effectually drained.
Pursuing our course onward by the road, we dis¬
tinguish in the plain, about two miles eastward,
Balgowan, the seat of William Thomson, Esq., and
formerly the family inheritance of General Graham,
Lord Lynedoch, the hero of Barossa. Passing the
manse of Madderty, snugly placed in a romantic hollow
on the right, and the plantations on the grounds of
Woodend, the property of Alexander Anderson Henry,
Esq., we may terminate our excursion by visiting the
beautiful hamlet of St. David's, situate at the Craigs
of Madderty, and recently built by the late Lady
Baird Preston and Miss Preston, to the latter of whom
the property belongs.
the beauties of upper strathearn.
®«tarsiffít ¿fifífr.
a goodly scene.
Enclosures green, that promise to the swain
The future harvest; many colour'd meads;
Irriguous vales, where cattle low; and sheep
That whiten.half the hills; sweet rural farms
Oft interspersed, the seats of past'ral love
And innocence; with many a spiry dome
Sacred to heaven, around whose hallow'd walls
Our fathers slumber in the narrow house.
Gay, beauteous villas, bosom'd in the woods,
Like constellations in the starry sky,
Complete the scene.
Bruce.
Library, Chapel, and Castle of Innerpeffray — Colquhalzie —
Millearn — Auchterarder House — Abruthven Tillage and
Chapel — Burial Place of Dukes of Montrose—Auchterarder
Tillage—Malcolm Canmore's Castle— St. Mungo's Chapel—
Kincardine Castle and Glen — Pass of Gleneagles — Family
of Haldane — Chapel and Castle of Tullibardine — Castle of
Stratliallan.
The upper portion of Stratliearn, in its west, north,
and eastern districts, from the town of Crieff, has
already been explored ; our remaining routes shall
therefore be towards the inspection of the southern
district. We now follow the road leading south of
Crieff, by the parochial manse, which is situate on the
right, a mile from the town. In one mile farther we
cross the stream of Pow, and then follow the road
leading past the woods of Dollerie. Proceeding
INNERPEFFRAY.
77
onward, about three miles from Crieff, we discover an
old farm-road diverging to the right, opposite to
Parbrook Cottage, at the plantation of Innerpeffray.
By this road we may reach the old library, the chapel,
and castle of Innerpeffray, on the banks of the Earn.
The library of Innerpeffray, which contains about
2500 volumes, chiefly consisting of historical works of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, some theolo¬
gical writings, the more esteemed classics, and the
statutes of the realm, was, in the year 1691, bequeathed
by David, Lord Madderty, for the use of " young
students," and the general advantage of the reading
public in the vicinity. He also bequeathed funds for
the construction of a library room, and of a school¬
room, and for the endowment of a schoolmaster, and
remuneration of a librarian. The entire sum granted
for these purposes was 5000 merks; and under the
judicious management of certain trustees designed in
the settlement, the amount at first amply sufficed to
promote the intentions of the testator. Till the year
1779, books were regularly added to the library. A
qualified librarian took charge of them, and an efficient
teacher gave instructions in the school-room. The
management of the trust has for a period been unsatis¬
factory. A new school and school-house are erected
close by the library structure ; they were raised some
years since, but are still unoccupied. In the library
room is retained Lady Madderty's Bible, having the
date of 1637. In the chapel adjoining are the old
family vaults of the noble Houses of Perth and
Strathallan. The late Baroness Perth was interred in
it, and in the interior a monument has been erected to
78 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
her memory. A burial-ground around the chapel is
still used as a place of interment. The old mansion
or castle of Innerpeffray is situated about 400 yards
south-east of the chapel and library; the walls are
entire, and likewise the staircase and some of the
apartments. The situation is singularly beautiful.
The Earn, of which the banks are here wooded, flows
close by ; and westward rises the dark summit of
Turleum, with the beautiful park of Drummond Castle.
Resuming the road at Parbrook Cottage, and pro¬
ceeding southward, we discover on the right, beyond
the luxuriantly-wooded banks of the Earn, the mansion
and grounds of Colquhalzie, the seat of the ingenious
J. Stewart Hepburn, Esq. Turning south-eastward,
we reach Millearn, the handsome Tudor residence of
Miss Home Drummond, situate, with its beautiful
park, on the north bank of the Earn. We cross the
river by the four-arched bridge of Kinkell, and in a
little way onward, the stream of Machony, which here
discharges its waters into the Earn. The road now
separates into two branches ; that on the right con¬
ducting direct to Auchterarder, and the other leading to
the chapel and village of Abruthven. We may at
present adopt the latter way ; it leads past the plain
dissenting chapel of Kinkell, and discovers on the right
the Elizabethan mansion of Auchterarder House, the
residence of Captain Hunter; while immediately in
front appears the imposing range of the Ochils, with
the towering summit of Craig Rossie, raising its proud
head 2359 feet above the ocean's level. Three miles
from Kinkell Bridge, we attain the little hamlet of
Abruthven or Smithyhaugh. This clean, pleasant-
AUCHTEEABDER.
79
looking village is chiefly interesting from the old
chapel of Abruthven, which is situate close to the
water of Ruthven, at the west end of the place. The
parish of Abruthven having been united with the ad¬
joining parish of Auchterarder, the chapel has long
been disused as a place of worship ; but neatly enclosed
by a wall, and in substantial repair, it has been con¬
verted into the burial-vault of the Graemes of Inch-
braikie, and of some of the other heighbouring pro¬
prietors. Adjoining the chapel is the mausoleum of
the Dukes of Montrose, a piece of handsome and appro¬
priate architecture. The key is kept by a person in the
immediate neighbourhood, who opens the mausoleum
for the inspection of strangers; and within may be
seen, elevated on supports, five crimson-covered cofifins,
adorned with coronets, badges of orders, escutcheons,
and title-plates. The latest coffin contains the mortal
remains of the last Duke of Montrose, who died in
1836.
About two miles and a half westward, passing Dam-
side, the residence of James Duncan, Esq., we reach
&ttt!)te rarörr,
a village which derives its name from its position on
the summit of rising ground. The place consists of a
single street, which is one mile in length. It was a
borough of barony early in the fourteenth century : in
1715 it was ruthlessly committed to the flames by
order of the rebel general. In recent times, the parish
has obtained a notoriety from being the scene of the
disputed settlement which unhappily terminated in the
80 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATH EARN.
Disruption of the Scottish Church. The trade of the
place chiefly consists in the manufacture of tartan.
The remains of an ancient stronghold, reported to
have been used as a hunting-seat by King Malcolm
Canmore, is situate near the agricultural mansion of
Auchterarder Castle, a short distance north of the vil¬
lage. The walls of the structure had been of the enor¬
mous thickness of seven feet. On the remaining portions
of the masonry is the bas-relief representation of the
hinder quarters of the lion rampant, the upper portion
being destroyed. A plantation of copse in the vicinity
bears the name of the King's Wood. An old chapel,
which had been dedicated to St. Mungo, remains in
ruins, about half a mile north-east of the castle, by the
side of the turnpike, conducting northward to the
bridge of Kinkell. It was the parish church of
Auchterarder prior to the Reformation.
About a quarter of a mile on the south of Auchter¬
arder, on a road conducting to the railway station, is
the entrance to the modern avenue of Kincardine
Castle, the property of James Johnston, Esq. The
avenue conducts along the romantic and copse-clad
banks of Kincardine Glen, which, forming a bed
for the stream of the Ruchill, extends for three miles
along the northern base of the Oehils. Proceeding
along the avenue, we have on the left an interesting
object in the lofty viaduct of the Scottish Central
Railway, which spans the ravine. The modern castle,
a neat structure, is next reached ; but the most
interesting object is a relique of the castle of Kin¬
cardine, the seat of the illustrious House of Mon¬
trose, whose possessions formerly included a large
KINCARDINE CA8TLK.
81
portion of the surrounding district. This fragment is
situate considerably onward from the new mansion,
on a promontory overlooking the deepest and most
picturesque portion of the ravine, not dissimilar in
character to the far-famed scenery of Hawthornden.
The building, when entire, had formed a spacious
quadrangle, and had been fortified with remarkable
strength. The remains of a deep moat, which had
surrounded it on those sides unprotected by the ravine,
are still visible ; but with the exception of two small
fragments, the walls have been removed, chiefly to suit
agricultural purposes. The gallant Marquis of Mon¬
trose is understood to have inhabited this fortress. It
was afterwards assaulted and consigned to the flames
by the Campbells under the Duke of Argyle. A well,
filled with rubbish, is pointed out in the centre of the
square ; and it is associated with the tradition, that here
the silver plate of the family was deposited on a sudden
assault on the fabric by Maccallum More. An old yew
tree, fifteen feet in diameter, flourishes beside a farm¬
house in the close vicinity of the castle : it is said to be
a thousand years old, and some of the Scottish kings are
believed to have held courts and granted charters under
its outspreading boughs. We may now proceed by a
road on the other side of the glen, or through the town
of Auchterarder, by the turnpike, about four miles
south-westward, to the inspection of the Ochil pass of
ffiltneaglrs,
a place claiming interest from the romantic beauty of
its scenery, and as being associated with ancient and
82 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
memorable transactions. This singularly romantic
gorge, traversing the range of the Ochil Hills at the
wildest and most stern portion of its course, is about
eight miles in length, from its entrance into Strath-
earn to the Yetts of Muckhart on the south-east ; and
in the varied forms of its boundaries and diversified
nature of the copse and plantation which adorn it on
either side, it has been described in terms of glowing
admiration by more than one traveller. It was through
this pass that the troops of Agrícola were ushered into
Strathearn prior to their encampment at Ardoch, and
to their engagement with the Caledonians at the bat¬
tle of Möns Grampius. At the opening of the pass,
we discover the remains of a temporary Roman camp.
Near the opening, on the banks of the Den of Duchly,
is situate the old residence of the Haldanes of Glen-
eagles ; a long plain building, of which the first por¬
tion had been erected, as an inscription bears, in 1624.
In an apartment of the interior, some old family-
portraits are preserved, among which is that of
Governor Haldane of Jamaica, who is said to have
been one of the most powerful men of his time.
The remains of an older mansion or castle are situ¬
ate on a height north of this fabric ; and a small
chapel, surrounded by a cemetery, stands in the
immediate vicinity. The latter structure is curious
for two massive Corinthian columns, surmounted by
floral vases anomalously placed in juxtaposition to
the western front. A noble avenue of limes ex¬
tends between the chapel and the mansion. The
Earl of Camperdown is the present proprietor of
Gleneagles.
CASTLE OF TULLIBAP.D1NE. 83
Pursuing our course northward from the pass, we
have on the left, near the junction of the road with
that leading eastward to Auchterarder, the remains of
another camp, which had been used by Agricola in his
progress towards Ardoch. This encampment had
commanded a complete view of Upper Strathearn.
In two miles we reach the chapel of Tullibardine, an
old structure, by the side of the turnpike, reared in
the form of a cross. It was built in the fifteenth cen¬
tury by one of the Earls of Tullibardine ; but a tra¬
dition reports, that each of its four sides was erected
by four daughters of the Earl ; while a fifth, who un¬
dertook to erect a tower, died before its completion.
In the choir the Dukes of Athole were formerly in¬
terred. It is now the cemetery of the Lords Strath-
allan ; and the remains of the late Viscount and his
lady were deposited in the structure. The castle of
Tullibardine stood about 400 yards north-east of the
chapel, but was wholly removed by the tenant of the
lands about the close of the century. The materials
were converted into fences. This old keep is de¬
scribed as having been a magnificent structure, and as
being in tolerable repair at the period of its demoli¬
tion. In 1715, being garrisoned for the Earl of Mar,
it was captured by the Duke of Argyll. Previous to
1745, it was the residence of Lord George Murray,
who was afterwards attainted for his share in the
rebellion. Several thorn trees near the site of the
castle are believed to denote, in their distribution,
the dimensions of a huge ship, built by James IV.,
which is described in Lindsay's history as being the
largest vessel ever seen, and as having exhausted in
o
84 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
its construction all the timber of Fife, except that in
the plantations of Falkland ! She had, adds the his¬
torian, 300 seamen, and could afford accommodation
for 1000 passengers.
Castle Strathallan, a substantial structure, the resi¬
dence of Lord Viscount Strathallan, is situate in a
park of flourishing plantation a short distance to the
north-east of the chapel of Tullibardine ; and in the
■ricinity of the grounds, a road will be pointed out to
the tourist by which he may return to Crieff, through
the ford of Dalpatrick.
85
«Sjrtnrsioti
" Here waving groves a chequead scene display.
And part admit, and part exclude the day;
v * * * #
There interspersed iu lawns and opening glades.
There trees arise that shun each other's shades;
Here in full light the russet plains extend;
There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend!"
Pope.
Bridge of Crieff—Broich — Drummond Castle—Account of
the Noble Family of Drummond and Earls of Perth—Muthill
— Roman Camp and Chapel of Strageath—Culdees Castle
— Orchill House — Empress of Morocco — Roman Camp of
Ardoch — Battle of Mont Grampius — Braco Village —
Grinnan Hill of Keir — Ardoch House — Greenloaning.
A bridge of four arches spans the Earn at the south¬
west of the town of Crieff. It was the second stone-
erection thrown across the river, and was reared in
1690 out of the proceeds of the vacant stipend, be¬
tween the deprivation of the Episcopal incumbent and
the induction of his Presbyterian successor. The-
southernmost arch is higher, and considerably differs
from the others. It was built subsequent to the year
1715, when the original arch was destroyed by the
Highlanders, to prevent pursuit by the royal troops.
Crossing the bridge, we enter upon an avenue formed
by a line of majestic trees, at each side of the turnpike,
which continues during the three miles of road onward
to the village of Muthill. On the left we immediately
discover the mansion of Broich, the seat of Alexander
Monteith, Esq. In a field on the right, a circular ram-
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STB A THE A UN.
part, twelve yards in diameter, denotes the site of the
primitive court held by the Steward of Strathearn ;
and on the left is seen an erect stone, believed to be
Druidical, near which have been discovered the re¬
mains of a Roman iter. In two miles we reach, on
the right, the entrance gate to the princely demesne of
ffirutttmoniJ ©astle,*
a splendid piece of elaborately decorated workman¬
ship, brought from Italy, and supposed to be three
centuries old. The grounds being open to the public
every lawful day, we now enter the interesting ave¬
nue, which on each side bordered by stately rows of
beech, lime, and horse-chesnut (the branches of which
are interlaced in the embrace of more than a hundred
years), pursues its straight course, gradually ascending
for nearly two miles, till it terminates in the rock on
which the castle is reared. On the Castle rock are two
structures, belonging to entirely different eras. The
ancient Castle or keep was built in 1491 by John, first
Lord Drummond, on removing from his former seat
at Stobhall. His robes, as Lord Justice-General of
Scotland, with those of the Lord Chancellor Perth, are
still carefully preserved by the family. During the
campaign of Cromwell it was nearly demolished, but
suffered a more entire dilapidation at the Revolution
in 1689. The remains were strengthened and gar¬
risoned in 1715 by the royal troops ; but lest it should
* The name Drummond is derived from two Gaelic words,
drum, a height, and und, wavy, or undy in heraldry ; the latter
term alluding to the founder of the House, having conducted
Queen Margaret Atheling over the sea to Scotland.
DBUMMOND CASTLE.
87
again fall into their hands, and be employed in
opposition to the claims of the House of Stuart, which
this noble family ever warmly espoused, Jane Gordon,
Duchess of Perth, caused the greater part of the walls
to be levelled to the foundation during the insurrec¬
tion of 1745. The modern building is of plain con¬
struction, and is only adapted as the occasional abode
of the present noble proprietors, Lord and Lady
Willoughby de Eresby, who chiefly reside on their
extensive and valuable estates in England., A part
of the old structure* is fitted up as an armoury,
and is amply stored with swords, targets, battle-axes,
and all sorts of military appendages. A two-edged
sword, of ponderous dimensions, belonged to the
Laird of Lundie, the valiant friend of Sir William
Wallace. The modern building, in the interior, is
tastefully decorated, the lobby curiously ornamented
by a large number of stags' heads surrounding the
walls, and the public apartments are in every respect
appropriately embellished. Among numerous family-
paintings by first-rate artists, are excellent portraits
of James Y., James VI., Charles I. with his queen and
children, Charles II., two of Mary Queen of Scots, one
in' her prosperous and the other in her adverse days,
and two of Prince Charles Edward. A curious cabinet
of singular workmanship, having its front composed of
innumerable pieces of differently-formed tortoise shells,
* From plans furnished by Mr. George Kennedy, architect,
Glasgow, the structure is at present undergoing a suitable
restoration, and a square tower or baronial keep, in strict
harmony with the general contour of the building, is being
added to the older portion óf the fabric.
a 2
88 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
joined together with the utmost neatness, and present¬
ing one entire glittering aspect of the most dazzling
beauty, is one of the many interesting articles of furni¬
ture which may be seen by the visitor.
The entrance to the Castle quickly turns to the left
from the approach ; it then passes through an archway
into an exterior court, and thence by another porch,
under the ancient fabric, into the interior court, of
which the eastern side is occupied by the modern
structure. The far-famed flower-garden is imme¬
diately under the southern part of the castle-rock, and
is approached from the esplanade by flights of steps
communicating with three architectural terraces, beau¬
tifully formed out of the steep bank, and adorned with
the most delightful shelves of shrubbery. Viewed
from the esplanade, the fairy scene beneath has been
well compared to a piece of the richest natural em¬
broidery ; the garden, which is of an oblong form,
and includes about ten acres, being here seen at one
view, with all its statues, vases, verdant and gravel
walks, beautiful parterres and enchanting shrubberies.
And what adds to the gratifying feeling, is the satis¬
faction, that no boisterous breeze can injure or affect
this lovely Eden, sheltered as it is on every side either
by the castle rock or lofty trees. With the most
exquisite taste, it is made to combine in highly-har¬
monious unison the first-rate qualities of three great
styles of European landscape decoration ; the pic¬
turesque grouping of the Italian, the Dutch method
divested of its fantastic distortions, and the gaudy
elegance of the French. So successful indeed have
been the efforts of the noble proprietors to make it
DRUMMOND CASTLE.
89
the beau ideal of horticultural beauty, that competent
judges have pronounced it, according to its scale, the
first garden in Britain, and not surpassed, when the
highly interesting nature of its situation is considered,
by any garden in Europe. Two broad walks of ver¬
dant sward run diagonally across the garden from the
north-west to the south-east angle, and from the north¬
east to the south-west angle, intersecting one another
in the centre, and thus throwing the general plan into
a St. Andrew's cross. A walk encompasses the four
sides, and three others run directly across the breadth,
one passing through the centre. The whole is then
divided into parterres laid out in every conceivable
form of beauty, and containing every floral treasure
known in our clime. A profusion of roses in their
season displays a vividness of colour, and emits a
richness of fragrance, such as are not elsewhere found.
Among numerous hybrid perpetuáis, the loveliness of
Gents de Botailles, Robin Hood, William Jesse, and
La Reine, is unsurpassed, while Bourbon, Acidalic,
Coupe d'Heli, Madame D'Esprey, the Queen, and
Vicomte de Cressy, are likewise extremely beautiful.
The pyramidal trees which run along the sides of the
grass walks, having among them fine specimens of Ilex
alba, are much admired, and the plants of Juniperus
mecica, Fagus incisa, and Fagus hybernica, also merit
examination. The walls of the terraces are decorated
with beautiful creepers, of which the more conspicu¬
ous is the new and beautiful Tropœolum speciosum,
which has here flowered for the first time in Scotland
in the open air, and grows as rapidly as pentaphylla,
while it is much superior to it, the flowers being
90 THIS BEAUTIES OF UPPEB STKATHEAKN.
larger and the colours brighter. Antique statues and
vases, all of which, at great expense, were sent from
Italy by the present noble proprietors, are tastefully
.erected in every part of the garden, and serve to pro¬
duce the most imposing effect. In the centre, a sun¬
dial, about 15 feet in height, and containing about fifty
faces, indicating the hour in every direction, is an
interesting object. It was erected by John, the second
Earl of Perth, who originally laid out the garden, and
whose death took place in 1662. His arms and the
arms of his Countess, with a Latin eulogy in honour of
his memory, though much defaced, are still traceable
on the dial. In the hot-houses, oranges and lemons
attain a perfection which is not reached, we believe, in
any other garden in North Britain. There are likewise
Plums of various hue,
Peaches, the elixir of the solar beams,
The fruit that melts in nectar.
On several trees of the Citrus decumana the fruit
grows particularly large. There are several specimens
of the Agave Americana, or Great American Aloe,
•which has derived a peculiar distinction from being sup¬
posed to flower only once when one hundred years old,
and then to die. One of the plants flourished here in
the summer of 1832, at the height of 23 feet ; another
of much greater size in 1851, its height being nearly
30 feet. A brook bounds the garden on the south, and
beyond it is a spacious vista. It is proper to add to
the imperfect description of this miniature paradise,
that the intelligent gardener is most attentive to
visitors, and most anxious to afford information re¬
garding every portion of this enchanting scene.
DHÜMMOND CASTLE.
91
The grounds forming the park around the Castle
were planted by James, fourth Earl of Perth, in the
antique style of landscape gardening, so as to form a
dial, the Castle being the central point ; but modern
plantations and other reforms have fortunately depriv¬
ed the grounds of the stiff and formal aspect which
they would thus have assumed. Viewed from the
Castle rock, they are all that could be desired in point
of picturesque beauty and romantic grandeur. Em¬
bracing 1000 acres, and extending about two miles in
every direction, they present a variety of the noblest
landscape and most interesting scenery.* On the
north, the thickly, wooded banks slope steeply down
to a magnificent artificial lake, a mile in length ; the
swans sporting on its glassy surface, and its edges
fringed by exuberant foliage. Westward is the
pine-covered mountain of Turleum, possessed by the
forest deer, with the sloping country between ; south
is the flower-garden ; and eastward, on the south
side of the avenue, is the fine deer-park, contain¬
ing immense herds of red and fallow deer, which,
in haughty composure, gaze on the passing travel¬
ler ; all strikingly suggestive of the poet's lines,
How many charms, by nature and by art,
Do here combine to captivate the heart !
* " None of our thousand travellers and writers have done
justice to Drummond Castle .... If it is not all that it might be
rendered, it is still absolutely unrivalled in the low country, and
only exceeded in the Highlands by Dunkeld and Blair." {The
Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, by John Maccul-
loch, M.D., vol. i. p. 139. Lond. 1824, 4 vols. 8vo.)
92
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
The noble family of Drummond is one of the most
ancient and distinguished in the kingdom. It was
founded by Maurice, a grandson of the King of
Hungary, who was an attendant of Edgar Atheling
of England, and his sisters Margaret and Chris¬
tian, when in 1068 they sought refuge in Scot-1
land from William the Conqueror. On the mar¬
riage of Margaret to Malcolm Canmore, Maurice
was rewarded for his disinterested and zealous aXn
tachment to the deprived royal family of England,
by obtaining a grant to him and his heirs for ever
of a large extent of land, and having bestowed on
on him the name of Drummond as a peculiar mark of
royal favour. The family of Maurice having obtained
a " local habitation and a name," rapidly rose in im¬
portance and rank. Annabella Drummond, the eldest
daughter of the representative of the house, was the
Queen of Robert III. ; and it is interesting to observe,
that a large basin, ewer, and salt-dish, composed of
silver gilt, presented to her family by this princess,
are still in the possession of the noble house. In 1487,
the family was raised to the peerage by James IIL,
in the person of John Drummond, Justice-General of
Scotland ; and the eldest daughter of this nobleman
became the espoused wife of James IV. This chivalric
monarch had formed an attachment for fair Margaret
Drummond, while she acted as one of the maidens of
his royal mother ; and on the demise of his father,
and his own elevation to the throne, he privately
espoused her, ere the nuptials should be publicly cele¬
brated, on obtaining a dispensation from the Pope, on
account of their relationship being within the degrees
NOBLE FAMILY OF DRUMMOND.
93
prohibited by the Church. The public marriage did
not take place ; the union was opposed to the senti¬
ments of the powerful members of the nobility, who
desired the monarch to sue for the hand of an English
princess, in order to strengthen an alliance between
the kingdoms ; and completely to thwart the royal
intentions, Margaret Drummond, and her two sisters,
Euphemia and Sybella, were cut off by poison, which
was basely administered to them in their morning
meal. The sisters were interred in the choir of
Dunblane * Cathedral, and the sovereign afterwards
wedded Margaret Tudor, the daughter of Henry "VIL
In 1605, James, fourth Lord Drummond, was created
by James VI. Earl of Perth. The last Earl of Perth,
created a Duke by the titular James VIII., actively
joined in the Rebellion of 1745. He was present at
the battle of Culloden, and contriving to effect his
escape from the field, gained the west coast of Scot¬
land, but died on board a French vessel, in the course
of effecting his retreat to France. The estates of Perth,
which had been confiscated at this period, were restored
by Act of Parliament, in 1784, to James Drummond,
Esq., on his proving himself to be the nearest heir-male
and representative of the family. In 1797 he was
created a British peer, by the title of Baron Perth. He
was succeeded in the possession of the estates by his
daughter and only child, the Honourable Clementina
S. Drummond, now Lady Willoughby de Eresby. The
title, which had been attainted, was in 1853, by the
* See " Week at Bridge 6f Allan." Edinburgh, 1853, 32mo,
p. 22C.
94 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATHEARN.
special permission of the Queen, restored and con¬
firmed to George Drummond, Duke de Melfort, in
the ancient peerage of France, who proved himself,
before a Committee of Privileges of the House of
Lords, lineal descendant of John, second son of
James, fourth Earl of Perth. Drummond Castle
derives a distinction from the number of royal per¬
sonages who have honoured it by their presence.
James IV. here sojourned with his first spouse, Mar¬
garet Drummond ; Queen Mary was a frequent resi¬
dent, proceeding from it to enjoy the sport of hunting
in the neighbouring forest of Glenartney; and at a
recent period, many royal personages have been re¬
corded as its visitors. Among these may be mentioned
our gracious sovereign, Queen Victoria, and Prince
Albert, who spent several days in the Castle in Sep¬
tember 1842, Charles X. of France, the Duc de Berri,
the Duc de Monpensiér, brother of Louis Philippe,
king of the French, the Grand Duke Michael of
Russia, and Prince George of Cambridge. The dress¬
ing-room of his Royal Highness Prince Albert, dur¬
ing the royal visit, was the apartment in which
Prince Charles Edward slept when an inmate of the
Castle.
In one mile southward from the gate to the princely
demesne of Drummond Castle, we reach the clean and
comfortable village of
íttutttll.
The new parish church, erected in 1828 at the expense
of nearly £7000, from a plan furnished by Mr. Gil¬
lespie Graham, is a stately Gothic structure ; the win-
MUTHILL—STKAGF.ATH.
95
dows are tastefully provided with stone muUions, and the
whole, externally and internally, is adorned and fitted
up in a style of the first architectural elegance. The
tower and some of the walls of the old church,* reared
four centuries since hy Bishop Ochiltree of Dunblane,
once incumbent of the parish, still remain. In con¬
nection with this church, it is recorded that Mr.
William Hally, who was ordained Presbyterian pastor
of Muthill in 1704, was denied access to the pulpit by
the Episcopal incumbent, who, in spite of civil and
ecclesiastical authority, continued to officiate in the
building. Instead of contending at law, Hally
preached in a tent which he placed near the walls
of the church, where the power of his eloquence
attracting the flock of the Episcopal intruder, they
gave such decided preference to his ministrations, as
to lead his antagonist quietly to surrender possession
of the keys.f
Two miles east of Muthill, near the banks of the
Earn, are the site of the Roman camp of Strageath,
and the ruins of the old chapel of the same name,
surrounded by a cemetery. Driving northward from
Muthill by the turnpike, we have gradually opened
up to us on the left the wide expanse of the vale of
* A beautiful engraving of the old church will be found in
an elegant work, Perthshire Illustrated. London, 1844, 4to.
t Of the parish of Muthill, an eminent native was the Kev.
John Barclay, founder of the religious sect of the Bereans. He
was born in 1734, and died in July 1798. His fervid Christian
oratory established his reputation as one of the most popular
preachers of his time ; and his numerous religious publications
continue to be held in estimation.
H
96 THE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRÁTHEARN.
Strathearn, and in one mile pass Culdees Castle, with
its beautiful park of 400 acres, the residence of Mrs.
Spier. The road is now skirted by beautiful trees on
either side ; by the Bishop's Bridge it crosses the
stream of Machony, famed for its excellent trouting,
and in two miles divides itself into two branches. The
road, conducting towards the left, leads through the
pass of Gleneagles ; but our course is by that conduct¬
ing directly onward. Three miles and a half from
Muthill, we have on the left Orchill House, the rest-
dence of Mr. Gillespie Graham, the distinguished
architect. Immediately opposite the lodge of Orchill
stood a Roman redoubt, called Camp's Castle (Castel-
lum), which communicated with the camps of Ardoch,
and commanded Strathearn. Diverging from the
turnpike by a road which presents itself a mile on¬
ward, and proceeding north a short distance, in the
low bottom between two hills, we discover a few
houses, forming the hamlet of Mill of Steps, the birth¬
place, curious to relate, of an Empress of Morocco.
Upwards of eighty years ago, a blacksmith of the
name of Gloag, resident in this hamlet, and the remains
of whose cot or smithy are still pointed out, had a
beautiful daughter, who was subjected to the harsh
treatment of an unfeeling stepmother. The damsel
thus deprived of comfort at home, in the spirit of a
heroine, resolved, with some adventurous comrades, to
try her fortune abroad. She embarked along with
them for America ; but bad luck seemed still to pursue
her ; the vessel was captured by African pirates, and
the passengers and crew were carried to Morocco and
sold as slaves. Miss Gloag chanced to be the purchase
CAMPS AT ARDOCH.
97
of the emperor, was admitted into his harem, and at
length was elevated to the high dignity of empress.
This story, though it may at first be regarded as more
romantic than veracious, is yet strictly true. The
empress, from the time of her elevation to her demise,
corresponded with her humble relatives at Mill of
Steps ; and an old farmer, who only died recently, had
frequently read her communications ; and as further
proof, about the beginning of the century, two princes
of Morocco, sons of the late emperor, applied to the
British government for military aid, to enable them to
maintain their right to their father's throne, against
the attempted usurpation of an aspiring relative, their
plea for relief being, that by the mother's side they
were of British descent. Their title to protection was
held valid, and a fleet was fitting out at Gibraltar for
their defence, when intelligence arrived that they had
both been secretly murdered through the machinations
of their ambitious kinsman. Resuming the turnpike,
which now pursues its straight course through vale
and over hill, we reach, on the right, the grounds
of Braco, and have on the left the much renowned
©antp of ärbotfj.
It may be entered by the gate on the left, leading
to the enclosures of Ardoch House. The surface is
covered with a rich green sward, and the situation is
exactly such as the Romans generally selected for
their permanent fortifications, being a gentle eminence,
which no other could overlook, and skirted by water.
A plan of the camp, somewhat restored, is represented
98
THE BEAUTIES OF Ul'PEll STBATHEAKN.
in the accompanying engraving. On two sides, the
south and west, it had been fortified by nature, on the
KOM4S STATION AT ARDOCH.
south by a morass, and on the west by the steep banks
of the water of Knaick, about 50 feet in perpendicular
height ; on the north and east sides it was guarded by
five deep ditches, and six powerful parallel ramparts.
In addition to the natural fences, two ditches run along
the south and west sides. All these intrenchments and
ramparts are in a condition of remarkable preserva¬
tion. The four entrances, crossing the lines at right
angles, are likewise distinctly visible : that on the east,
the porta principalis dextra, has been guarded with
unusual care ; the ditches and ramparts being there
so constructed as to serve the double purpose of repell¬
ing the assailants both in front and flank. The area
CAMPS AT ARD0CH.
within the intrenchments is oblong, 140 yards in
length by 125 in breadth, the four sides nearly facing
the cardinal points of the compass. The praätorium,
or quarters of the general, is entire ; a regular square,
60 feet each side, rising above the level of the camp.
It appears to have been hastily constructed, being
neither exactly in the middle between the two gates,
nor having its sides parallel with those of the station.
A stone wall, of which the foundations are still discern¬
ible, had originally enclosed it. In the centre of the
prœtorium are the remains of the foundations of an
erection, ten yards by nine, which, as the present name
.of the eminence would indicate, had at one period been
a place of religious worship. In modern times, the
praetorium was made the burial-place of vagrants and
suicides ; a circumstance worthy of notice, to prevent
the confusion which the discovery of bones at the spot
might cause to any future archaeologist, who might
mistake the bones of modern gipsies for those of the
soldiers of ancient Rome ! The camp would contain
1200 men.
Adjoining the permanent station on the north is the
procestrium, of which the greater part of the intrench¬
ments has unfortunately been long since defaced by
the plough. A gate however remains on the north
side, and the south gate, connecting it with the re¬
maining camp, is also entire. Near the west side are
two ponds, which had been constructed for the use of
the horses. The form of the procestrium, like that of
the permanent camp, had been oblong; its dimensions
are 350 by 300 yards, and it would accommodate 4000
men. It includes in its area part of the great camp,
h 2
100 TUE BEAUTIES OF UPPER STRATH EARN.
and thus must have been a subsequent work. What has
been termed the great camp, in contradistinction to a
fourth encampment known as the small, is north-west
of the procestrium. Of oblong form, though not an
entire parallelogram, the longest sides being somewhat
deflected, it is 930 yards long by 650 broad. By
modern interference, its form has been much impaired.
Entering by the south gate, the turnpike has cut off
half the epaulement which covered it ; and part of the
intrenchments at the south end of the east side has
been destroyed by the plough. The north and west
gates remain, and are each covered by a straight
traverse. The camp would accommodate 26,000 men.
The fourth or small camp is west of the great camp,
and like the others, is oblong, 635 by 445 yards ; it
could accommodate 12,000. The site is rather more
elevated than that of the others, and it lies half with¬
out and half within the great camp. There were six
gates, three of which, covered by straight traverses,
remain. The turnpike passes through the north-east
corner, and the south side and a considerable portion
of the west side have been ploughed down. From
the portion of the intrenchments of the great camp
included within the area of the small being unlevelled,
it has been supposed that the latter had only served
a temporary purpose.
When these camps were constructed, and what
events in the history of Roman conquest in Caledonia
are connected with them, form an interesting subject
of enquiry. That they had been constructed at dif¬
ferent periods, is sufficiently indicated in their varied
formations. The procestrium is constructed of part
camps at ardoch.
101
of the great camp, and the small camp has one-
half of its area on the great; hence of these three,
the great camp must have been the earliest formed.
The permanent station and the great camp are more
strongly fortified than the others, and had been used
for the longest periods; but of these two, the large
camp must be the older, since the greatest number
which the permanent station could contain would
have been insufficient to subdue the warlike Caledo¬
nians, on the first incursion of the Romans into this
region. The camps must probably have been con¬
structed in the following order, and for the following
purposes : the great camp for accommodating the sub¬
jugating army ; the permanent station for a garrison
to protect the conquered territory ; the procestrium for
« a reiuforcement of troops at some period of Caledonian
outbreak; and the smaller camp for accommodating
legions returning from the north, for which the great
camp, broken by the procestrium, had proved unsuit¬
able.
The battle of Möns Grampius, the greatest en¬
counter that ever took place between the Romans
and the Caledonians, though its site has had as many
claimants as the birthplace of Homer, has generally
been supposed to have been fought in this vicinity.
Till a.D. 83, the river Forth bounded on the north
the Roman dominions in Britain; but in the spring
of that year, the Roman general Agricola resolved
to penetrate northward. His fleet crossed at Queens-
ferry, and his troops, in three columns, marched into
the country of the Horestii along the northern shores
of the Frith. The natives, who had mustered in
102 THE BEAUTIES OF UPl'ER STRATHEARN.
powerful hordes to repel the invaders, suddenly at¬
tacked, during the night, a division of the invading
army, consisting of the ninth legion, then the weakest
of the imperial troops, as it lay encamped at Lochore,*
in the vicinity of Lochleven, and would have cut it off
unless for the timely arrival of Agricola with another
division of the army. At the camp of Lochore he re¬
mained with his army during the following winter, and
on the return of spring sent his fleet eastward by the
coast, while he marched his forces towards the Gram¬
pians, through the Ochil pass of Glendevon. Informed
by his scouts that the Caledonians, under Galgacus,
had assembled in an upland district, he conducted his
troops by Gleneagles, and pitched his camp at Ardoch.
The enemy being now posted, as is commonly believed,
on the north-west corner of Ardoch Moor, was only
six miles distant ; and the numbers in his army, stated
by Tacitus as about 20,000, not inaptly correspond
with that which the great camp was fitted to accom¬
modate. t
* In the time of Gordon, the camp of Lochore was entire
(Itin. p. 36). It formed a square, and was defended on every
side by three rows of parallel ramparts, with intervening
ditches. The Romans had probably been led to the place
by proceeding from the Forth at Queensferry towards the
hill of Benarty, which is immediately on the north. From
the summit of Benarty they might design their course north¬
westward by the Ochils. The Roman camp at Lochore is now
wholly obliterated, and a house has been erected in the centre
of the prœturium. Pieces of armour have frequently been
found in the vicinity.
f It may be remarked, that the north gate of the great camp
is defended not only by a square redoubt within the lines, but
BATTLE OF MÖNS GBAMPIUS.
103
The army of Galgacus, at the battle of Mom Oram-
pius, was 30,000 strong. They posted themselves on the
steep acclivity of the moor, their front line ranging on
the plain, and the others resting in regular gradation
on the bank. Agrícola drew up his forces in two lines,
placing his 3000 auxiliaries in front, supported by wings
of 3000 cavalry, the army of Roman citizens being in
the rear-line of reserve. A furious display which the
Caledonian charioteers and horsemen made in the space
intervening between the armies before the commence¬
ment of the battle, induced Agrícola to extend his lines,
lest an attempt should be in progress to outflank his
wings.* The Caledonians at first avoided direct con¬
tact with the enemy ; they received the missiles of the
invaders on their targets, and discharged many in re¬
turn. But a close assault by the Batavian and Tungrian
legions proved disastrous to the natives, whose long
swords and small shields were unavailing in defending
them from the short weapons of their antagonists. The
native charioteers had repulsed the Roman cavalry ;
but in advancing to check the progress of their conquer¬
ing infantry, they fell into confusion and disorder. The
Roman eavalry now renewed the contest, and assailing
the charioteers in the rear, completely discomfited them.
by a clavicle, which would indicate that an enfeebled legion,
such as the ninth, had been quartered in that portion of the
encampment.
* The remains of a fosse, two miles in length, at a place called
Keir, on the moor of Ardoch, are still or were lately traceable.
This fosse, it has been supposed, was excavated by Agrícola to
check the advance of the war chariots of the enemy on his lines,
as they were enfeebled by the elongation of his ranks.
104 THE BEAUTIES OF UFPEE STKATHEARN.
Tea thousand of the Caledonians fell in the field, many
were cut off in the flight, and the survivors betook
themselves to the shelter of the woods or to the moun¬
tain fastnesses. Of the Roman army only 340 were
slain, including Aulus Atticus, the praefect of a cohort.
The victory, according to Tacitus, gave the Roman
arms entire ascendancy in the district, so that Agrícola
was induced to close the campaign. He returned south¬
ward, leaving, as may be conjectured, a guard of 1200
in the permanent station at Ardoch, to maintain and
protect the conquests he had achieved.
, That the permanent station had long been the quar¬
ters of a Roman guard, would appear from the peculiar
strength of its fortifications, and more especially from
a singular adaptation connected with it, which remains
to be noticed. From one of the sides of the praetorium,
an opening descended in a slanting direction for many
fathoms, and is supposed to have conducted to a cistern
under the Knaick stream, in which filtrated water was
procured for the garrison, as at the Roman station of
Burghead on the Frith of Moray. Some time before
the abolition of feudal jurisdictions, a person condemned
to suffer death in the district court of regality, was pro¬
mised remission of his sentence, on the condition of his
exploring this excavation, in which it had long been
surmised that treasure was concealed.* He accepted
* The opening was believed to be the mouth of a subterra¬
nean passage between the camp and the Grinnan Hill of Keir,
which is about a quarter of a mile south-eastward ; and a rhyme
obtains to the effect, that a vast amount of wealth is buried in
the excavation between these two forts. The rhyme is published
by Gordon in his Itinerarium Septentrionale, and with a slight
CAMPS AT ARDOCH.
105
the offer, and by means of a rope attached to his per¬
son, descended into the pit. On returning, he brought
up a quantity of Roman armour ; but on a second de¬
scent, he perished by the unwholesome air. The remains
discovered were deposited in Ardoch House, but were
wantonly carried off by Argyle's soldiers in 1715, and
consequently lost. The opening is no longer visible.
In 1720, a gentleman resident in Ardoch House caused
it to be covered with a millstone, to prevent bares from
retreating into it when pursued by his dogs. The
station was surrounded with a wall by Sir William
Stirling, Bart., about a century since. The archway
which opens to it from the turnpike was erected by
the late proprietor, Major Moray Stirling, for the en¬
trance of her present Majesty, who visited it, along with
her royal consort, in September 1842.
Many interesting remains have been discovered in
all the camps, of which however very few have been
preserved. Sarcophagi and urns, the former contain¬
ing very large skeletons, have been frequently found,
and several are preserved in the mansion of Ardoch.
The monument of Ammonius Damion, having the
only Roman inscription discovered north of the Forth,
was recovered about a century and a half since, and is
now preserved in the University of Glasgow. A coin of
difference by Mr. Chambers in his Popular Rhymes. We quote
Mr. Chambers's version:
Between the camp at Ardoch, and the Grinnan Hill o' Keir,
Lie seven kings' ransoms for seven hunder year.
Mr. Chambers speaks of the matter as being " not a popular
tradition only, but a probable fact." ( Popular Rhymes of Scot¬
land, p. 49. J
106
THE BEAUTIES OF UPPEB STRATH EARN.
the Emperor Claudius, now in Ardoch House,* was dug
up a few years ago in the permanent camp. Ardoch is
understood to be the Lindum of the ancient geographers.
Crossing the Knaick by a bridge at an abrupt bend
of its course, we reach the hamlet of Ardoch or Braco,
with the Grinnan or sunny hill of Keir, a small wooded
eminence at its south-western extremity. This emi¬
nence, in which a narrow ridge of rising ground termi¬
nates abruptly, had been occupied as a place of strength.
Originally a Caledonian fort, it had probably been
seized by the Romans after the battle of Möns Gram¬
pius, and had been converted into a castellum. As
an advanced post, it would command a large portion of
the vale of Strathallan, which from intervening heights
had been wholly invisible from the camp of Ardoch.
Two sides of the castellum are sufficiently fortified
by nature, rising abruptly from the plain about 150
feet ; the other sides are protected by double lines of
intrenchments. The summit of the fortification is of
the diameter of 150 yards.
On the left of the turnpike at Braco is the beauti¬
ful demesne of Ardoch House, the property of George
Home Drummond, Esq. ; and in one mile farther, we
attain the Greenloaning station of the Scottish Central
Railway, where the visitor has an opportunity of bidding
adieu for a season to the beauties of Strathearn.
* On the obverse of this coin is the head of the emperor, with
the legend, TI. CLAVDIVS. CAES. AVG. P.M. TE. P. IMP.
P.P. ; and on the reverse is the emperor, standing arrayed in
the toga virilis, and extending his hand to the Prsetorian
guard, by whom he had been elevated to the purple, along with
the legend, AVGVSTA LIBERTAS, S. C.
INDEX.
Abercairney 67, 69, 70
Abruchill Hills 25, 26, 37
38 and 44
Abruthven 78, 79
Agrícola 82, 83,101, 104
Almond River 66-59, 62
Amulree 60, 61
Antiquarian Remains ...16,19
28, 38, 43, 48, 49, 61 and 105
Ardocb, Camps at 97-106
Ardoch House 97,106
Ardoeh Village 106
Ardvoirlich, and Family
of. 39, 43
Arnbank 67
Athole, Dukes of 48, 51, 66, 83
Auchterarder 79, 80
Auchterarder Castle 80
Baird, Sir David, 16, 27, 54, 55
Balgowan 75
Balgray, Lord 29
Barclay, Rev. John 95
Barvic, Stream of 49
Bellman at Strowan 28
Benchonzie Hill 51
Benmore Hill 38
Benvoirlich 25
Bishop's Bridge 96
Black Parliament 27
Page
Blair-an-roan 44
Braan Water 60
Braco, Grounds of 97
Broich, Mansion of. 86
Buchanty, Hamlet of 62
Burns, the Poet 23, 24, 52
Cabinet in Drummond
Castle 87
Cairn-chainachan 51
Callum's Hill 54
Campbell of Lawers 29
Campbells, The .20
Camp's Castle 96
Castleton Cottages 72
Charles Edward, Prince, 87, 94
Clathick House 29
Cluan Hill 37
Colquhalzie 78
Comrie, Village of ...26, 30-34
Concraig lln
Cope's Well 55
Corrymuchloch 60
Crappock Hill 37, 38
Craig Garioch 51
Craig Rossie 78
Crieff 12-16
Crosses, Runic 16, 28, 69
Culdees Castle 95
Ctdtoquhey 65
t
108
INDIÏX.
Page
Dalchonzie 43
Dalginross 37, 44
Dalrannock Hill 44
Dalvreck 18,46
Damside 79
Deil's Caldron 35
Dollerie, Woods of 76
Dow, the historian 16
Druidical Remains...38, 49, 55
71 and 72
Drummachargan, Heights
of 29
Drummond Castle 86, 94
Drummond-Ernoch Hills ,. .45
Drummond Gardens 88,90
Drummond, Noble Family
of. 14,16, 86-94
Drummonds of Drum¬
mond-Ernoch 20, 39
Drummonds of Strageath ...44
Duchly, Den of 82
Dundearn Hill ...26, 37, 39, 40
Dunfillan Hill 39-42
Dunira, Hill of 38
Dunira, House of 38, 39
Dunmore Hill 31, 34-38
Earn River ...12, 25, 26, 44, 85
Earthquakes at Comrie 31-44
Edinample 43
Falcons at Benchonzie 51
Fendoch, Camp of 56
Fern Tower 54, 55
Filian, Saint 40-42
Fingal 59
Fowlis Wester 69-72
Galgacus 101,104
Gallows of Crieff. 15
Geology 11, 33
Gillespie, Professor 61
Gilmerton Village 55, 65
Glen Lednoch 34, 37
Page
Glenalmond 56
Glenalmond Cottage ...62-64
Glenartney Forest 94
Glenartney, Heights of 45
Glenbolcnan 62
Gleneagles, Pass of, 55, 81,102
Glenquoich, Vale of 61
Glentarkin 39, 43
Glentulchan Hill 38
Glenturret 18, 46, 49
Glowr-owre-him Hill 56
Gorthy 73
Graemes of Inchbrakie 66
67 and 79
Grampians, the 46, 56, 57
Greenloaning 106
Grinnan Hill 104, 106
Haldanes of Gleneagles 82
Hally, Rev. William 95
Hosh, Manufactory at 46
Inchaflray, Abbey of ...73-75
Inchaflray, Abbot of ...40, 74
Inchbrakie 66, 67
Innerpeffray 77, 78
James IV., first Marriage
of 92, 94
Keir, Hill of 104, 106
Kenneth IV 22, 52
Kilmeny, Song of 38
Kincardine Castle 80, 81
Kindrochat, Bridge of 39
Kinkell 78
" Kirk of the Green" 60
Knaick Stream 98,104
Knock-Durrock 49
Knock Hill 12, 18, 46, 47
48 and 54
Larches, old, at Monzie 48
Lawers 26, 29
INDEX.
109
Lednock Stream 30, 32, 36
Loch Earn 38, 42, 43
Loch Fruchy 60
Loch Tay 63
Loch Turret 61-53
Loch Ouan 53
Loch of Monzievaird, 21
Lochearnhead 43
Lundie, Sword of Laird of...87
Macgregors, The ...30, 39, 44
Machony, River of 78, 96
Macnabs, The 42
Macniven's Craig 48
Madderty 75
Madderty, Lord 77
Malcolm Canmore 80
Mallet, the Poet 16
Mary, Queen of Scots ...87, 94
Mausoleum of Ochtertyre ...19
Melville, Lord, Monument
of 27, 36, 52
Menteith, Earl of 73
Methven, Saint 62
Mill of Steps 96
Millearn 78
Möns Grampius, Castle
of 101-104
Montrose, Noble House
of 62, 66, 67, 79, 81
Monzievaird 19, 29
Monzie Castle 47, 48
Monzie Hamlet 49
Monzie, Vale of 46, 55, 67
Morall Hills 39
Morays of Abercairney, 68, 69
Morocco, Empress of .. .96, 97
Morrison's Bequest 13
Murray, Miss, of Lintrose...23
Murray, Sir George 24
Murray, Sir W. K 19
Murrays of Ochtertyre, 19, 20
24, 50, 53 and 71
Muthill, Village of 95, 96
Page
Neish, The Clan 42
Newton Bridge 59
Ochils, The 31, 54, 78, 82
Ochtertyre 18, 25
Orchill House 96
Ossian's Grave 57-59
Ouan, The Loch, 53
Parbrook Cottage 77
Perth, Earls of ...16, 77, 86-94
Pow, Stream of 76
Roman Remains 44, 56, 66, 82
83, 95, 97-106
Ross, Bridge of 44
Rowan, St 28
Ruchill Stream 30, 80
Ruthven, Water of 79
Shaggy, the Stream of, 47, 49
Shelty, the Stream of. 49
Small Glen 56-59
Soldier's Grave 58, 59
Spout Hoich 50
Spout Rollo 36
St. David's Village 76
St. Fillan's Chair 41
St. Fillan's Games 42
St. Fillan's Hill 39-42
St. Fillan's Village 42
St. Margaret's College 13
St. Mungo's Chapel 80
Stewards of Strathearn 14,15
16, 55 and 70
Stewarts of Ardvoirlich, 39, 43
Strathallan Castle 84
Strathallan, the Lords...77, 83
Strathearn 11,12
Strathearn, Earls of 27, 68, 69
72-74
Strageath, Camp of. 95
Strowan 25, 28, 29
Strowan, Bridge of. 27
110
Taylor's Institution 13
Thomas the Rhymer 70
Thomson, Dr. Thomas 16
Tippoo Saib, Sword of 55
Tom-a-chastel 25-28
Toshach, Keep of 49, 60
Tullibardine Ca3tle 83
Tullibardine Chapel 83
Turleum, Hill of, 25, 26, 37, 91
Turret River 18, 46, 50, 51
Page
Trinity College 62-64
Victoria, Queen ...73, 94, 105
Warenne, Countess de...27, 55
Witch of Monzie 48, 67
Willoughby de Eresby,
Lord and Lady ...16,86-94
Woodend 75
Wright, Dr. William 16
FINI 9.
raiNTED BY W. H. LIZARS, EDISBOBGH.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
In One Volume. Post Octavo. Price &/—
WITH MEMOIR AND INTRODUCTION TO THE POETRY,
THE POEMS
of
SIR ROBERT AYTOUN,
SECRETARY TO THE QUEENS OF JAMES VI. AND
CHARLES I.
FEOM A MS. IN THE EDITOR'S POSSESSION, ETC., ILLUSTRATED
WITH ENGRAVINGS OF THE AUTHOR'S MONUMENT, AND A GENEALOGICAL
TREE OF THE FAMILY OF AYTOUN.
" This publication forms an important addition to our national
literature."—Scotsman.
"To the lovers of the productions of the older Scottish muse,
the discovery of the MS. collection of these Poems is an event
of no common importance. The Author is celebrated in the
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they are gathered in one volume. The Editor, Mr. Roger, has
performed his task with much care."—Edinburgh Advertiser.
In One Volume, Post Octavo, Clotb, Price 3s. Oct.
HISTORY OF ST. ANDREWS,
WITH
A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS,
EMBELLISHED WITH A PLAN OF THE CITY, AND FOURTEEN HIGHLY FINISHED
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE EUINS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
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"From its varied and interesting contents, the care and
judgment that have been bestowed in their arrangement, the
i 2
112 WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
neatness of the plates, and the convenience of its size, this
volume will be found a most agreeable and useful companion
to strangers visiting St. Andrews, and highly instructive to the
general public."— Tait's Magazine.
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and research."—Edinburgh Advertiser.
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■*mi"
In One Thick Volume, 32mo,
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A WEEK
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ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTY ENGRAVINGS, CHIEFLY ON STEEL.
Third Edition, Greatly Enlarged.
works published by the same author. 113
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biographical sketches, anecdotes, and traditions, which are not
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o' Allan' should be without this volume."—London Bouquet.
"Few districts in Scotland present more favourable claims
to the consideration of the admirers of natural scenery than
the district of which the picturesque and interesting town of
Stirling forms the centre. To the invalid also, the locality of
'Bridge of Allan' will be found peculiarly attractive. Sur¬
rounded by every variety of landscape, sheltered from extre¬
mities of atmospheric vicissitude, and associated with events of
high historic interest, it is fitted at once for the residence of the
invalid, and as a pleasing retreat for the sedentary; and to
either of those classes the guiding volume of Mr. Roger will be
114 WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
found invaluable. To well-digested antiquarian lore, be adds
the enthusiasm of a poet, and the accuracy of a historian. The
scenei-y, the battle fields, the wild natural beauties, and the
artificial embellishments of these, his favourite haunts, are all
treated of with a heartiness and an intelligence in the highest
degree interesting. To render the work complete, it is profusely
embellished with views correctly and spiritedly engraved by
Lizars, from highly artistic and truthful sketches made on the
spot by Mr. W. Banks ; and in addition to these, there are
numerous maps and plans, showing the routes to the various
places of interest treated of in the volume, and their relative
positions and distances from each other. As a whole, the book
now before us is a valuable addition to the topographical,
historical, and antiquarian literature connected with the central
district of Scotland ; and as such, we can confidently recommend
it to the public."—Derby Mercury.
" The rapid sale of a former edition of this work is the best
test of its value, and having already procured so favourable an
•introduction to the world, we have no doubt that in its re¬
modelled and enlarged form, it will long continue to be the
standing guide to this most salubrious and attractive watering
place. It appears that in the present edition the descriptions of
the neighbouring scenery have been made to include a consi¬
derably wider range of country than in the first issue — an
enlargement which, considering the extreme beauty and the
great interest of the looality for miles around, and the increased
facilities of locomotion, will be highly acceptable both to the
resident and the tourist. Legendary traditions have been
added, and no one ever tires of curious folk-lore — the geolo¬
gical and botanical features of the more interesting places have
been recorded ; and notices have been introduced of the more
remarkable persons connected with the district. These emen¬
dations are of a very valuable kind, and must go far to render
the volume complete in every respect. We need not again
refer to the chaste and classic style of the author, or the
graphic way in which the varied beauties of the highly pic¬
turesque region are described, but we feel assured that Mr.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOK. 115
Roger will be found a most agreeable and instructive com¬
panion. The volume is tastefully got up, and the engravings,
of which there are thirty, are very favourable specimens of
local art."—Caledonian Mercury.
" The volume before us is a painstaking, meritorious, instruc¬
tive, and amusing performance The man must be
dull and fastidious indeed, who, with such a guide to such a
place, finds any difficulty in spending not a ' week ' only, but
a month at Bridge of Allan."—Edinburgh Evening Courant.
"In this work there is a fullness of information regarding
Bridge of Allan and its neighbourhood that leaves nothing to
be desired. The work is pleasantly written."—Hcotsman.
" We hail the second edition of this popular work. Besides
a full account of the Spa itself, the author gives a series of six
excursions to the interesting scenery of central Scotland."—
Edinburgh Advertiser.
" The village and spa are treated in that free, familiar, half-
gossiping style which places of relaxation merit; and of the
historical, traditional, or topographical features connected with
Stirling, Falkirk, and the adjacent districts, more complete and
attractive accounts could not be presented. The illustrations
alone far exceed the cost of the work in value."—Edinburgh
Post and Record.
"This volume is carefully, ably, and correctly written, ad¬
mirably illustrated, and full of most valuable information. It
might have been more appropriately termed a hand-book to
the extensive and important central district of Scotland in
which the charming village and spa of Bridge of Allan are
situated. Taking the village as a centre, six interesting sepa¬
rate excursions are traced out, any one of which is worth a
day's travel in June. Every point of interest is detailed, and
many of the scenes themselves are beautifully delineated on
steel. Every visitor of the Bridge of Allan should assign to
Mr. Roger's clever book the most honoured place of his knap¬
sack."—Glasgow Herald.
" There is something refreshing even in the very title of this
book — something that speaks of cool fountains, and shady
116 WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOIi.
walks, and quiet evening lounges We would advise
our readers to purchase Mr. Roger's volume, which, by its well-
written descriptions, its maps and plates, anecdotes, and tradi¬
tions, is just the very thing to fill up the measurement of
enjoyment offered by a week at Bridge of Allan."—Aberdeen
Herald.
"No district in Scotland — not even the well-beloved vales
of Ettrick and Yarrow, Nith and Doon, nor our own noble
scenery in the north — has one half the claim upon a Scots¬
man's heart, that the memorable scenes of Wallace's exploits,
and of the great doings of early Scottish history, possesses.
One little circle of scarcely a dozen miles diameter comprises
nearly the whole of it ; and besides the historical interest at¬
tached to this remarkable spot, the visitor enjoys the prospect
of some of the most beautiful scenery in all Scotland. In the
midst thereof, the village of Bridge of Allan has suddenly sprung
up, and has won great favour in the land—principally, perhaps,
through the beauty and celebrity of the neighbourhood, though
nominally and immediately on account of the medical properties
of the mineral waters of Airthrey. Bridge of Allan has become
a fashionable Scottish Spa, and consequently demands a pro¬
portion of the annual issue of guide books. The present is one
— more copious, more carefully and artistically illustrated —
abounding more in well-written topographical, historical, and
poetical notes, than any that has been made of a Scottish pro¬
vincial town."—Inverness Courier.
" The first edition of this work being exhausted, the author
has prepared a second on a much extended scale. The amount
of information is nearly doubled, and the work entirely re¬
modelled. The extent of district described within easy reach
of the Bridge of Allan has been considerably enlarged, and
divided into six excursions, in which the scenery is described
in a very pleasing manner ; biographical notices of remarkable
persons connected with the district are introduced, with many
legendary traditions. The book will be found an agreeable
companion to any Scottish tourist, and quite indispensable to
the visitors to the wells of Airthrey."—Dumfries Courier.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 117
" We give a hearty welcome to a Second Edition of this very
entertaining book. Kot only is it a very complete guide to the
localities described, but it contains a great deal of valuable in¬
formation regarding the traditions and antiquities of the beau¬
tiful district round Bridge of Allan. We recommend the book
with pleasure, not only to tourists, but to the general reader."
—Stirling Journal.
"The elegant appearance which this enlarged edition pre¬
sents, embellished as it is, both inside and out, by the hand of
the artist, is not its sole merit; but the pen of the diligent and
accomplished author has portrayed, in a concise yet pleasing
manner, the history of the rise and progress of this beautiful
Scottish watering-place. In the series of excursions through
which he conducts the rambling-disposed visitor, he discourses
to them poetically and learnedly, and gossipingly too, of all the
beauties and grandeur of nature, the relics and legends of
antiquity, and of the lives of warriors and men of peace con¬
nected with the circle of twenty miles round that fount of health.
To the visitor, this vade mecum will be indispensable; for
while, by its histories and legends, it will tend to relieve the
tedium of the invalid, it will direct the pleasure-seeker to
many of nature's sweetest and grandest haunts."—Perthshire
Advertiser.
"To the invalid or lounger at this now fashionable watering-
place, there could not be a more acceptable present than Mr.
Roger's 'Week,' and its Six Excursions. Sufficiently metho¬
dical in its plan and descriptions to be useful as a guide-book,
and at the same time so replete with historical anecdote, and
legendary gossip, it is quite the thing for a rainy afternoon
in a lodging-house, or for a stretch under the shade in the dog-
days. The embellishments are not more beautiful than they
are appropriate and useful."—Fifeshire Journal.
" The author of this work has already been favourably known
in the field of literature. Such a book as his present publica¬
tion was greatly desiderated, and Mr. Roger has more than
fulfilled the expectation of the public in the way he has
executed it."—Fifeshire Advertiser.
118 works published by the same author.
" This is no mere common-place guide-book in point of size,
much less in its contents. It is a book which may be read
through with pleasure and interest."—Falkirk Herald.
" This may be denominated the Book of Bridge op Allan.
The author has exhibited the advantages to be derived from a
temporary residence at this now famous watering-place ; and
as he writes for the invalid as well as for those who wish in
summer to enjoy a week or two of recreation among beautiful
rural scenery, every thing is found in this well-got-up octavo
which may be required by any visitor."—Stirling Observer.
"Mr. Roger, fortunate in his choice of a subject, has been
particularly happy in his manner of treating it. Equally con¬
versant with what the historian, the antiquarian, and the poet
have written regarding that part of Scotland which he describes,
his page has the antiquarian's research without his dryness ; and
he relieves the facts of history with the legends of tradition and
romance. If there is one thing in his work more striking than
another, it is the extreme accuracy of its details. So far as we
have been able to verify its descriptions and statements, we
have found them so correct, that we venture to assert, there is
not an object of any note in the route which a mere stranger,
with this book in his hand, would not at once recognize. As a
guide-book, ' A Week at Bridge of Allan' is the very best we
know."— Clackmannanshire Advertiser.
EDINBURGH:
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE,
BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO HEB MAJESTY.
RANDOM SKETCHES
OP
IRELAND AND THE IRISH.
EDINBURGH:
ALEXANDER C. MOODIE, 17, SOUTH BRIDGE.
WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 119
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON:
Q 5 ißtowrsf.
EDINBURGH: PATON AND RITCHIE.
■ • I M I "
Tracts for Sabbath Schools.
THE JEWS' DISPERSION.
REFRESHING TIDINGS TO THE THIRSTY SOUL.
PUBLIC WORSHIP: A DUTY AND A PRIVILEGE.
EDINBURGH : WILLIAM INNES, HANOVER STREET.
■ ■mi--
In the Preu,
j&tflttisfe $01108
OF
THE H AL F-CENTÜRY,
WITH
SKETCHES OF THE POETS,
AND A
DISSERTATION ON THE POETRY OF THE PERIOD.
ADVEBTISEMENTS.
^bktrtmments.
ALEXANDER M'DONALD,
BOOKSELLER, STATIONER, PRINTER, & BOOKBINDER,
HIGH STREET,
r t e f f,
Begs respectfully to thank his Friends and the Public in
general, for their past support and patronage, and would solicit
a continuance of the same; which it will always be his en¬
deavour to merit, by strict attention to orders and moderate
charges.
A. M'D. has always on hand a large assortment of Plain
and Fancy Stationery, Bibles, Testaments, Prayer and Psalm
Books, in every variety of Bindings; School Books, and a
large variety of works on General Literature, in Elegant Bind¬
ings, suitable for the Library, Boudoir, or Drawing Boom.
A large stock of FISHING TACKLE of best quality
kept in Stock.
Printing and Bookbinding Executed with Neatness
and Despatch.
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES LENT OUT ON HIRE.
ANY BOOK OR ARTICLE NOT IN STOCK, GOT
ON THE SHORTEST NOTICE.
2
ADVERTISEMENTS.
G. M'CULLOCH,
^aakzzlkx, Station«, ^onkbinbtr, anb printer,
HIGH STREET,
CRIEFF.
À Large Assortment of Fishing Tackle.
DAYID DINNIE,
Cabinttmaktr anb Wiylialßttvtx,
Opposite the Cross»
CRIEFF.
Hair and Straw Mattresses — Picture Frames, &c.
T. SINCLAIR,
piambtr, lint SKorktr, anb <®as ¿fitter,
HIGH STREET,
CRIEFF.
Kitchen Furniture Neatly Tinned and Repaired.
Orders punctually attended to.
D O W'S
TEMPERANCE COFFEE-MOUSE AND COMMERCIAL LODGINGS,
KING STREET,
€ y t e f f.
DINNERS, STEAKS, CHOPS, COEEEE, TEA,
And other Refreshments on the Shortest Notice.
Commercial Gentlemen and Private Partier -will find every
Attention paid to their Comfort.
advertisements.
3
TEA, WINE, AND SPIBIT WABEHOTJSE,
HIGH STREET,
©rieff,
(Next Door to the Post Office).
GEORGE CHAPMAN
Bess most respectfully to intimate to the Inhabitants of
Crieff and surrounding Country, that he has always on
hand a Large and well-selected Stock of Foreign and
British Spirits, London and Dublin Porters,
Edinburgh and Alloa Ales, Prestonpans Table
Beer, &c., &c.
ROYAL BRACKLA AND GLENLIVET WHISKIES,
TEAS, SUGARS, COFFEES, SPICES, &c., all of the
Best Qualities, and at Moderate Prices.
TEA AND GROCERY WAREHOUSE.
JAMES ADIE,
Begs to inform the Inhabitants of Crieff and surround¬
ing Country, that he has always in Stock a Fresh Supply of
TEAS, COFFEES, SUGARS, SOAPS, CANDLES,
SPICES, PICKLES, SAUCES, &c., &c.,
All selected for a First Class Family Trade, at the Lowest
possible Prices.
HIGH STREET, CRIEEF.
Januar y, 1854.
4
advertisements.
JAMES CAMPBELL,
DRAPER,
HIGH STREET.
©rieff.
FURNISHING IRONMONGERY WAREHOUSE,
MARK AITKEN
Begs to call the attention of Families to his well-selected
Stock of Hoose Furnishings, consisting of
GRATES, FENDERS, FIRE-IRONS, CUTLERY,
TEA AND COFFEE POTS, TRAYS, WAITERS,
DISH COVERS, &c., &c., &c.
KITCHEN UTENSILS IN POTS, GOBLETS,
FRYING AND STEW PANS,
COAL HOODS, &c., &c.
All of the Newest Designs, with every other article in the
Trade, all at the Lowest Prices.
Cbieff, January, 1854.
PRINTED BT W. H. LIZABfi, ED1NH1 RUH.