13 to Dinner in Birnam Hall

Added on 01 April 2019

Sir John Everett Millais loved Perthshire. It was here that he first met, then wooed and won Effie Gray away from her husband, John Ruskin. Causing quite a scandal. It was also his quiet corner, far from London Society, where he could pursue his three other loves: landscape painting, shooting, and ...

Murthly Church

Added on 16 March 2019

Just getting into a pile of documents, letters, invoices etc relating to the building and funding of Murthly's church. One letter jumped out at me, mainly for its pawky informality, which was so untypical of the time. Dated 9th June, 1913, it was from Rev. RH Dunlop of the Church of Scotland En...

Murthly's Roman Arch . . . & Dance Hall

Added on 11 March 2019

There once was a strange and rather wonderful building, like something a Roman emperor might erect to big himself up, halfway along the ancient track from Home Farm (Douglasfield) to Murthly Inn (Kingswood House). Built about 1857, it stood square on the skyline, imposing, something monumental to c...

Give Stobie Some Credit

Added on 06 March 2019

Step forward James Stobie (1775 - 1804) factor to the Duke of Atholl, surveyor and, more importantly for us, mapmaker. He published his 'The Counties of Perth & Clackmannan' in 1783. In which he maps the 'Druid Stones', quite precisely as a circle of five. Without recourse to...

Eight Stones or Fewer

Added on 05 March 2019

The oldest artefact in our area, thus found, is the stone circle in Druid’s Park. Perhaps 5,000 years old. Little wonder then that it is a bit gappy. By contrast the present, ongoing, development of its surroundings as a housing estate is only into its third decade. The circle has five ston...

One Sunday in July

Added on 01 March 2019

A section of an estate map of 'The Lands of Meikle Burnbane'. It has annotations in pencil by Sir William Drummond Stewart, dated March 1860, outlining the 60 acres he has sold to the Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for the new asylum. Map © Murthly & Strathbraan Estates Pictur...