Land King
The Story of David Jack
Chapter One - Crieff

The Author, Crieff 2001

The town is often referred to as the ‘Gateway to Perthshire’ and is situated in the valley of the River Earn, (Strathearn) a tributary of the mighty River Tay, flowing Eastwards to the North Sea from Loch Earn, situated approximately 10 miles West of Crieff.

It has a population of approximately 8,000 people of all age groups and considers itself to be a holiday town. It probably is a holiday town, but does not seem to have the appeal of other towns with a similar claim. The reason for this is probably due to the fact that Crieff has a significant percentage of ‘dyed in the wool’ locals, and is therefore not disproportionately geared towards tourism, which some similar towns are often criticised for.

At least two centuries before Robert the Bruce, the Celtic earls chose Crieff, as the administrative capital for the Earldom, and sited their open air court of Justice on a Neolithic burial mound to the south of the town. At this ‘Stayt’ or ‘Skait’, the Steward, appointed by the Earl judged on disputes and administered justice. The office of Seneschal or Steward of Strathearn became hereditary, but was claimed by both the Drummond and Murray families, who were the fiercest of rivals. The centuries long quarrel of these families eventually resulted in the power of the court being transferred to the Kings Sheriff at Perth, seventeen miles East of Crieff.

The political overthrow of King James in 1688 brought strife to the people of Scotland including Crieff. The prominent lairds of the area were Catholic, and therefore Jacobites, supporters of the ousted Stuart monarchy; Most of the prominent townspeople however, were Presbyterian and anti-Jacobite. Following the defeat of ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ at Culloden retribution was swift and savage. Steps were taken to ensure that there would be no more Jacobite risings, and a ban was placed on the wearing of the kilt and playing of bagpipes. Many of the local lairds had their lands’ forfeited to the Crown.

Indicative or not, Crieff today has the outward appearance of a town in economic decline, testified to, by the large number of shops which appear to close down after a short period of time, their windows boarded up, like some frontier town, for which the good times have dried up and the townsfolk moved on to pastures new.

This comparison with frontier towns is not entirely inappropriate as in the 1700’s Crieff was like the frontier towns of the Old West, where Highlanders, as Cowboys would later do in the United States of America, drove their herds of cattle Southwards to the large markets known as Trysts, which were regularly held in Crieff and Falkirk. A great Michaelmas cattle sale was held once a year at Crieff and the surrounding fields were ‘black with some 30,000 cattle beasts’ some of which had been driven south from as far afield as Caithness and the Outer Hebrides.

This was illustrated in the Hollywood film, ‘ROB ROY’ which starred Liam NEESON in the title role. In a scene from the movie, which was filmed largely around the Crieff area, Rob ROY is seen herding his cattle to the market at Crieff, during which time Crieff is given prominent mention.

Due to the large influx of Highlanders with money to burn from the sale of their cattle, Crieff apparently had no fewer rowdies than it’s American counterparts in that drunkenness and wild behaviour was commonplace. Crieff has been referred to in these times as the ‘Dodge City’ of its day in Scotland. Indeed, Rob Roy’s outlaw son was pursued through the streets of Crieff by soldiers and killed.

Cattle and sheep rustling were also commonplace, and because of its rich pickings, Crieff was often raided by hoards of the northern caterans (raiders) who descended on the town for that purpose. However, if caught, justice was swift, and the culprits would end their days swinging on the ‘kind gallows’ of Crieff, which were sited at Gallowhill at the Southern end of Burrell Street.

It follows from this that Crieff probably enjoyed a lengthy period of relative prosperity and in the 1800s the town appears to have been heavily industrialised.

Maps of the time show that there was a large amount of mills throughout

Crieff, among them Saw Mills, Lint Mills, and Flax Mills. A large area situated to the South of the town, known as Bleachfield was so named because of the large Bleachworks which occupied that site, in an area known today as Turretbank.

A flavour of these industrial times can be found in this extract from ‘THE HISTORY OF CRIEFF’ by ALEXANDER PORTEOUS.

‘Principal and oldest mill in CRIEFF is the mill at Milnab built in 1748 by Mr John CAW. About 1831, Mr Daniel JACK erected a meal mill at Dalvreck, which carried on an extensive and well-known business manufacturing oat and barley meal and also flour meal. At one time it had a mill for pot barley. It had extensive granaries and other outhouses and for many years did a large trade. It has burned down a few years ago, the tenant at the time being Mr Robert TAYLOR who had also a large meal mill at South Bridgend’

Whether the entrepreneurial Mr Daniel JACK was related to the subject of this work is not known, but the similarities are clear.

Handloom weaving was another industry, which was important in Crieff, and these occupations as well as agricultural work were the most common occupations of the time. By 1830 the town population had doubled and when the railway arrived in 1856, Crieff was the second largest town in Perthshire.

Crieff has always been regarded as a divided town in that there is an apparent demarkation line between what are referred to as the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. This line is generally considered to be the High Street. Those people residing North of this line, nearer to the ‘top of the hill’, occupy the large Mansion type houses, and below this line, on the lower reaches of the town, are the council type dwellings.

For many people over the years, moving house from below this line to above it, was a sure sign of economic improvement, and ‘upward’ mobility in more than just the Geographic sense. This particular form of class snobbery was captured in a recent Biography of the Crieff born Film Star, ‘Ewan McGregor’ when the Author points out just such a class leap by the McGregor family during the Actor’s youth. Anyhow, by this, or any other measure, the future multi – millionaire David JACK was born into the ‘wrong’ side of Crieff’s economic and class divide. It is perhaps hardly surprising then, that the young David Jack, from the economically deprived and austere background of Crieff, should, like a kid handed the key to the candy store, gorge himself on the seemingly endless opportunities laid before him in the ‘land of milk and honey’. Of course it may also be contended that coming from the background that he did, Jack should have had more empathy with the poor people, he was later accused of wronging as a rich land baron in America.

In point of fact, the foregoing was not entirely the case in the 1700 and 1800s as many of the poorest people of the town lived in Hill Street, which is situated North of the High Street, near to the present day, exclusive boarding school, Morrison’s Academy. Some of the houses in that area were once referred to as, ‘ bad as the worst Glasgow hovels’.

It was into early 1800s Crieff that William JACK brought his family.