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By any standards Perthshire
is one of the truly great old counties of Scotland. It has its great
mountain tracts including some of the most famous scenery in the United
Kingdom; but there is an enormous amount of fertile, populous
countryside--far more, probably, than is generally realised--and its great
green straits, or wide open valleys, are also a special pride. Contrary,
therefore, to frequent pronouncements, the true glory of Perthshire is not
just its hills and lochs, it is also in its magnificent, age-old settled
lowlands, its characterful small towns and its unnumbered villages.
Especially the latter. Here are, probably, more ancient and interesting
small communities than anywhere else in Scotland. And these communities
are unfortunately generally bypassed by the typical traveler.
Basically, Perthshire is the basin and catchment area of the great River
Tay; although the south-west section, or Menteith (more properly Monteith)
as its name suggests, is the mouth of the Teith, principal tributary of
the Forth. But in the main, Perthshire's innumerable and often splendid
rivers reach the sea via the silver Tay. The county has another basic
feature--the great Highland Fault, which runs across Scotland from the
Gareloch to the Tay, most of it in Perthshire. This, because in general it
marks the division between Highlands and Lowlands, is important. The old
county, therefore, has a split personality.
Perthshire is also a historically exciting county. Here, indeed, the past
can be studied at its earliest, as far as Scotland is concerned, better
than most; for it so happened that into Perthshire, Strathearn in
especial, came the early Christian missionaries of the Irish Celtic
Church, via Iona, the Brethren of Columba, to set up their cells and
churches in these lovely valleys. The greatest concentration of early
Celtic Church sites are here; also a large number of those quite
extraordinary Pictish sculptured stones, with their symbols, things of
splendid beauty and workmanship, full of as yet unsolved mystery, which so
give the lie to the folly that the Picts were a race of savages, painting
their bodies and going about half naked. Quite clearly these Pictish
ancestors of ours, whom the Celtic Church missionaries Christianised, were
a highly developed and artistic people, with unique culture. Perthshire is
where they can best be studied.
The northern parts of Perthshire are divided between Breadalbane and
Atholl, huge tracts both, and largely mountainside. Breadalbane is the
more westerly, stretching from the edge of Argyll, at Strathfillan,
Mamlorn and Moor of Rannoch right across the country to Glen Almond,
Aberfeldy and Strathtay--braid Alban indeed, the very geographical centre
of Scotland. It measures almost a thousand square miles, 33 by 31 miles,
according to the gazetteer, and is basically the basin of the upper Tay,
including the great Loch of that name and all the catchment area.
Aberfeldy is sometimes claimed as its capital; certainly it is the largest
town and only burgh. But Kuhn, at the other end of Loch Tay, has the
better claim, as the original centre, where the Campbell lords had their
main seat, at Finlarig Castle. Strangely, although the name is ancient and
the area an entity from early times, there were no great Celtic earls or
mormaers here. It was not until 1681 that the 11th Campbell of Glenorchy,
having by then got rid of the MacGregors who anciently lorded it
hereabouts, got himself created Earl of Breadalbane, and by peculiar
means. His successors became almost the greatest landowners in Scotland,
being able, at one time, to ride from the Atlantic shores to the North Sea
on their own land--or so it is said. These territories include some of the
most renowned scenery in the Central Highlands, from Glen Ogle to the
Tarmachans, from Glen Dochart to Glen Lyon.
Sir Walter Scott, that fervent Borderer, yet said: "If an intelligent
stranger were asked to describe the most varied and most beautiful
province in Scotland, it is probable that he would name the County of
Perth." The present day visitor would find no fault with that
statement.
Highland Perthshire is ideally situated for a base location from which to
tour much of Scotland.
A
Few Places To Visit In Perth & Kinross
Should you be interested
in arranging a tour of this area do contact Scot
Travel
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