CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Welcome to Perth, the heart of Scotland.
For the visitor wishing to understand Perth, its history, its buildings, and its place in modern Scotland, the starting place should be 'the promontory' on Tay Street, at the foot of the High Street.
From this balcony, built out over the Tay from the flood defence wall, the High Street stretches westwards in a gentle curve, as it has done for 1,000 years, while behind you, there is a fine view of the river and its bridges. It is an excellent vantage point from which to absorb Perth's origins and development.
Ancient History
People have inhabited the banks of the Tay for several millennia. In 2001 a late Bronze Age log boat, which had lain undisturbed in the silt of the Tay for 3,000 years, resurfaced some five miles downstream from Perth. In an extremely delicate operation, it was recovered and has been conserved. It is the second oldest log boat in Scotland, and one of the best preserved in the UK.
The origin of the name 'Perth' is likely to be a Pictish survival into the Gaelic era. It is related to the Old Welsh word 'Pert', meaning a wood or copse, which probably existed on the flood free mound in the centre of the town on which St John's Kirk now stands.
River Tay
The Tay is by far the largest river (by volume of water) in the United Kingdom and is Perth's raison d'être. Perth was at the first bridging and fording point of the river, and from Perth, Scotland's early road network fanned out to all points of the compass. Just north of Perth, the line of the Highland Fault is breached by the Tay valley, providing access to the heart of the Highlands and routes to the north-west and the far north. Perth's situation at the 'Gateway to the Highlands' has been an important element in its historical and cultural development. This is captured symbolically in the sculpture of a heart on one of the pillars on the floodwall. A heart is superimposed on a background which represents the texture of the geography of Scotland. The 'Highland Line' divides the background. To the left (upstream) that texture is rough, signifying the Highlands, while downstream it is smooth.
Smeatons Bridge from above.
MAP 1 · Q12
The Carpow Log Boat.
© David Strachan, Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust.
Tay Street Pillar. Perth, the heart of Scotland.
Elcho Castle on the River Tay, by James Hill Cranstoun, 1870.
Courtesy of Malcolm Innes.
Perth's harbour, now downstream from the railway bridge, was, and still is, accessible for sea-going ships. At a time when roads were primitive and dangerous, and nearly all trade was carried by ships, the advantages of a port 30 miles inland were huge. The harbour became one of the busiest, and Perth one of the wealthiest towns in Scotland, with many sea-going ships built in, and crewed from Perth. Now, in the 21st century, Perth is still at the centre of Scotland's transport network - trunk roads and railways, rather than drove roads, river and sea.
Full rigged ship on the headstone of Captain Paddy Readd in Greyfriars graveyard.
Whenever the Duke of Atholl wished to travel from his home at Blair Castle, north of Pitlochry, to Edinburgh, he and his retinue (for he would not be travelling alone), first rode the 35 miles to Perth on horseback. Then, after waiting sometimes for several days for favourable winds and tides, he took a ship down the river to Dundee, and then round the coast of Fife to Leith, and finally a carriage to Edinburgh. The journey could easily take two weeks or more.
Perth's Place in Scottish History
In 843 AD, Kenneth MacAlpin united the two main competing kingdoms of mainland Scotland to establish the first nation state in Europe and become the first King of Scots (see Chapter 13). For the next 600 years, Perth was de facto the capital of Scotland. It was where coronations took place, where the King lived and international treaties were negotiated and signed, and where Scotland's Parliaments and Church Councils were convened.
In about 1127 Perth was one of the first five burghs or towns in Scotland to be created Royal Burghs (the ancient Scottish equivalent of City Status) by King David I. The others were Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick-upon-Tweed, (now in England), and Roxburgh, which has now almost completely vanished from the map. All of these Royal Charters are now lost. In 1210 King William I, 'The Lion', granted Perth a second Royal Charter, in gratitude to its citizens for saving his life in the terrible flood of 1209. This Charter is on view in the Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Royal Charter Granted by William the Lion in 1210 to Perth.
© Perth & Kinross Council.
Perth's pre-eminence lasted for 600 years, until in 1437 King James I was murdered in Blackfriars Monastery in Perth. Thereafter the Royal Court decamped to Edinburgh, which then became Scotland's capital city. Nevertheless, Perth was still the official 'Second City of Scotland', a status it retained until it was arbitrarily demoted to a 'town' in 1975. In 2012 there was much rejoicing across all of Scotland when official City Status for Perth was regained in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Honours competition. The Letters Patent, signed by the Queen, with the Royal Seal appended, can also be seen in the Museum and Art Gallery.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Perth's port - the source of its wealth - declined in significance as ships became larger, and therefore less able to negotiate the sandbanks of the Tay. Nevertheless, as a frequent host for the Royal Court and the Scottish Parliament, Perth was still a very important Royal Burgh. With four wealthy monastic establishments in the town, it was also a major religious centre, but one that suffered badly during the Scottish Reformation. This was ignited in Perth in 1559 by the fiery sermon preached by John Knox from the pulpit of St John's Kirk.
Letters Patent and Royal Seal granted by HM The Queen, conferring City Status on Perth in 2012.
© Perth & Kinross Council.
The loss of Royal patronage following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, crop failures, the disaster of the Darien Scheme, the Union of the Parliaments in 1707 and the bloody aftermath of the 1745 Uprising all plunged Scotland into recession. However, Perth weathered the economic storms better than many places and before the end of the 18th century, it was ready for a period of rapid expansion, fuelled from 1845 onwards by the coming of the railway. As well as having a strong agricultural base, Perth developed a number of prosperous industries, notably the manufacture of glass, ink, rope and linen, as well as dry cleaning and dying, printing, brewing, insurance and the blending and bottling of whisky.
Marshall Place, Georgian terrace overlooking the South Inch.
MAP 1 · N3
Tay Street Pillar.
The Mayor of Cognac, with his wife, the Provost and Lady Provost of Perth, and Gillian Forbes, the sculptor, at the unveiling of the Cognac plaque in 2010.
© Angus Findlay Photography.
Tay Street Pillar.
Coat of arms of the city of Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, which was twinned with the City of Perth in 1956.
Tay Street Pillar.
The Coat of Arms of the City of Pskov in north-west Russia, twinned with Perth in 1991.
Tay Street Pillar.
Coat of arms of the City of Bydgoszcz, central Poland, twinned with Perth in 1998.
Perth grew rapidly at this time, with elegant Georgian streets in the style of the New Town in Edinburgh, and the development of some notable civic buildings. Although the importance of the railways declined after the Second World War, the design of the trunk road network confirmed Perth's hub position in Scotland.
Continuing European and International Links
Perth's geography and history have combined to mould its culture. In the Middle Ages, its citizens comprised Gaels from the north and Scotsspeaking Lowlanders, enriched by a cosmopolitan mix of traders and entrepreneurs from all over northern Europe. These European links continue and are reflected in Perth's current twinning relationships with cities in Germany, France, north-west Russia and Poland. They are complemented by newer links with Canada, Australia and China.
The Black Watch window in the North Aisle of St John's Kirk.
The Black Watch march past the saluting dais in July 2010 on Perth's 800th anniversary.
© Perthshire Picture Agency.
Cosmopolitan Royal Burgh with Military Connections
In the past Perth has been an important military town, with particular connections to the Black Watch regiment, which was first raised in 1739 in Aberfeldy. The Black Watch Museum, very recently extended and refurbished, is housed in Balhousie Castle, adjacent to the North Inch. The connection between the city and the regiment is celebrated in a stained glass window in St John's Kirk. This is dedicated to the Sixth Battalion of the Black Watch, which served with such distinction in France in the First World War that the French President awarded the Battalion the Croix de Guerre. It is a two light window with two Black Watch soldiers, one in ceremonial uniform and the other in battle dress. Behind the first is St Michael with a...
