AUCHTERARDER, Perthshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"AUCHTERARDER, (or Aberuthven) a parish, post town, and seat of a presbytery in the county of Perth, Scotland, 11 miles to the S.W. of Perth. It is a station on the Scottish Central railway. The parish is situated on the river Earn, which bounds it on the north, and the river Ruthven, which intersects it. Part of the parish lies among the Ochil hills, the highest point being at Craigrossie, which has an elevation of 2,359 feet. It has been said that Auchterarder was once a royal burgh, but evidence of this is wanting. It was burnt, with several other villages, by the Earl of Mar, in 1716, and a curious document is preserved by the Society of Antiquaries, containing a promise of indemnification for the injuries thus sustained, and signed on behalf of the Pretender, by Mar. In recent times this place has attained some distinction in Scottish ecclesiastical history, as the first to make the protest and resistance to the claim of the civil power which gave occasion to the famous veto Act, and the disruption of the church, followed by the rise and rapid organisation of the Free Church. The living, of the value of £200, is in the presbytery of Auchterarder, and in the patronage of the Earl of Kinnoul. There is a Free church in the town, and one also at Aberuthven, together with two charity and four private schools. Ruins of the ancient church of Aberuthven, a parish united to Auchterarder before the Reformation, exist here still. Aberuthven was the burial-place of the Dukes of Montrose. The mausoleum is an elegant structure. There are also ruins of another ancient church, called St. Mungo's. Near the town is part of an old building which is said to have been a hunting-seat of King Malcolm Canmore. The walls are of immense thickness and strength. There are quarries of slate and stone in the parish, and cotton weaving is carried on to a considerable extent. Smithyhaugh and Borland Park are villages of this parish. The principal residence is Auchterarder House, a modern mansion in the Elizabethan style, erected by Captain Hunter. There is a weekly market on Saturdays, at which a great deal of business, principally in grain, is transacted. Six fairs are held in the course of the year-on the last Tuesday in March, the first Thursday in May, the 6th of December, and one in each of the months of August, September, and October. The parish has an area of about 24 square miles."

"BORLAND PARK, a village in the parish of Auchterarder, in the county of Perth, Scotland, 6 miles to the E. of Muthill. It is seated on the banks of the river Earn."

"MILLTOWN, a village in the parish of Auchterarder, county Perth, Scotland, 6 miles S.E. of Muthill. It is situated on the river Ruthven."

"SMITHYHAUGH, a village in the parish of Auchterarder, county Perth, Scotland, 6 miles S.E. of Muthill, and 2½ E. of Auchterarder. It is situated on Ruthven-water, and near the Scottish Central railway. The inhabitants are chiefly employed in weaving."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]