MUTHILL, Perthshire - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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

"MUTHILL, a parish in the southern part of county Perth, Scotland. It contains the small post town of Muthill and the post-office village of Braco, also part of the quoad sacra parish of Ardoch. It is a station on the Crieff Junction railway. The parish, which is 10 miles in extreme length by 8 in breadth, is situated on the borders of the highlands, and is traversed by the great military road from Stirling to Inverness, and by the Crieff Junction railway. The principal rivers are the Allan Water, Earn, and Machany, besides numerous small streams. The prevailing rocks are sandstone and trap, covered in parts by a light loam which is exceedingly fertile, but in the higher grounds the soil is barren and wet. The best lands are on the haughs of the Earn and Allan, where the greater part of the farms are arable, but above half the surface is still in hilly sheep pasture or barren waste, especially in the S.W. district, where there are many thousand acres completely covered with heath or deep moss. There are some native woods and several thousand acres of modern plantations. Game of all kinds are abundant, as also salmon and trout. The climate is damp and cold but tolerably healthy. Above two-thirds of this extensive parish belongs to the Drummond family, and the remainder to five or six heritors, who are all resident. Drummond Castle, the ancient seat of the illustrious family of Perth, but now of Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, is situated at the head of the Vale of Strathearn, near the Eagle's Craig beacon, and being built upon a rock, commands one of the most extensive prospects in Scotland. The small town of Muthill, by a cruel command of the Pretender, was burned in January, 1716. It is remarkably clean and well built, and is situated about 4 miles S. of Crieff. It is chiefly inhabited by farmers and weavers, the latter employed by the cotton manufactures of Glasgow. The parish is in the presbytery of Auchterarder and synod of Perth and Stirling, in the patronage of the crown. The minister has a stipend of £250, besides a glebe of 8 acres. The church has been rebuilt on the site of a very ancient pointed one. There is another church, also modern, on the S. side of the parish. There are Free and United Presbyterian churches; also parochial and other schools. Amongst the numerous remains of antiquity, may be mentioned the famous camp at Ardoch, the most complete of any in Great Britain, covering an oblong area of 140 yards by 125; also a camp at Strageath, on the banks of the Earn, supposed to have been the Ad Hiernam of Richard of Cirencester, from which led the Roman way to Orchil. From the ramparts of the former of these fortresses maybe seen the plain of Sheriff-Muir, where the ill-disputed battle of Dumblane was fought in 1715. Not far distant is a gigantic cairn measuring 182 feet by 45, where stone coffins have been found. In various parts of the parish are traces of Druidical temples and single upright stones 12 to 14 feet high. Fairs are held on the 19th January, 6th May, 5th August, and 31st October."

"BRACO, (otherwise called ARDSOP), a village in the parish of Muthill, in the county of Perth, Scotland, 5 miles S.W. of the village of Muthell. It is situated on the Knaik rivulet, a branch of the Allan. Here is a chapel of ease, a Free church, and an United Presbyterian church; also three very interesting Roman encampments."

"BRIDGEND, a village in the parish of Muthill, in the county of Perth, Scotland, not far from Crieff. The district is wooded and hilly, lying on the edge of the highlands."

"DRUMMOND CASTLE, in the parish of Muthill, in the county of Perth, Scotland. It is the ancient seat of the noble family of Drummond, situated in a picturesque site in the western part of Strathearn, 2 miles S. of Crieff. The oldest part of it was built in 1490, and the modern castle, standing a little to the E. of the old on the same rock, is a patchwork of various dates. To the S. of the castle are fine flower-gardens."

"TULLIBARDINE, a village in the parish of Muthill, county Perth, Scotland, 3 miles S.E. of Muthill, and 62 1 from Crieff. It is a station on the Crieff Junction branch of the Caledonian railway. Its principal attraction is Tullibardine Castle, from which the Duke of Atholl takes the title of Marquis."

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