Chronicles of Strathearn

by Unknown

AT THE HEAD OF STRATHEARN

By Rev. JOHN MACPHERSON, Comrie

The head of Strathearn may be said to be the parish of Comrie, because it comprises some miles of the strath as well as the lake from which the strath derives its name. The name Comrie is taken from a Gaelic word Comhruith, signifying confluence or running together of streams, and is aptly applied in this case. This one can easily see by standing for a few moments upon the Bridge of Dalginross. Looking westward, he sees the River Ruchill joining the Earn behind the Parish Church; and, turning to the east, at a distance of a few hundred yards he sees the Lednock discharging its waters into the same river. Hence the name Comrie, probably in the first instance applied to the village built at the junction of the three rivers, was afterwards given to the parish. The parish of Comrie, as presently constituted, includes what was formerly called the parishes of Comrie and Tullichettle. Hence the minister of Comrie owns two glebes—the Tullichettle glebe in the vicinity of the manse, and the Comrie glebe situated on the south bank of the Earn. The date at which this union took place is not known, but in the year 1702 the Commission of Teinds, at the request of the General Assembly, made additions, quoad sacra, from the parishes of Monzievaird, Strowan, and Muthill, and annexed a portion of the parish of Comrie lying upon the north side of Loch Earn, also quoad sacra to the parish of Balquhidder. This arrangement holds good at the present day. The parish quoad civilia extends from the Bridge of Lednock to Lochearnhead, a distance of thirteen miles, and is about nine miles in breadth. It contains some of the grandest mountains of the Grampian range—Benchonzie, 3048 feet; and Ben Voirlich, 3224 feet above the level of the sea. The latter, it is said, can be seen from Perth, Edinburgh, and Ayrshire.

The beauties of Strathearn have often been pictured by writers of poetry and prose, but without reaching the head of Strathearn these beauties can be only partially seen. The drive from Crieff to Lochearnhead in a summer day is universally regarded as one of the finest in all Scotland. To within a mile or so of St. Fillans the road resembles one long avenue stretching along the base of the Grampians. The scenery is unequalled for its mixture of grandeur and beauty. There you have the rough, rugged hills of the Highlands combined with the cultivated plains of the Lowlands, and waving woods, affording an air of warmth and freshness to the landscape. The great storm of 1893 has, indeed, laid low many of our finest plantations and marred the beauty of our scenery. Turleum Wood, which used to wave its shaggy head so high, is now laid prostrate, and appears to the eye what its Celtic name implies—tor lom, a bare hill. And yet, as far as appearance and scenery are concerned, there are few places which can as well afford to part with some of its trees as the head of Strathearn. Comrie is best known to the public generally by its earthquakes, and as a quiet summer resort, with sequestered walks over hills and dales and along the banks of flowing streams. But to the botanist, the geologist, the antiquarian, and the lover of ancient legend and historic incident there is, besides all this, something to awaken interest and engage attention. The number and variety of plants is very considerable. Slate is the predominant rock, but there are also limestone, whin, the old red sandstone, and granite. At one time there were two slate quarries wrought on the Aberuchill Hills, but for the last twenty years they have been closed. A lime quarry on Lochearnside in former times supplied the whole district with material for lime, but carriage, labour, and fuel have become so expensive, that both builders and farmers find it more economical to get lime ready for use from the south. There is granite in Glenlednock, and as the railway has now been extended to the village from Crieff, it is possible that some day it may be a source of industry to the inhabitants. In several places in the district of which we write there are traces of what are supposed to be Druidical remains. One cannot help regretting that the old Druids should have confined the knowledge of their religion to their own order, and that they should have left so few traces of their mystical rites to posterity, except what may be gathered from rude stones scattered here and there throughout the country. On the plain of Tullybannocher, and near the east lodge of Dunira, there are several standing-stones, which antiquarians believe to be the remains of Druidical circles. On the plain of Dalginross, also, near the junction of the manse road with the public road, there are three large stones, supposed to be the remains of a Druidical temple. One of these, about 8 feet in length, stands, or rather leans, at an angle of 45 degrees; the others are lying flat upon the ground. One of them, a round, flat boulder, bears upon its surface cup-marks arranged in irregular concentric circles. Was this the sacrificial stone of an ancient Druid; or are these boulders relics of the glacial period, and were the marks alluded to caused by the action of the weather? When we come to deal with Roman remains we stand upon firmer ground. On the same plain of Dalginross, and a short distance to the north of these boulders we have referred to, is the site of the old Roman Camp, Victoria. About the end of last century the outlines of the fortifications seem to have been quite distinct, but since that time the plough has obliterated almost every trace of them. There seem to have been two camps at Dalginross—a larger and a smaller one, the former capable of holding 10,000 troops. Here, it has been held by some writers, the great Battle of Mons Grampius was fought between the Caledonians under Galgacus and the Romans under Agricola. This, however, is not probable. Seven cities of the ancient world laid claim to Homer's birth-place. About the same number of places are pointed to as the scene of the Battle of Mons Grampius. Gordon says it was at Dalginross, Chalmers says it was the Moor of Ardoch, some say it was in Fife, others at Urie, in Kincardineshire. Skene, in his Celtic Scotland, places it on or near the Muir of Blair, about the junction of the River Tay with the Isla. Mr Hill Burton abandons the task of determining the site as hopeless. If we accept the description given by Tacitus, in so far as it says the battle was fought "in conspectu classis"—that is, "in sight of the fleet," the place could not have been Dalginross, and for this one reason, that unless the Earn was very different in the days of Agricola from what it is in our day, the Roman fleet could not possibly have sailed to a point within sight of Dalginross. Judging, however, from some place-names in the neighbourhood, there is little doubt that Dalginross has been the scene of some bloody conflict or conflicts during the period of the Roman occupation of Britain. The name of the farm adjoining the old Roman Camp, for example, is Blardhearg, which in Celtic means "the red battle-field." To the west, and beyond the River Ruchill, is Dalrannaich, in Celtic, Dailranaich—"the field of mourning or lamentation"; and a little to the north is Dalchonzie, in Celtic, Dailachaonaidh—"the field of weeping." To the south of the plain of Dalginross, and upon the road to Ardoch, there are still traces of the Roman occupation of Strathearn. At Blairinroar there must have been a bloody conflict between the Romans and the Caledonians. The very name of the place implies it, for Blairinroar in Celtic is the "field of violent onset." There are still to be seen in this neighbourhood huge slabs of standing-stones, some of them 20 feet in height. Those upon the level ground probably mark the graves of distinguished Romans or Caledonians who fell upon the field of battle; but others, which run in a line extending north and south, were probably landmarks to guide messengers on their way from Lindum, the camp at Ardoch, to Victoria, the camp at Dalginross.

At the west side of the new cemetery, close to the public road, there is a curious round knoll, which at one time must have been used as a place for the burial of the dead. The attention of the writer of this was drawn to it about twenty years ago. There were three large slabs of stone lying upon the ground, which apparently had been at some former period placed erect by some loving hands to mark the last resting-place of some departed friend or hero. By the aid of some of the Comrie masons the stones were placed in a standing position. Curious to know what lay beneath the surface, we dug up the earth in front of the largest slab, and came upon a stone cist placed north and south, 7 inches long, 1 foot 8 inches broad, and 1 foot 3 inches deep. The only remains discovered was a thigh-bone, but whether it at one time formed a part of the leg of a Celt, a Roman, or a Saxon we could not tell. An old man who then lived in the village of Comrie told us that in his young days the same mound was dug up, when an urn filled with ashes was discovered. This, perhaps, would indicate that it formed a place of burial for Romans rather than for Caledonians. The spot is called Dunmoid, or "hill of judgment." Besides the parish churchyard, there are three old burying-grounds in the parish—Leckin, on Lochearnside; Dundurn, and Tullichettle. From an antiquarian point of view, the most interesting, perhaps, is Tullichettle. It is situated in a sequestered spot on a rising ground on the right bank of the River Ruchill, near the farm-house of Cultabraggan. The name, which is Celtic, Tulachchadail—"hill of sleep"—well describes the place, for a more solitary spot could hardly be selected for the repose of the dead. Judging from the inscriptions upon the tomb-stones it has been for long the burying-place of the Macnivens, the Macgreuthers, the Maccullochs, and other clans. There is a curious slab over the grave of the Riddochs. The following description of it, extracted from the proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, has been kindly sent by the Secretary, Dr. Anderson:—

"It measures 5 feet 6 inches in length and 18 inches in breadth, tapering slightly towards the lower end. It bears a sword with straight guard in the centre of the stone, and the name James Ridoch on the blade. In the spaces on either side are a number of trade emblems—a square, an axe, an adze, a mallet and chisel, a millrind, an axe-pick of the kind used by millers for dressing the mill-stone, the coulter of a plough, a hammer and anvil (?), and an auger, indicating probably the various mechanical aptitudes of the deceased. The connection of the family of Reidheuchs or Ridochs with Strathearn began in 1502, when King James IV. granted a charter of confirmation of the lands of Tullychedile, Culturagane, &c., to his familiar servitor and steward, James Redeheuche, burgess of Stirling. In 1573, these and other lands acquired by him were erected into the Barony of Tullichiddil. In 1542, James Reidheuch of Tullichiddil is mentioned as dead, and it is not till 1610 that another James appears in the line of the Reidheuchs of Tullichiddil. The probability is that the stone here figured belongs to the seventeenth century, as it was only then that the name Reidheuche began to be spelt Ridoche. Of course, it is impossible to say whether this is the tomb-stone of the James Ridoche of 1610, or of a successor; but there seems to be nothing against the idea of the stone being as old at least as the date thus indicated."

Tullichettle must have been an old parish. Shortly after the Reformation, in the year 1572, it was served by John Edmeston, exhorter, and in 1574 by William Drummond, who had also under his charge Comrie, Monivaird, Monzie, and Crieff. The ruins of the church are still to be seen within the wall of the churchyard, but of the old manse there is no trace left now. We have often been asked the derivation of the word Ruchill, the name of the river, which, rising at the head of Glenartney, passes the graveyard of Tullichettle and falls into the Earn at the village of Comrie. It is compounded of two Gaelic words—ruadh (red), and tuill (flood). Ruadhthuill, therefore, is the red flood, and any one who has seen the red turgid waters of the Ruchill in time of flood will see that the name is significant of the thing itself. The word occurs in a shorter form—Ruel, a river in Argyllshire, which gives its name to the valley through which it flows—viz., Glendaruel. In the good old days when our Highland glens and straths were thickly populated, every hill and dale and crag and knoll had its name, and every strath and valley had its traditions. From many of our Highland glens the people are gone, and their traditions along with them. Sir Walter Scott, however, has rendered famous at least one of the glens at the head of Strathearn and preserved a few of its traditions. Who ever read that beautiful poem, "The Lady of the Lake," but knows something of Glenartney, Benvoirlich, and Uam-Var. Here the chase, which he sings in the first canto, begins:—

"The stag at eve had drank his fill,
When danced the moon on Monan's rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade.
***
Roused from his lair,
The antler'd monarch of the waste
Sprang from his heathery couch in haste.
***
With one brave bound the copse he clear'd,
And, stretching forward free and far,
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var."

Uam-Var, which in Gaelic signifies large cave, is a mountain between Glenartney and Callander, and takes its name from a cave on the south side of it, said by tradition to have been inhabited by a giant centuries ago. Glenartney was a Royal forest, and a portion of it is still fenced off for the same purpose. On an eminence at the head of the glen stands Glenartney Lodge, belonging to the proprietor, the Earl of Ancaster. In the past as in the present the strict preservation of game seems to have been attended with dangers and difficulties. Some people seem to have an uncontrollable liking for hunting and poaching. In the sixteenth century Glenartney was the scene of a terrible tragedy. In the year 1588, John Drummond of Drummond-Ernoch was forester to King James VI. there. One day, according to one tradition, he discovered some of the Clan Macgregor trespassing in the Royal forest. He seized them and cropped off their ears. The Macgregors, incensed by the punishment inflicted upon their clansmen, vowed vengeance against Drummond-Ernoch. They made a raid upon the forest, seized the forester, and cut off his head, which they carried with them in a corner of one of their plaids. "In the full exultation of vengeance," says Sir Walter Scott in his introduction to the Legend of Montrose, "they stopped at the house of Ardvoirlich and demanded refreshments, which the lady, a sister of the murdered Drummond-Ernoch (her husband being absent), was afraid or unwilling to refuse. She caused bread and cheese to be placed before them, and gave directions for more substantial refreshments to be prepared. While she was absent with this hospitable intention the barbarians placed the head of her brother on the table, filling the mouth with bread and cheese, and bidding him eat, for many a merry meal he had eaten in that house. The poor woman, returning and beholding this dreadful sight, shrieked aloud and fled into the woods, where, as described in the romance, she roamed a raving maniac, and for some time secreted herself from all living society. Some remaining instinctive feeling brought her at length to steal a glance from a distance at the maidens while they milked the cows, which being observed, her husband, Ardvoirlich, had her conveyed back to her home, and detained her there till she gave birth to a child, of whom she had been pregnant, after which she was observed gradually to recover her mental faculties." Leaving Ardvoirlich, the Macgregors proceeded to Balquhidder, and at a meeting of the clan held in the church—the chief presiding—they placed their hands successively upon the dead man's head and swore to defend the author of the deed. At one time there was a large population in this glen. In 1745 the farm of Auchinnar alone had eight tenants. An interesting document in possession of the relatives of the M'Greuthers of Meiggar referring to the Rebellion of 1715 shows the power of the laird in those days, and the resources of the glen as far as fighting men were concerned. It is as follows:—

"William M'Gruther, in Dalclaythick, you are hereby ordered to acquaint William M'Nivan, in the same town, and Alexander M'Gruther, in Dalchruwn, to go along with you as officers to command the company of our men that is to come out of your glen, and all the men are hereby ordered to obey your command on their highest peril, which you are to intimate to them, as you will be answerable to us, and this shall be your warrant.

"Given at Drummond Castle, the fifteenth day of August, one thousand seven hundred and thirteen years.

"See that none of the men of Auchinnear of whatever rank be absent, as they will be answerable, and all the men in good order.

"(Signed) DRUMMOND."

M'Gruther and his two neighbours obeyed the summons of the laird of Drummond, and took charge of the company of Highlanders raised in Glenartney; but the laird could not save them from the consequence of their obedience. When the Rebellion was quelled they were banished to America and sold as slaves. The two M'Gruthers managed to get back to their native country, but were doomed to spend seven long years in hiding.

The origin of place-names may not be of so much interest to the reader as it is to the writer of this article, but we cannot resist the temptation of recording a suggestion made to us years ago as to the origin of the word Glenartney, by Mr James Ferguson, the present keeper of the forest, and the worthy successor of old Drummond-Ernoch. It is this: Gleann-àrd-an-fheidh—"the high glen of the deer." This would certainly account for the last syllable of the modern name, and would also accord with the fact of the place being an ancient forest; but we prefer the derivation Gleann-ardan—"the glen of heights," and we think the last syllable has been added merely to suit the imperfection of the Saxon's vocal organs.

The mansion-houses of the head of Strathearn and their occupants are of some historical interest, but, as our space is limited, our reference to them must be brief, and confined to a few of the oldest. On the margin of Loch Earn stands Ardvoirlich House. The present occupant of the estate is Colonel John Stewart, who spent the first part of his life in India, and now resides upon the estate. With the exception of the Drummonds, who trace their ancestry back to Maurice, the Hungarian, who lived about the time of the Norman Conquest, the Stewarts of Ardvoirlich are the oldest family in the district. They lay claim not only to a long ancestral line, but also to Royal blood, through a son of Murdoch, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland, and son of Robert II. Among the antique curiosities of this family, it is said, there is a large gem called clach dhearg—red stone, seemingly white rock crystal, bound with four silver bands, which used to be regarded as a talisman, giving to water into which it is dipped virtue for the cure of all diseases of cattle. In recent times the Stewarts have been a family of soldiers who served in India. Their burying-place is within the old Chapel of Dundurn, but the monuments erected to the memory of members of the family recently deceased are in the Parish Church of Comrie. They are all handsome, and a great ornament to the interior of the Parish Church; but one of them is worthy of special notice on account of its artistic beauty. It is that erected by the Governor-General of India and other dignitaries and friends to commemorate the death of William Stewart, who, along with his wife and infant son, was murdered in the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a cenotaph of pure Carrara marble, with the figure of a Sepoy soldier with arms reversed on the one side, and a Hindoo in a kneeling posture on the other.

Dunira House is the seat of the Dundases. The present proprietor is Sir Sidney James Dundas, the third baronet of Beechwood and Dunira, who succeeded his father, Sir David Dundas, Bart., in 1877. What is the word Dunira derived from? Is it like Dundurn, "the hill or fort upon the Earn"? or is it Dun aoraidh, "the hill of worship"? It is difficult to say; Gaelic words have been so much corrupted to suit the tongues of the Saxon. There is little doubt, however, that in ancient times the locality was intimately associated with divine worship. Not far from the east lodge there are to be seen large standing-stones, supposed, as already said, to be the remains of an old Druidical circle. On the hillside, above Dunira House, there is a place called Drumnakil, which signifies the "ridge of the chapel"; and farther to the north-east, near the hill of Dunmore, is Ballochintaggart, "the gap of the priest." At Drumnakil there is an old burying-ground, the grave-stones scarcely discernible among the rank grass; but all trace of the chapel, or monks' cell, if ever there was one, has disappeared. Dunira was once the property of Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville and Baron Dunira. He was son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President of the Court of Session. He was called to the bar in 1763, and elected member of Parliament for the County of Edinburgh in 1774, and after holding several important offices under the Crown, he retired with Pitt in 1801, and the following year he was raised to the Peerage. After his death his Perthshire friends paid a tribute to his memory and worth by erecting a monument on Dunmore Hill, at Comrie. It is an obelisk, 72 feet high, built in 1812 of Innergeldie granite. A better site could not have been chosen. From the top of Dunmore Hill there is a magnificent view of varied landscape. To the west you have a peep at Loch Earn, the Aberuchill Hills, and the old white-washed Castle nestling among its trees; to the south you have the village of Comrie and the strath, with the Earn and the Ruchill winding their way through the plain; to the east, Sir David Baird's Monument, the Knock of Crieff, Turleum, the Ochils, and one of the Lomonds of Fife; looking to the north, we see Glenlednock stretching far towards Loch Tay, with Spout Rollo at its head, and guarded on each side by the lofty peaks of the Grampians. This, like so many others of our Highland glens, has suffered much through depopulation during this century. An old Glenlednock farmer still living in the parish informs us that in his recollection there were thirty-six tenants with their cottars, where there are now five and a few shepherds. One cannot help admiring the industry, economy, and thrift of these old Highland farmers, who in such numbers could live and thrive and pay higher rents to the landlord than the few who are now in possession of the land.

Aberuchill Castle was for nearly three centuries the seat of the Campbells of Aberuchill and Kilbryde. It was originally built in 1602, but has since been modernised and enlarged. The Crown granted a charter of the lands of Aberuchill in 1596 to Colin Campbell, second son of Sir Colin Campbell of Lawers. His son James was made a baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I. in 1627. He fell fighting for Charles II. at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Sir Colin, only son of Sir James, succeeded him. He was the most distinguished of the family. Bred to the law, he rose to the position of Lord of Session with the title of Lord Aberuchill. Sir Colin was a Whig and a Presbyterian when the most of the gentry of Strathearn were either Episcopalians or Popish Jacobites. His name is associated with the massacre of Glencoe, inasmuch as he was a member of the Council that refused the certificate of the Sheriff-Depute of Argyle that M'Donald of Glencoe had taken the oath of allegiance to King William, unless they got a warrant to receive it from the King. From 1693 to 1702 he represented the County of Perth in the Scottish Parliament, and died in 1704. From the Campbells, the estate passed into the hands of the Drummonds. It is now the property of Captain Robert Dewhurst, son of George C. Dewhurst, Esq., lately deceased.

It would be unpardonable to write anything about Comrie without making allusion to the earthquakes which have made it famous. In the Statistical Account of Scotland, published in the year 1794, the Rev. Mr M'Diarmid, minister of the parish, gives an account of the first recorded earthquake in the district. During the autumn of 1789 loud noises, unaccompanied by any concussion, were heard by the inhabitants of Glenlednock; but on the 5th of November of that year they were alarmed by a loud rumbling noise, accompanied with a severe shock of earthquake, which was felt over a tract of country of more than twenty miles in extent. The Rev. Mr Mackenzie, successor to Mr M'Diarmid, writing in 1838, in the last Statistical Account, says that "at and after the time of the last Statistical Account the earthquakes were so frequent and violent, and accompanied with such noises, as to occasion great alarm, especially one which occurred on a Sabbath while the congregation was assembled." The year 1839, however, was the time of the great earthquakes. Writing in 1842 in the last Statistical Account, the Rev. John Ferguson, minister of Monzievaird, says:—"At this time they began to be frequently felt, nearly 20 shocks being occasionally experienced in 24 hours. The most violent one happened about ten o'clock on the evening of 23d October, 1839. The shock seemed to pass along through the parish of Monzievaird from north-west to south-east. For a second or two every house for miles around the village of Comrie was shaken from top to bottom; and while the motion was passing away to the eastward it was accompanied by a tremendous noise like the roar of 100 pieces of ordnance discharged at once and gradually dying away in the distance. This earthquake was partially felt throughout a great part of Scotland, as far as Inverness, Dunbar, Berwick, and the banks of Loch Awe. In this neighbourhood it was very alarming. Several individuals fainted, and most of the inhabitants of the village of Comrie spent the whole night in the streets, or in the churches, which were very properly opened for prayer. Many stone dykes were thrown down, walls of houses rent, and chimney-stalks shattered, the stones being frequently shifted from their places, but no serious damage was sustained. The shocks have again diminished both in frequency and violence since the autumn of 1839." Another severe shock occurred in November, 1846, but from that date they have decreased both in number and intensity. The cause of these subterranean commotions is in this as in similar cases a matter of conjecture, but there is good cause for thankfulness that they have hitherto been attended with no serious damage to life or property.

The Session records of some parishes in Scotland are of some historical value, but this is not so with those of Comrie. Beyond the perpetual reiteration of cases of discipline and doles to the poor, there is little to be found in them to throw light upon the Christian life and work of the parish. So meagrely kept were these records that until the year 1829 the Christian name and surname of the Moderator and Clerk never appear in the minutes—not even the Secession of 1843 is recorded, though the minister left the church with a great majority of the congregation to worship upon Tomachessock. The only exception to what we have just stated, perhaps, is a minute of Kirk-Session dated 17th November, 1772, recording the honour due to Patrick Campbell, Esq. of Monzie, then deceased, and the Rev. Robert Menzies, minister of the parish, for the active and benevolent part they took in the building of the Dalginross Bridge over the Earn. The bridge was built in 1756 at a cost of £230.

The Parish Church was erected in 1805, and holds 1044 sitters. The manse was built in 1784, and an addition was made to it in 1822. A new church was built in St. Fillans in connection with the Church of Scotland in 1878, and in March, 1895, it was endowed and erected into a parish quoad sacra under the old name of Dundurn. It is curious to note how the land has been changing hands during the last 180 years. In 1715, the heritors were the Earl of Perth, Duke of Athole, the proprietors of Aberuchill, Lawers, Monzie, Cultabraggan, Ardvoirlich, Comrie, Strowan, Drummond-Ernoch, and Balmacuin. At present they are the Earl of Ancaster, Marquis of Breadalbane, and the proprietors of Ardvoirlich, Dunira, Aberuchill, Strowan, Lawers, Dalchonzie, and Drumearn.