Die Regionen Fife und Perthshire

Fife und Perthshire

Hier ein paar Informationen über Städte, Ortschaften und sonstige Attraktionen (Stirling Castle, Edzell Castle, St. Andrews Kathredale, usw.) in den Regionen Fife und Perthshire, im Nordosten Schottlands. Das gesamte Dokument finden Sie auch im Download-Bereich als PDF (etwa 158kB Größe) zum Herunterladen. Navigieren Sie einfach über die Links in dem nachstehenden Inhaltverzeichnis zu den einzelnen Dokumenten. Übrigens: Ein deutsche Übersetzung ist zur Zeit in Bearbeitung.

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1. Pittenweem
2. Anstruther
3. Crail
4. Cupar
5. St Andrews Cathedral
6. St Andrews Castle
7. Culross
8. West Wemyss
9. Dunkeld
10. Dunkeld Cathedral
11. Dunning
12. Birnam
13. Alyth
14. Blairgowrie
15. Kinross
16. Edradour Distillery
17. Falkland
18. Kirriemuir
19. Brechin
20. Edzell
21. Edzell Castle
22. Fettercairn
23. Comrie
24. Crieff
25. Muthill
26. Elie & Earlsferry
27. The Wallace Monument
28. Aberdour Castle
29. St Fillan’s Church, Aberdour
30. Ravenscraig Castle
31. Castle Campbell
32. About Stirling
33. Stirling
34. Stirling Castle
35. Dumyat
36. Doune
37. Around Perth
38. Perth

1. Pittenweem

Pittenweem is now the most active fishing port on the East Neuk coast of Fife. Fishing boats jostle for position in its busy harbour and this is a lively vibrant place at any time of day. To add to the magic, visitors can watch the fish market conducted in the sheds on the harbour from 8 am each morning. The harbour is a magnet for visitors. Photographers can take their pick between the brightly-hulled fishing boats or the jumble of red pantiled houses. Pittenweem simply oozes charm. Also on the harbourside are the local inns, having served fishermen for generations and no doubt continuing to do so. Many of the small houses in the village bear plaques showing that they have been restored by the National Trust for Scotland. As in other villages on the East Neuk coast many houses echo the Dutch style with crow-stepped gables. Viewed from above, the pantiled roofs seem to tumble down the cliffside to the harbour below. Kellie Lodging in the High Street is a small and intriguingly restored townhouse. Dominated by the village Kirk at its far end, the High Street exudes charm. Here you can find the baker’s shop and other local traders serving the community and tourists alike. The village name means ‘place of the cave’, referring to St Fillan’s cave in Cove Wynd, which was used as a chapel by the 7th Century missionary. The saint reputedly had miraculous powers. He wrote his sermons in the complete darkness of the cave and yet his arm was said to emit a luminous glow to enable him to see what he was doing. The cave has been largely respected as a shrine, although it was once used to store fishing nets. In the 1930s the cave was re-dedicated and services are still held there. Visitors can request the key for the cave from the Gingerbread Horse Café on the High Street (usually open 10 am to 5 pm).

2. Anstruther

Anstruther’s many shops and busy attractive harbour make it the main commercial centre of the East Neuk of Fife. The harbour is as much of focus of town life in 21st Century Anstruther as it has been for many centuries past. But times have changed. Fifty years ago, this picturesque port was so busy with fishing boats it was possible to walk from one side of the wide harbour to the other by stepping from boat to boat. Then the North Sea herring shoals disappeared, taking with them much of the fishing fleet. Today, pleasure craft moor in the harbour where the fishing boats used to seek refuge and unload their catches. But Anstruther’s association with the fishing industry has not been forgotten. The town is home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum a National Museum which tells the story of Scottish fishing from the earliest times to the present day. Housed in a fascinating complex of buildings beside the harbour, displays include a cottage belonging to a fishing family as well as the history of the herring industry that was once the mainstay of the local economy. Lovingly restored fishing craft stand in the paved courtyard, with a huge anchor alongside. Tableaux, reconstructions, models and paintings are included across eighteen different floors. The Scottish Fisheries Museum is open all year. Opening hours are: April to September: Monday to Saturday 10 am to 5.30 pm, Sunday 11 am to 5 pm; October to March: Monday to Saturday 10 am to 4.30 pm, Sunday 12 pm to 4.30 pm. From the harbour there are sea angling trips or visits to the Isle of May, a nature reserve only one mile long located out in the mouth of the Firth of Forth. Between May and September there is one departure to the Isle daily though departure times vary depending on weather and tides. Allow four or five hours for the round trip and remember to dress warmly. Between April and July the Isle of May’s sea cliffs are covered in sea birds and the island is also home to a colony of grey seals. Visible from the mainland is the lighthouse, erected on the Isle in 1816 by Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather, as are the remains of Scotland’s first lighthouse, built in 1636, which burnt coals as a beacon. Inland there are the remains of St Aiden’s Chapel, dedicated to a monk who was murdered on the island by Danes in 875. Anstruther itself is a charming place. Take a walk along the cobbled streets through a rabbit-warren of little alleyways and wynds and note the dates on the buildings. In High Street many of the shops still display original signs and advertisements for companies long forgotten. There are restaurants serving local seafood specialities and Anstruther Fish Bar by the shore boasts it has been voted "Scotland’s best fish and chips in 2001". Even if you don’t take the time to visit the Isle of May, Anstruther is an excellent destination for a day out, whatever the weather.

3. Crail

Crail, the most easterly village of the East Neuk of Fife is also its most ancient Royal Burgh. Ten miles south east of St Andrews it has one of the most photographed harbours in the whole of Scotland. It is also a haven for artists. Crail is the most interesting, and the most lovely, of the fishing ports that are strung along the southern coast of Fife. It makes an excellent destination for a long half-day out, especially if you take in some of the nearby coastal scenery and walks. A short walk down the hill from the centre of the village (which is where you should park) is Crail’s picture-postcard harbour. It is surrounded by white rendered and red stone cottages with pantile roofs, many having Flemish-inspired crow-stepped gables. Old trading links are reflected in much of the village architecture including the Dutch-style town house, whose bell, cast in 1520, has a Dutch inscription. But this is also a working port, home to Fife’s crab and lobster fleet, and though there are fewer boats than there used to be, visitors can still buy fresh lobster and shellfish from the harbourside. Castle Walk, above and to the east of the harbour, offers wonderful views and from here it is just a short stroll to Crail’s own picturesque pottery. Crail has a tourist information centre, open during the Summer months and housed at the Museum on Marketgait. Here visitors can learn of the village’s history and involvement with the fishing industry. Admission is free. Opening times include Easter, weekends and holidays, then June to September Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm plus Sunday afternoons only. The 16th Century tolbooth, also in Marketgait is now the library and town hall. Also of interest is the 13th Century collegiate church. Legend goes that the stone at its gate was hurled across to the mainland from the Isle of May by the Devil. There is also an interesting Mercat Cross, topped with a unicorn.

4. Cupar

For much of the past millennium Cupar was the county town of Fife. It inherited this role from the coastal village of Crail in 1214. And it lost it to the new town of Glenrothes on the creation of the Fife Regional Council in 1974. At about the time it became county town, Cupar also acquired a castle. This, too, was later lost, though its probable location, in "Castlefields", remains. Much of the early wealth so evident in the buildings you see in Cupar today was based on the wool trade, and on the town’s central location as a market serving a large part of eastern Fife. This received a setback after the Black Death struck Cupar in 1350, and as a result some of the town’s dominance was lost to St Andrews On the whole, however, Cupar continued to do well and by 1827 a visitor recorded it as "a decidedly prosperous town". The early nineteenth century saw Cupar as a centre for financial services, despite the failure through mismanagement of the Fife Banking Company in 1825. A new county headquarters was built in 1817, and the local newspaper, the Fife Herald, was founded in 1822. And in 1825, Cupar was home to four breweries, none of which remain in production. A major development took place in 1847, with the arrival in Cupar of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway. The town has managed to retain its station, now on the Edinburgh to Dundee line as it crosses Fife: a fact that helps sustain its prosperity into the 21st Century. A walk around Cupar today reveals a remarkably bustling town that remains the natural centre of a large part of eastern Fife. Much of the bustle centres on the shopping streets that converge on the Unicorn surmounted Mercat Cross. A particular testament to Cupar’s historic wealth and importance is its fine and varied collection of churches. Especially striking is St John’s Parish Church in Bonnygate, built in 1878. Viewed from the street its 150ft spire seems impossibly tall for so narrow a church. Much older is the interestingly named Cupar Old and St Michael of Tarvit Parish Church, in Kirkgate. The tower dates back to 1415, though the church itself was rebuilt in 1785. One of the bells in the belfry dates back to 1485. Beyond its more obvious highlights, Cupar throws up a range of interesting insights for the curious visitor. The River Eden flows swiftly through Cupar within its modern defensive banks. Close to the town centre a steel fabrication company stores its stock of steel beams and bars overhanging the river, suggesting that whatever the use put to it in the past, the Eden is not much navigated today. Just beyond, the river flows through a large and attractive town park. Here, too, you will find the town’s large war memorial surmounted by a striking winged statue. A mile or so to the north of Cupar lies the route of the Coast to Coast Walk from Oban to St Andrews making Cupar an ideal stopping off point for footweary travellers following this cross country path.

5. St Andrews Cathedral

Sitting at the eastern end of St Andrews’two main streets is the imposing, if slightly confusing, collection of ruins that together make up St Andrews Cathedral and a number of associated religious buildings. There had probably been a religious community located on this site since around 732AD, when relics of St Andrew were brought to what was then known as Kilrimont by Bishop Acca of Hexham. There is an alternative and probably more fanciful story, that Saint Rule brought five of St Andrew’s bones here by boat in the 4th Century, having sailed from from Patras in Greece and eventually surviving a shipwreck near the site of today’s harbour. Either way, the settlement that became St Andrews rose through the dark ages to an eminent position in the Scottish Church, a process that was accelerated when Viking raids led to the removal from Iona of St Columba’s relics in 849AD, and with them much of Iona’s power base. By 1144 St Andrews’ place in the Scottish Church was confirmed with the setting up here of a community of Augustinian Canons. At the same time, an existing band of clergy, the Culdees, were displaced, eventually finding a permanent home in the most easterly of the three churches on the rocky promontory occupied by the cathedral. This, the church of St Mary on the Rock, is now barely visible above ground level on a site overlooking the harbour outside the precinct wall of the cathedral. The Augustinians took as their own St Rule’s Church, which dates from about 1130, but which was extended in 1144 to accommodate them. Today, all that remains of St Rule’s Church is a small part of the chancel and the implausibly high tower. This is accessible to visitors and, at 100ft high, provides superb views over St Andrews and the surrounding area. By 1160 it was clear that St Rule’s Church was too small to accommodate the ambitions of the Bishops, and work began on what was to become the largest cathedral ever to be built in Scotland. The work took nearly 150 years to complete. It was eventually consecrated on 5 July 1318 in the presence of Robert the Bruce. The cathedral was not blessed by favourable elements or good luck, either during its construction or afterwards. Shortly after the nave was completed, the west end of the cathedral was blown down in a gale in 1270. This was rebuilt - and parts of it remain today - in a slightly different position. Then the English stripped the lead from the part-built roofs to make shot during the independence wars. In 1378 the cathedral was badly damaged by fire and had to be extensively rebuilt. And in 1409 it was the turn of the end of the south transept to collapse under the force of a winter storm. But it was a wind of another kind that brought about the sudden end of the cathedral: the wind of change wrought by the Reformation. On 11 June 1559 John Knox preached a sermon in St Andrews parish church that so aroused the congregation they immediately went to the cathedral and destroyed the splendid fittings and furnishings associated by the reformers with "popery". The end followed quickly. The Church of St Mary on the Rock was probably completely destroyed shortly after it was first attacked. The cathedral and its friary effectively ceased to function on 14 June 1559 when further attacks took place, and within a week all the friars has been "violently expelled" from St Andrews. Over the following decades there continued to be debate about restoring this, the greatest of Scottish cathedrals, but by the late 1600s the cathedral’s main role was as a quarry providing much of the building material for the subsequent development of St Andrews. Today, what remains is rather fragmentary. A fair part of the magnificent precinct wall surrounding the cathedral can still be seen. Within it, you will find a portion of the west end of the cathedral, facing St Andrews, plus one nave wall, looking rather bleak, and the east gable. To the south of the main cathedral, visitors today can still wander around part of the cloister or examine the graves unearthed under the floor of the chapter house. There is also an excellent visitor centre in the undercroft of the refectory, on the south side of the cloister. Much of the remainder of the precinct is now given over to graveyard, and for those who find fascination in wandering around such places, this is a particularly interesting one. And of particular interest given St Andrews’ golfing connections is the grave of Tommy Morris, the golfer.

6. St Andrews Castle

When visiting St Andrews, make sure to find your way to the shore immediately to the north of the centre of the town. Here, with its back to the sea and bordered on two sides by steep cliffs, is the ruin of the once mighty St Andrews Castle. There was a castle on this site by the 12th Century, and from around 1200 it was adopted as the main residence of the bishops and archbishops of St Andrews. As such, the Castle became the principal administrative centre of the Scottish church and was the setting for some of the key events in Scottish history through the Middle Ages. Little of this early Castle can be traced through the existing ruins. Certainly almost nothing remains of the earliest structure which suffered badly during the Wars of Independence and was finally rendered indefensible by the Scots in 1337 to avoid it again being held by the English. Completed in about 1400, the ‘new’ castle was the work of Bishop Trail. With steep cliffs protecting it to the north and east and rock cut ditches to its landward side it was built to be defended, protected from attack by tall, thick curtain walls. Within these walls were five square towers providing residence for the bishop, his large household and guests. Ranges were built along the inside of each length of curtain wall and further accommodation was provided in outer courtyards to the south and west. Bishop Trail later died here, in 1401, but the layout he gave to the castle became the basis for all later development. As a residence, St Andrews Castle saw many notable visitors, including the young James I, who was a student at the University here and visited in 1410. The castle also served as a strong and grim prison. An especially striking remnant of this role is the Bottle Dungeon, a bottle shaped pit dug 22ft down into the rock below the Sea Tower and accessible only via the narrow neck opening through a trap door from the floor of tower vault. Into this prisoners could simply be lowered - or dropped - and forgotten. Further significant works on the Castle at St Andrews were undertaken by Archbishop James Beaton in the early 16th Century following the Battle of Flodden. These were designed to withstand an attack by heavy artillery. The main changes were to the south and west fronts facing the land. Two massive circular gun towers, called blockhouses, were built and heavy carriage-mounted guns were positioned at the wall tops. Beaton appointed as his successor his nephew David, an ambitious man who was already a prominent figure in both the religious and political life of the time. He was also a man who knew how to lose friends more readily than make them. His strong opposition to the marriage of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots to Prince Edward, son and heir of Henry VIII of England was a major factor leading to renewed warfare between the two countries in 1544. Not satisfied with this, in March 1546, he had the Protestant preacher, George Wishart, burnt at the stake in front of the castle walls. This was subsequently used as a pretext for Beaton’s murder at the hands of local landowners who took the castle by stealth. A long siege followed on the orders of the Regent, the Earl of Arran. By November 1546 this had resulted in a stalemate that the besiegers sought to break with what has given rise to St Andrews Castle’s second most chilling underground artifact after the Bottle Dungeon. A determined effort to mine under the walls of the castle via a spacious tunnel large enough to take pack animals was intercepted - after several false starts - by the defenders, who dug a low, narrow and twisting countermine through the rock that eventually broke into the mine itself. Visitors are able to make their way down the countermine and into the mine, though it is not somewhere for those with claustrophobia or an overly active imagination. The siege was eventually settled, decisively, in 1547 with the arrival of a French fleet which joined with the besiegers and reduced the castle to ruins. St Andrews Castle passed next to the illegitimate brother of the Regent Earl of Arran, Archbishop John Hamilton who, though finally hanged after he was implicated in the death of Lord Darnley, was able to rebuild most of the castle in his lifetime. The result was a much more grand and elaborate structure than the fortress it replaced. The Reformation of the Scottish Church in 1560 had little immediate effect on the castle and its operation, but over time it became increasingly neglected. Its association with the church seemed permanently severed in 1606 when it passed to the Earl of Dunbar, but it did later return to church control before finally falling into ruin after the ascendancy of William and Mary in 1689. To the 21st Century visitor, St Andrews Castle shows the scars of the centuries of decay since its abandonment. But it is still possible to get a sense of grandeur here and view the unusual features that have survived. There is also an excellent visitors’ centre.

7. Culross

Arriving in Culross is something of a surprise. The village looks across the River Forth to the oil refineries at Grangemouth, and sits between the huge Longannet power station to the west and the derelict Low Valleyfield colliery and the disused salt pans of Preston Island to the east. In this industrial landscape the visitor following the brown tourist signs to Culross Palace and Abbey is probably not expecting anything very special from the village itself. Which is why what you find such a shock. Because in Culross you find the nearest thing to a 16th century time capsule anywhere in Scotland. It is as if a large part of the core of the village was simply frozen in time. This effect is no accident, and what you see today is in large measure the result of the work of the National Trust for Scotland over a period of more than seventy years. Highlights include the 1597 Palace, restored to its original mustard yellow render and wooden shuttered condition. It was actually more the local landowner’s hall and dwelling, and still has a range of accompanying outbuildings and a "hanging garden" with wicker fences leading up the slope behind. And on the hillside behind the village are the remnants of Culross Abbey. The 1626 Town House with its 1783 tower is also a showpiece. However, what really sets Culross apart as special is the way so much of the village is original, with narrow wynds (including the evocative and probably once descriptive "Stinking Wynd") and stunning buildings. Here you can begin to see what a 16th century village might really have looked like. If today’s village owes much to the restoration work of the NTS, it also owes a great deal to the rise and subsequent decline of Culross as an industrial centre in the 16th and 17th centuries. The village had its origins in the twin forces of religion, at least until the reformation, and coal mining. The abbey was founded in 1217 possibly because of the belief that this was the birth place of St Mungo. The monks later began to mine coal. After the reformation much of the Abbey fell into decay, though part still serves as the Abbey Church. In 1575 a unique new pit, the Moat pit, was sunk from an artificial island offshore in the River Forth, and kept drained by a continuous bucket system driven by horses. The coal was exported directly: Culross was once a very busy port. It was also used to provide heat for the village’s second main industry, its salt pans. In the 1590s Culross produced more salt than anywhere else in Scotland. The profits produced by this trade and by the mine were used by the owner, George Bruce, to finance the building of the Palace. By 1750 the boom had ended. The Moat pit was flooded and destroyed in a storm in 1625, and later the stone from the pier, crucial to the village’s prosperity, was removed to help rebuild the port at Leith. The fortunes of the village subsided through the 19th century, leaving, by 1900, "a decayed royal burgh containing many old houses". By the 1930s the world started to realise how special Culross was, and the NTS has been working here since then.

8. West Wemyss

West Wemyss lies half a mile down a minor side road off the A955 east of Kirkcaldy. Blink and you’ll miss the junction, which would be a shame because this is a small detour well worth taking. The village owes its origins to the Wemyss Estate based at Wemyss Castle, just to the east of the village. The Wemyss family have lived in the castle ever since it was first built in the twelfth century. The early origins of West Wemyss lay in its harbour and in industrial development. Coal was mined near here from the 1430s, and by the 1560s at least one pit was working out under the River Forth. Scotland’s first glassworks was also set up near here in 1600. In 1511 the village acquired a striking tollbooth with a tall and ornate tower, and the harbour was further developed from the middle of the 1600s. By 1795 over 6000 tons of coal per year mined in local pits was exported from the harbour, and at around the same time ships were being built here. In 1900 West Wemyss harbour was linked to local pits by a railway that ran through a tunnel to reach the village, and it had a gasworks. By the 1960s, however, the railway and gasworks had gone, much of the harbour had been filled with colliery waste; and in the 1970s the village school was closed and demolished. Recent years have seen the decline of the mid-20th Century reversed. A huge amount of work has been put into effective coastal defences, and the Wemyss Estate has invested heavily, with help from some well spent lottery money, in turning the village into a truly attractive place to live and to visit. Many of the houses lining the main street have been extensively renovated, and in the 1990s the harbour was brought back into use for fishing and pleasure craft. Even more strikingly, the first building you seen on descending into West Wemyss was until the 1970s the Miners’ Welfare Institute. The Wemyss Estate converted it into what is now the extremely attractive Belvedere Hotel, enjoying stunning views over the Firth of Forth. At the far end of the village you find the churchyard wall, complete with its imposing memorial dated 1703. Beyond the wall is Wemyss Parish Church, which was built in 1890. The church was brought from the Church of Scotland by the Wemyss Estate in 1972, who have since maintained the exterior of the building on condition it continues to be used as a church. West Wemyss is a truly remarkable place. It has a very real and surprisingly significant history, and it has also had far more than its fair share of industrial dereliction and economic decline. But what makes the village remarkable is the way this decline has been reversed by the work of many partners and agencies in recent years: and especially by the work of the Wemyss Estate. It’s all too easy to simply accept the sometimes rather negative image of Scottish landowners. But it is very nice to come across an example that helps redress the balance.

9. Dunkeld

The name Dunkeld comes from the Gaelic for "the fort in the wood". Its recorded history dates back to the foundation here of a settlement by Culdee Monks in about 730AD. This was rebuilt by Kenneth MacAlpin in 848 and two years later Dunkeld became the religious centre of Scotland when St Columba’s relics were moved here from Iona for safe keeping from increasing Viking raids. The story of Dunkeld Catherdal, on the west side of the centre of the village, is told on a separate Feature Page. Dunkeld’s fortunes up to 1560 were closely linked with those of the Cathedral it served: so the destruction wrought by the Reformation that year was a huge setback for the village as well. It also robbed the village of a bridge over the River Tay, planned at the time, following years of promises by the Bishops. After the Reformation the village’s story is distinct from that of the Cathedral, part of which was reused as the parish church (and still is). Scotland’s first brick house, Dunkeld House, was built here in 1680; and a post office opened in the village in 1689. However, little of what you see today in Dunkeld is earlier than 1689. The accession of William and Mary to the throne of Scotland in March 1689 was followed in July by the first of a series of Jacobite uprisings. The Jacobites defeated Government forces at Killiecrankie, a few miles north of Dunkeld, in July: though with the loss of their leader, Viscount Dundee. The remains of the Government forces retreated to Dunkeld where by mid-August they totalled around 1000 men, including reinforcements from the Cameronian Regiment who had marched from Doune near Stirling. At first light on 21 August 1689 they were attacked by 4000 Jacobites. For sixteen hours the battle raged from house to house in the village. By 11 pm the remaining Government forces, now confined to defensive positions around the Cathedral, were on the verge of defeat when the Jacobites withdrew. This was not the end of the first Jacobite uprising, but it was the beginning of the end of it. Only three houses in the village had not been destroyed in the fighting. Today’s Dunkeld has largely been rebuilt since. Dunkeld did eventually gain a bridge linking it with Birnam on the far side of the River Tay. This was in 1809, when the ubiquitous Thomas Telford produced the solid seven arched structure that is still used today. Today’s Dunkeld is a lovely village of largely whitewashed shops, cottages and hotels. A great deal of work was done in the 1950s and 1960s by the National Trust for Scotland and the Local Authority to restore many of the older buildings in Cathedral Street and around the Cross. The results amply repay the effort. A highlight at the junction of Cathedral Street is the Ell House. This takes its name from the engraving on its outside wall of the measurement of an "Ell", a length of 39 inches used as a reference for market trading. The Ell House is now the National Trust shop in Dunkeld. The main road, Bridge Street, extends from the bridge at one end through the built up area of the village, running in effect from the strikingly white Atholl Arms Hotel overlooking the bridge to the equally strikingly white Royal Dunkeld Hotel. This street is lined with a fascinating collection of shops, and about half way along it intersects High Street, leading to The Cross and the Cathedral beyond.

10. Dunkeld Cathedral

Dunkeld Cathedral lies on the north bank of the River Tay just to the west of the centre of Dunkeld. It is approached on foot through the narrow streets of Dunkeld which lead you to the Cathedral’s ornate gates. With the river on one side and open land leading to hills on the other, the setting is idyllic. The site has been holy ground since about 730AD when Celtic missionaries, known as Culdees, built the first monastery here. The major development came in 848, when Kenneth MacAlpin, by then King of the Scots and of the Picts, rebuilt the original wattle buildings in red stone. Two years later Dunkeld became the religious centre of Scotland when the relics of St Columba were moved here from Iona in the face of increasing Viking attacks on the west coast. The Cathedral you see today shows both Gothic and Norman influence having being built in stages over a period of nearly 250 years between 1260 and 1501. The restored choir is the oldest part or the original church, having been completed in 1350. It contains some of the original red stone in its east gable. The Cathedral is dedicated to St Columba. Its said that after their journey from Iona his relics were buried under the chancel steps to save them from desecration. The dove motif, symbolic of St Columba’s name, can be seen in both the East Window and on the specially woven chancel carpet. Dunkeld Cathedral twice suffered desecration and destruction during Scotland’s turbulent history. In 1560 it suffered badly in the Reformation, and anything considered to be remotely "Popish" was destroyed. The chancel was repaired and re-roofed in 1600 to serve as Dunkeld’s parish church. Worse was to come on 21 August 1689, during the first Jacobite uprising. The Jacobites, fresh from their victory at Killiecrankie to the north, attacked Government forces based in Dunkeld During the course of a long, bloody and largely inconclusive battle, much of the town, including the repaired parts of the Cathedral, were burned down. The Cathedral has since seen a succession of repairs to the choir, and in 1908 this was restored as nearly as possible to its original form. The impressive Great East Window was added at this time, a gift of the late Sir Donald Currie of Garth and Glen Lyon. It depicts the Christian virtues of Fortitude, Charity, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope, Temperance and Patience below which there are five shepherds gazing at the angelic host. In the bottom section is St Columba addressing the people. The chapter house, under the bell tower at the west end of the Cathedral contains a museum with a graphic display outlining the history of the church and its community from Celtic times to the present day. Other interesting exhibits include the Apostles’ Stone, a fine 9th Century example of Pictish art, the Cross Slab from the 9th Century monastery, the Old Bell, removed during the 1975 restoration and marble statues of the 4th Duke of Atholl and Sir Donald Currie the 1908 restoration benefactor. Dunkeld Cathedral is a building of two very distinct halves. Its east end is a rather attractive parish church; its west end, apart from the bell tower and chapter house, a roofless ruin with a grassy carpet. Collectors of cathedrals will note the similarities between Dunkeld and Dunblane Cathedrals, and visits to both provide and interesting opportunity to compare and contrast. For 300 years Dunblane comprised a smaller active church attached to the post-reformation remains of a larger cathedral; though this changed from 1889 when Dunblane was restored in its entirety.

11. Dunning

Dunning is a little off the beaten track, but that’s what makes it so special. It was missed by the railway builders of the 19th Century and by the road builders of the 20th. It lies at the foot of the Ochil Hills, two miles south of the A9 dual carriageway from Stirling to Perth. The village, like others in the area, was largely destroyed by Jacobites retreating from the Battle of Sheriffmuir in January 1716, so much of what you see today has been built since. This is certainly not true of the centrepiece of the village, the Old Parish Church of St Serf. The church was built in about 1200 by Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn. Of a number of remnants from the original church, the tower is the most obvious. This is very reminiscent of others of the period at nearby Muthill and at St Rules in St Andrews. The decorative arch connecting the body of the church with the base of the tower is also an original feature. In 1678 an upper gallery and external stairs were added, and in 1810 extensive rebuilding of the body of the church left the T-shaped structure focused on the centrally placed communion table that you see today. Especially striking are the dark wood balconies providing an additional layer of seating in all three arms of the church, suggesting that in 1810 the congregation was extremely large. The church passed into the care of Historic Scotland in 1978 and is open to visitors in Summer. In 2002 St Serfs became the home of the 9th Century Dupplin Cross, a wonderfully carved pictish cross originally sited on a hillside east of the village but housed in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh for some years. This is now on display in the base of the tower, visible from the body of the church. The rest of Dunning retains the small village feel that is so often swept away by modern development elsewhere. St Serfs and the village shops are located overlooking Tron Square, the large open area in the centre of the village. Nearby is the Kirkstyle Inn and Restaurant, overlooking Dunning Burn as it makes its way north to join the River Earn. The eastern end of the village houses an attractive green, complete with the war memorial and the Victorian Parish Church that replaced St Serfs as the centre of religious life in the village. If you head west out of Dunning, look out in the fields on your right for a stone cairn topped with a small cross, accessed through a gap in the wall. The painted inscription reads: "Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch". This touching and rather spooky monument marks a black period in Scottish history. In 1597 King James VI published a book on witchcraft and launched a witch-hunt that over the following hundred years would claim the lives of over 1000 alleged witches, including 800 women. Maggie Wall was clearly one of them.

12. Birnam

Birnam tends to be overshadowed by its larger neighbour, Dunkeld Birnam lies on the south west bank of the River Tay, facing Dunkeld across the river. Birnam’s major claim to fame came from the pen of Shakespeare. According to his telling of the story of Macbeth, it was through realisation of the witches’ prophecy about the movement of Birnam Wood that Macbeth came to his end. Signs in Birnam point you to the Birnam Oak close to the River Tay and behind the Birnam House Hotel. This ancient tree, now supported on crutches, is said to be part of the wood from which Malcolm’s soldiers cut branches to disguise their attack on Macbeth at Dunsinane Hill, 15 miles to the south east. If this seems odd, it is worth remembering that Shakespeare was a dramatist rather than a historian. It’s a mistake to think of Birnam and Dunkeld as parts of the same settlement. The two are equally attractive, but wholly different in atmosphere and appearance. Today’s Birnam is a village with a very Victorian feel. A collection of substantial grey stone buildings, it is easy to imagine much of Birnam being developed following the arrival of the railway at the station just to the south west in 1856. Dunkeld and Birnam station now lies on the main line to Aviemore and Inverness. Between it and Birnam is the other main route north, the A9, which bypassed the village in the late 1970s. The result has been to leave Birnam occupying the space between the railway and road to the south west, and the River Tay to the north east. A bridge across the Tay connecting Birnam and Dunkeld had been planned as far back as the 1500s, plans that were disrupted by the Reformation and the destruction of Dunkeld Cathedral in 1560. In the end, residents and travellers had to make do with ferries until 1809 when the seven arch bridge that still stands today was constructed by Thomas Telford. At the heart of Birnam is the Birnam Institute. This has been run in an attractive Victorian building from the 1870s to provide a range of community facilities for the area. In 2001 work was completed on a £1.7m expansion, largely funded by lottery money. This has produced an exciting new building in the village, providing a 230 seater theatre, workshop space, meeting and display areas, and library and IT facilities. Over recent years the Institute has also developed displays highlighting the links with the author Beatrix Potter, who spent her childhood holidays here. This includes an attractive Beatrix Potter garden behind the institute and opposite the Birnam House Hotel. Peter Rabbit lives on in the garden, together with much else associated with the author. Also in the centre of Birnam is St Mary’s Church, complete with its clock tower. The church was built in 1858 and is set in its own well cared for churchyard. The clock tower was added in 1883. Windows in the church are by a number of different designers, including William Morris.

13. Alyth

Alyth lies just off the main road from Blairgowrie to Kirriemuir on the southern slopes of the hills that form the Forest of Alyth. It is a town with an ancient history, evidence of which can be seen particularly where the village starts to climb the Hill of Alyth to the north. Whether this history dates back far enough to justify claims that it was the site of the imprisonment by the Pictish King Mordred of Queen Guinevere is debatable. However, it is known that Alyth dates back to at least the 11th Century, and that the first church was built here in the 1200s. Remains of this can still be seen as a series of arches within the churchyard on the hillside in the upper part of the town. A little more recent is the packhorse bridge used to cross the Alyth Burn as it flows through Alyth. This was built in about 1500 and can still be crossed on foot as you explore the old part of the town. This marks Alyth’s historical importance as a market serving both Strathmore and the wilder Forest of Alyth to the north. Nearby is another sign of the importance of this route north: the Lossit Inn, built in 1760. By then Alyth was larger than Blairgowrie and had nine fairs a year, far more than most market towns. The 1800s marked a period of industrialisation for Alyth, though its textile mills came and went in much the same way as its brewery had done. Textiles were at their height following the arrival of the railway in 1861. For a while the town was the location of a 100 loom steam mill producing linen, and by 1870 the industry employed 350 people in Alyth’s two mills. Signs of an industrial past are still on view. Just to the north of the centre of the town is what until the mid 1990s had been Forfar Carpets’ main works. This has since been taken over by a company restoring vintage cars. Fans of old cars can enjoy spotting the origins of the various remains and parts held in the yard outside. Close by, and still within the town, is an active sawmill largely housed in an open-sided works where timber cutting can be watched from the footpath. Also on the south facing slope above the centre of Alyth is the most striking landmark in the town, Alyth Parish Church. This was designed by Thomas Hamilton and built in 1839. Externally its most obvious feature is the very high spire, giving the church a vertical feel. Internally you find a church that looks broader than it is long, and comes complete with a gallery on three sides. All the windows are of fine stained glass and in the porch of the church is a Pictish standing stone. As you complete your tour of Alyth it is worth making time to take a look at the museum, on the east side of the Alyth Burn just north of the town centre. This is just a few doors along from the Camno Workshop, a distinctive and imposing shop that allows you to step back into a different world with its wooden toys and puzzles, dolls’ houses and miniature furniture.

14. Blairgowrie

Newton Castle, on the west side of Blairgowrie, was built in the 1500s to guard the point where the main route from Braemar and the north emerged into Strathmore. The village on the west bank of the River Ericht below it was called Newton of Blair, which was changed to Blairgowrie in a charter dated 1643. Blairgowrie has always been one of a pair with Rattray, on the opposite side of the River Ericht. This already had a school by 1600. In the early 1700s Blairgowrie became the starting point for the military road north to Braemar finished in 1725. This took a route up the west side of the River Ericht from Blairgowrie. At about the same time Blairgowrie was connected to Rattray by a bridge. This original bridge was washed away in the 1840s, but quickly replaced with another. The bridge linking the two parts of the community today has been considerably expanded to cope with the traffic now making use of it. The settlement’s growth owed a great deal to the strength of the waters of the River Ericht as it flowed south from the Cairngorms. Water-powered linen mills were starting to take advantage of the location by 1790, when 100 weavers were employed. By 1860 there were 11 water-powered mills on this stretch of the river, employing 1600 people, so many that the town had to be significantly expanded to accommodate them. Of these mills, eight were turning flax into linen, while three were processing jute. The Keathbank jute mill was added to the eleven already in operation in around 1870, bringing with it the largest water wheel in Scotland. The mill can still be seen and visited, and lies on the Rattray side of the river a mile or so up the A93 Braemar road. The 1900s saw a shift away from textiles. Instead, Blairgowrie started to take advantage of its location en route to the Glenshee Ski Centre. Hotels and ski shops were not slow to provide for this new market. Other leisure developments included the Blairgowrie Golf Club to the south of the town. This had offered members an 18 hole course since 1889. Today it has two 18 hole championship courses plus a 9 hole course. Meanwhile, Blairgowrie had also became the centre of the Scottish soft fruit industry: and the raspberry industry in particular. Any journey round the area, especially on the south facing slopes on the north side of Strathmore, reveals field upon field of raspberry canes. Until the process was mechanised, raspberry picking provided seasonal employment for armies of pickers, many from cities like Glasgow. Much of what emerged as a result went for canning at Smedley’s canning factory in Blairgowrie, until it closed in 1979. Today’s Blairgowrie repays exploration. The banks of the River Ericht are particularly pleasant and offer a number of walks. The turbulence of the river is reflected in the remarkable steel sculpture near the bridge, an interplay of fish and the image of the swirling water. A more practical structure can be seen on the river bed below the bridge, where a fish ladder has been provided to allow the annual migration of salmon to take place whatever the state of the river. And finally, if you are approaching Blairgowrie from Perth along the A93, look out for the beech hedge at Meikelour. At 100 feet high this is the tallest hedge in the world. Spare a thought for those who have to keep it trimmed...

15. Kinross

Part of Kinross is well known to many visitors to Scotland. Since the building of the M90 thirty years ago, Kinross Services has been a regular stop on the long journey north: a break between the Forth Road Brigde and the end of the motorway at Perth. Some will also remember camping here, though it is now many years since the service area also operated a camp site. But the service area and the excellent Tourist Information Centre, a hundred yards further along the road towards Clackmannan, are recent additions to the historical town that lies the other side of the motorway and predates it by a good fifteen hundred years. Today’s visitor will find a bustling town of narrow streets and old buildings. The name Kinross means "The Head of the Point" and relates to the original location of its church overlooking Loch Leven. Today this remains the site of a graveyard and is accessed from the long park that runs from Kinross along the north western edge of Loch Leven. And it was the loch and its islands that caused the original growth of a settlement here. Lochleven Castle, on Castle Island, has acheived fame through the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots, and her escape on 2 May 1568. However, King Dongart of the Picts had a fortress on the island as early as 490AD, so the ruins on view today are just the last of a long line of defensive structures built here. Anyone intending to visit Lochleven Castle should note that from the start of the 2002 season the boat to Castle Island leaves from the well signposted pier on the west side of the loch (by the "Pier Bar" and boat hire): and not from the end of the park further round the loch as it used to. If Castle Island’s various castles provided a reason for the establishment of Kinross, another turning point came with the building of Kinross House, complete with extensive gardens and parkland, by Sir William Bruce of Balcaskie in 1690. This involved the relocation of parts of the town still on the headland, and significant development immediately outside the gates on the west side of the estate. Kinross House is now accessed from a side street in Kinross and through its gates the visitor can catch a distant glimpse of the first major house in Scotland not built as a castle. The town’s more recent history has been primarily an industrial one. In the early 1700s there were 320 weavers, 35 cutlers, 22 shoemakers and 10 iron workers in a population of around 600 people. By 1860 over 600 people were employed in local wool weaving companies. This tradition has continued and by the early 1990s Kinross was a world leader in spinning cashmere: turning the hair from 10 million mongolian goats into enough yarn to make 3 million garments per year. Kinross is also well served with leisure facilities. Loch Leven is a renowned centre for brown trout fishing, and the town and local area has many hotels: including the Green Hotel on the northern side of Kinross complete with its own golf course. The town also has an ice rink, allowing the continuation of a tradition that started with the formation of a curling club on Loch Leven in 1667.

16. Edradour Distillery

Lying in the hills overlooking Pitlochry and just to its east, is Edradour Distillery , the smallest distillery in Scotland. The distillery itself is a neat whitewashed collection of buildings located in a small rising valley, either side of the burn that provides its water. It can trace its origins back to the 1830s. The statistics are startling. Edradour produces as much whisky in a year as many distilleries produce in a week. And as both the bottle and the video presentation for visitors makes clear, production is undertaken by a staff of just three. The stills themselves are the smallest legally permitted by the Revenue: any smaller and you could keep one under your stairs at home... It’s not uncommon to find distilleries that employ more people in the visitor centre and conducting tours than in production: this is certainly the case here, and the free tours of the distillery are justly popular. The "standard" single malt now produced by Edradour is a ten-year-old, a highly rated Highland malt that for us carries a distinct overtone of the salt and seaweed much more characteristic of an island whisky. In short, an excellent visit that shows one end of the scale of whisky production in Scotland together, of course, with the opportunity to buy the product in the shop after your tour is complete.

17. Falkland

Take away the parked cars from Falkland’s streets and it would be easy to imagine yourself transported back through its sometimes violent history. It was with good reason that Falkland was made Scotland’s first conservation area in 1970: there are few other villages in the country quite so rich in wonderful old buildings. And the most striking of them, without doubt, is Falkland Palace. This is in various stages of disrepair, but the massive twin towered gatehouse remains in good condition and dominates the centre of the village. Falkland holds a important place in Scotland’s history. It was in Falkland Castle, later replaced by the Palace, that in 1402 the heir to the throne, David, the eldest son of Robert III, died while a prisoner of his uncle, the Duke of Albany. The official enquiry put this down to "divine providence". Others said David was starved to death to further his uncle’s ambitions. The castle was later rebuilt by the Duke of Albany as a royal hunting palace and the village grew to serve its needs. A further major reconstruction took place for James V in 1539, which included the building of the world’s oldest Royal Tennis Court still in use. The turning point in the palace’s fortunes came in 1542, when James V died here aged only 30, probably of cholera. Later royal interest in Falkland was sporadic and the palace fell into disrepair. In 1654 Cromwell’s troops burned down the great hall and the damage was never repaired. Other parts of the palace also suffered over the years from varying degrees of neglect or use as a quarry. Falkland’s later fortunes were closely linked with the weaving of linen. In 1792 there were 231 weavers in the village, probably about a third of the population. Other buildings in the village reflect other phases of its history, and other industries including brewing. From 1887 a heritage dimension started to appear in the village, with restoration work undertaken on parts of the palace. In 1952 the National Trust for Scotland took over its care. The palace and gardens are now open to the public between 1 March and 27 October, from 10 am to 6 pm Monday to Saturday and 1 pm to 5 pm on Sundays. The admission cost for an adult is £7 for both palace and gardens, and £3 for the gardens alone. There are reduced rates for concessions, families and groups. A walk around Falkland is a remarkable experience. It can get crowded at times. But if you catch it when it’s quiet, the assembled buildings simply ooze a deep and genuine history that takes some beating anywhere. At times it is difficult to know where to look. The centre of the village is dominated by the palace gatehouse. But other fine buildings, many with towers of their own to offer, vie for attention. Our favourite was the narrow cobbled wynd we stumbled across that looks wholly unchanged over hundreds of years. And if your taste extends to the natural environment as well as the historical environment, your attention will quickly be caught by the mass of East Lomond looming steeply over Falkland to the south west. This 424m hill is not high by Scottish standards, but it nicely sets off the village and provides a good balance to the dominance of the palace on the opposite side of the centre of the village.

18. Kirriemuir

There was a settlement on the site of Kirriemuir from as early as 1458, though early chroniclers disagree about the spelling of its name. Both Kelliemoore and Killymure appear on early maps, though Kirriemuir seems to have been agreed on by 1700. Kirriemuir was an early example of specialisation. In the 1760s a local weaver developed a double-thickness cloth that was the ideal material to be made into corsets. This formed the foundation for Kirriemuir’s growth as a textile centre and by 1860 there were 1500 hand loom weavers in Kirriemuir and 500 more in the surrounding area. It is estimated that Kirriemuir’s weavers produced over 9 million yards of linen per year through the 1860s. And most of this depended on the continuing fashion for narrow waists in women’s clothes. The disappearance of such fashions in World War One brought to an end 150 years of prosperity for Kirriemuir’s weaving industry. However, some of it still remains, including Britain’s only surviving jute mill in the Marywell Works. Kirriemuir itself is a place of narrow winding streets and intriguing nooks and crannies. The heart of the town is surrounded by a traffic management system that funnels vehicles one way around the centre. Inside this area is the oldest and most picturesque part of Kirriemuir. The town is also notable in being home to no less than three different museums. Most clearly signposted by far is the birthplace of J.M. Barrie, best known as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born in 1860, the ninth of ten children of a hand-weaver. His birth place is on the east side of the town centre and is looked after by the National Trust for Scotland. Visitors can view the recreated kitchen and bedroom upstairs, look at Barrie’s writing desk, or find out more in the small museum in the third of the upper floor rooms. Downstairs is the reception and teashop. And while you are looking at the size of the accommodation, remember that it housed a family with ten children. Outside is the preserved washroom that served this and other houses in the area. The legacy of Peter Pan is also marked by a statue of him placed in the centre of Kirriemuir (close to Hook’s Hotel!) and by a garden close to his birthplace that comes complete with another statue of Peter Pan and a large topiary crocodile in which children can play. Barrie’s Birthplace is open daily from April to September and weekends in October. Costs are £3.00 for adults; £2.00 for concessions; £1.00 for children. Contact them for more details on 01575 572646. In the mains square, opposite Visocchi’s excellent ice cream shop, is the the old Town House, dating back to 1604 and distinguishable by its small tower. This is home to the Kirriemuir Museum, open daily except Sundays, and Thursday mornings. Entrance is free. Also free, though donations are welcome, is Kirriemuir’s third museum. Kirriemuir Aviation Museum lies a couple of hundred yards south of the Kirriemuir Museum at the bottom of "Bellies Brae" on a curve in the road to Glamis. The museum was set up in the 1980s and represents a wide ranging collection of uniforms, models, pictures and artefacts relating to military aviation, and the RAF in particular. It is open from April to September, daily from 10 am to 5 pm except on Fridays and Sundays, when it opens at 11 am. And, finally, it is worth noting Kirriemuir’s contribution to popularising hillwalking in Scotland. Not so much as a base in itself, though there are high mountains at the head of nearby Glen Clova, but rather because it was near Kirriemuir that Sir Hugh Munro lived, the man whose name has forever since been linked with Scottish mountains over 3000 feet.

19. Brechin

Brechin is usually only glimpsed in passing by travellers on the main A90 from Dundee to Aberdeen. And many will know little more about the town than that it has a football club, Brechin City, whose name is a fixture in Grandstand’s classified results list every Saturday afternoon. Brechin is a town with a considerable history: even its football club has been around since 1906. In 970 it was described as a "city". This may have been as much in awe at its great circular tower as for any other reason. This tower still stands, now seeming oddly ill at ease off to one side of Brechin Cathedral. Brechin has seen both boom and bust, several times over, during the intervening centuries. It was doing especially well in the period to about 1350. But then it was hit by a double disaster. First the black death struck. Then, allegedly through misunderstanding, the town erected a Mercat Cross, a privilege reserved to Royal Burghs. This was such a serious misdemeanor that its rights to hold a market, which were legitimate, were withdrawn. The 1400s saw the return of the market and considerable wealth that lasted through the following century. But around 1648 bubonic plague struck again, killing two thirds of the population. It was the nineteenth century that saw the real growth of Brechin, based largely on textiles. By 1870 there were four major mills in the town, three with power looms. Between them they employed around 1400 people. 1895 saw the arrival of the Caledonian Railway at a station on the east side of the town, and in the meantime brewing and distilling assumed considerable importance in the local economy. The brewing has since all gone, and the last distillery in the town is Glencadam. At the heart of the old town is the Cathedral itself. There are few satisfactory images of the exterior of the cathedral, and this page provides no exception. It is tightly built around by medieval and more recent development, and a really good shot would require a helicopter. The interior, however, is a very different proposition. This is remarkable mostly for the wonderful collection of stained glass on offer. Virtually every window carries beautiful stained glass designs, mostly dating back to a major restoration undertaken between 1900 and 1902. These are from a range of big name designers including the William Morris factory. This full coverage of stained glass in the windows makes Brechin Cathedral naturally darker than most, and this in turn has been used to good effect by lighting in the roof and around the organ pipes. No visit to Brechin is complete without a visit to the Cathedral. If the old town is one centre of attraction in Brechin, the other is around St Ninian’s square, a little to the east. Here is some of the town’s more attractive Victorian architecture, including the library and, down the hill, a view of the remaining mill buildings. And here too is the attractively restored Caledonian Railway Station. This has been opened by enthusiasts each summer since 1992 to provide trips for tourists to Bridge of Dun, three miles towards Montrose.

20. Edzell

The attractive village of Edzell lies about six miles north of Brechin and the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway. A mile to its west is Edzell Castle perhaps better known than the village itself. And Edzell Castle is certainly older than the village, which in its current form and name dates back only to 1839. That was the year in which the local laird, the Earl of Panmure, greatly expanded the existing settlement of Slateford. What emerged was Edzell, complete with its broad main street and generous open spaces. Edzell is a village that has seen much change over its short history, and it has had to adapt to that change more than most. A good example is the way that the village was connected to the railway very late, in 1896. The passenger service had already been lost by 1931, and even the freight line shut in 1966. Edzell must be one of the few settlements to have lost its passenger railway even before it gained its mains electricity, which only arrived in 1936. Land a little to the east of the village was used for an RAF airfield during World War II, and in the 1960s this became a major US Navy base used to track submarines around the world. With the end of the Cold War and the advance of technology this too was eventually overtaken, and the military base at Edzell closed in 1995. This resulted in the loss of nearly 300 local jobs and the departure of 700 military personnel, together with their contribution to the local economy. Today’s Edzell has overcome its past difficulties. Visitors arriving from the south are greeted first by the Dalhousie Arch across the main road. This remarkable structure was erected in 1887 to commemorate the 13th Earl of Dalhousie. And not far beyond it is the equally magnificent Inglis Memorial Hall. This was designed by Owers of Dundee, and built in 1898. The same year saw the building of the Glenesk Hotel, on the opposite side of the main street. Today the memorial hall serves a range of uses, including village library. Towards the north end of Edzell is the main road junction; if you want to go to the castle, this is where you turn left. This is overlooked from the south east by the large Panmure Arms Hotel, and from the north west by the Parish Church of Edzell and Lethnot, set amid surrounding parkland. The church was built here in 1819, after being moved from its previous location near the castle. The presence of nearby Edzell Castle in its attractively ruinous state led to a tourist industry starting in Edzell even before the railway arrived. The village had also long been a centre for fishing, and in 1895 it acquired an 18 hole golf course. More rfecent additions include a driving range and a golf academy. Meantime the main street retains a useful collection of shops and services and a relaxing atmosphere. Coupled with a range of accommodation on offer from B&Bs through to significant hotels, Edzell is an excellent touring base for eastern Scotland.

21. Edzell Castle

There’s been a castle at Edzell since about 1100, when a wooden structure was erected on top of a motte by the Abbott family. The property passed to the Stirlings of Glenesk, then by marriage to the Lindsay family in 1358. It would stay with the Lindsays until 1715, and almost all of what you see today dates back to their tenure.In the 1400s the Lindsays became Earls of Crawford, and in the early 1500s they abandoned their earlier castle and built a tower house and a courtyard in a more sheltered spot, where you see it today. In 1553 the simple tower house was extended with a large west range housing what became the main entrance to the castle. Most Scottish Castles can boast either a catalogue of sieges, or a visit by Mary Queen of Scots, and in some cases both. Edzell Castle had by Scottish standards a relatively peaceful history, but it can lay claim to a visit by Mary. She spent the nights of 23 and 24 August 1562 here. On 25 August Edzell Castle hosted a meeting of the Privy Council, attended by all the great and the good of 1562 Scotland. This was held in the hall on the first floor of the tower house. Mary’s son James VI visited Edzell twice, in June 1580 and August 1589. Around this time Sir David Lindsay was also adding to the accommodation at the castle with a large north range complete with round towers to add interest to the overall design. Sir David Lindsay was also responsible for Edzell’s most unique feature, its walled garden. This was designed to provide a retreat from the castle and to delight and entertain its guest. The garden walls, most of which remain today, are highly decorated. Diagonally arranged compartments in the walls provided room for flower boxes, and spaces are left for birds to nest, perhaps the original garden bird boxes. Further decoration is provided by the stone reliefs of virtues and deities that can still be seen today. And to provide nice finishing touches, buildings were constructed at the corners of the garden furthest from the castle itself. One of these, which survives largely intact, is a two story summer house. The other was a bath house. The site of this is accessible via a gate in the garden wall, but all that remains are foundations and a few courses of stones above ground level. The garden was started in 1604, but had not been completed by the time of Sir David Lindsay’s death in 1610. Sir David’s dream for the garden was realised after his death, but the debts he incurred improving the castle were such that the north range was never completed to his original plans. During the 17th Century the Lindsay family and Edzell Castle were unable to completely avoid the turbulence sweeping Scotland. No direct damage was done during the Wars of the Covenant but the castle was occupied by Cromwell’s forces in 1651. By 1715, inherited debts has risen so much that the Lindsays were forced to sell Edzell Castle, and it passed to the Earl of Panmure. The last David Lindsay moved on to work in the stables of a local inn. The Earl of Panmure fared little better, backing the losing side during the 1715 Jacobite Rising. His estates, including Edzell Castle, were seized and the castle was later passed on to the York Building Company. The castle was badly damaged by occupying government troops during the 1745 Rising. By 1764 the York Building Company had gone into liquidation and its creditors stripped its assets, including much of the structure of Edzell Castle and even the avenue of beech trees leading to it. These were cut down for the value of their wood. The estate later passed to the Dalhousie family, who still own it. In 1932 the walled garden passed into state care, and in 1935 the rest of the castle followed it. Both are now cared for by Historic Scotland. For the visitor, Edzell Castle is a striking riot of red and green. The castle is built from some of the reddest stone you are likely to see anywhere. And the surrounding farmland and fields provide a remarkably green backdrop to the castle. The gardens are by season either green or a range of further contrasting colour. The impact of the failure of the York Stone Company is plain to see in the ruinous state of the north and west ranges of Edzell Castle. But for the visitor there remains a great deal to see. Whether you are a lover of castles or gardens, the highlight has to be the tower house. This you will either enjoy in its own right, or for the views of the garden available from an upper window, where the tower house has been given a partial replacement wooden floor. But while Edzell Castle is well worth a visit, there are many fine castles in Scotland. For many, it is the garden that provides the real draw to Edzell. This is simply glorious. What is little realised is that although the hard structures of the garden were placed here from 1604, the actual planting you see today dates back only to the 1930s. The garden is also home to the Summer House. The upper floor of this is easily missed on your tour of the castle and garden, but shouldn’t be. It contains the best preserved room in the castle, complete with a stunning oak panel on the wall. There really is something for everyone in a visit to Edzell Castle, and it is justifiably popular as a result.

22. Fettercairn

The name of Fettercairn is well known to anyone who listens to Radio Scotland traffic broadcasts in winter. It lies at the southern end of the B974 Cairn O’Mount road, a road that climbs over the eastern extension of the Cairngorms to Banchory. And a road that is regularly the first in Scotland to close when the snows sweep in from the east. Fettercairn itself is a glorious little village with a population of some 250. It is built mostly from a reddish sandstone that is at its best in the sort of low winter light illustrated on this page. The village dates back over a thousand years, though most of what can be seen today post-dates its sacking by the Marquis of Montrose in 1645. The Mercat (or market) Cross stands in the centre of the broad market place at the heart of Fettercairn. The current cross is believed to date from around 1670. Multifunctional, the cross incorporates a sundial and was also the village stocks: you can still see where an iron collar could be attached. On the west side of the shaft is a groove that is 37.5 inches (or one ell) in length. This served as a standard length for traders. Fettercairn is also home to a fine Church, built in 1803 and dedicated to St Martin. The beautifully slender spire is a later addition. For the visitor, the most obvious structure in Fettercairn is its arch, through which light traffic still squeezes. This was erected in 1864, at a cost of £250, to celebrate an overnight stay in the village by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in September 1861. They were on an excursion from Balmoral and had crossed Mount Keen before arriving in Fettercairn. They returned to Balmoral the following day over the Cairn O’Mount road in thick fog. On the north west side of the village, set beautifully against the hills beyond, lies the whitewashed Fettercairn Distillery. This dates back to 1824, though much of what you see today is from a later rebuilding or from the extension in 1966. The Fettercairn distillery  has a visitor centre offering free tours between May and September.

23. Comrie

Comrie lies five miles west of Crieff where Strathearn narrows and meets Glen Lednock and its old drove route to the north, and Glen Artney to the south west. It was the site of an early bridge over the River Earn, and that assured the growth of a settlement here. The strategic importance of the location was first recognised by the Romans, who had a fort on the south bank of the River Earn, opposite Comrie. Comrie’s other main claim to fame is that it lies precisely on the Highland Line, the fault that carves from south west to north east right across Scotland. During the 1830s over 7000 earth tremors were recorded in the area, though few of a size that would have been noticed by residents at the time. The growth of Comrie in the early 19th Century owed much to its attractive location as a place for the wealthy to live and to visit. This in turn brought the railway, and in 1893 the Caledonian Railway completed a branch line from Crieff. This was later continued west to link to the Callander and Oban railway at Lochearnhead. The link to the west of Comrie closed in 1951, and that from Crieff in 1964. The 20th Century saw hydroelectric power developed in a number of the glens around Comrie. In Glen Lednock a dam was built, and to the west, water was piped from Loch Earn to another power station. Meanwhile Comrie continued to be an attractive retirement village, giving it the highest proportion of males aged over 65 in Scotland at the time of the 1991 census. The village itself is made up of a single long main street with a turn at its west end before it heads out towards Lochearnhead. Nearby is the main junction with the road south across the River Earn bridge, overlooked by the strikingly white-rendered Parish Church built by George Ewing in 1881. The church organ was built for the London Exhibition in 1910. Comries lies on the route of the Coast to Coast Walk from Oban to St Andrews and is a welcome stopping off point for the weary traveller. Comrie is set back a little from the banks of the river, and is also constrained by hills to the north. Most of the growth has therefore taken place on the south side of the river in Dalginross, on and around the site of the original Roman fort. The white Parish Church probably ensures that no-one has ever driven through Comrie entirely without registering the village, though it is a settlement it is all too easy to overlook. But its attractive main street and superb riverside location, plus one of the most brightly painted bridges in the Highlands makes it somewhere well worth exploring before you pass on through.

24. Crieff

Crieff is the second largest town in Perthshire, after Perth itself. It is wrapped around the slopes of the Knock of Crieff as they descend to meet the River Earn in its valley to the the south west. The High Street tends to follow the line of the hillside with intersecting roads either rising or descending from it. Crieff was already well established as a town by the time the River Earn was bridged here in about 1690. The following year it became the site of Scotland’s first public lending library. The town’s growth and wealth stemmed directly from its excellent communication links both to the Highlands and the Lowlands. By 1700 vast herds of highland cattle from across northern and western Scotland were driven along the traditional drove roads to the tryst, or cattle market, at Crieff. Each year up to 30,000 cattle arrived on foot for sale in the town, and Crieff gained a reputation for wildness as Highland drovers far from home enjoyed the fruits of their efforts after the sales. There were setbacks in 1716 and 1745 when successive generations of Jacobites attacked Crieff but overall the 18th Century saw continued growth in the wealth and the size of the town. General Wade’s military road-building efforts of the 1730s placed Crieff on the main route from Stirling to Perth and provided a much better all weather route north to Aberfeldy and beyond. In 1775, Glenturret distillery in Glen Turret, a little to the north of the town, was licensed. And although it was closed between 1923 and 1957 the distillery now has a visitor centre offering tours and tastings. Glenturret advertises itself as "Scotland’s oldest distillery", taking the word "legal" for granted: there were certainly stills in the Highlands before 1775, though it is doubtful many had quite such a pleasing product or such a beautiful location. By the 1770s cattle tended to head to markets in Falkirk rather than Crieff, leaving Crieff increasingly as a resort. It was popular with the rich and famous of the day, who wanted to take advantage of the town’s attractive scenery and south facing slopes. The railway arrived in Crieff in 1857, by which time Morrison’s Academy had been set up in the town. Today the school occupies an attractive site just uphill from the High Street. Further uphill still is the Crieff Hydropathic, or Crieff Hydro. With over 300 hectares of land and 225 rooms the Hydro was, and remains, Crieff’s largest hotel. Today it offers visitors a golf course, a choice of swimming pools and a range of other leisure activities, and provides 250 jobs. Today’s Crieff is a far cry from the frontier town it was in the days of the cattle droves. Modern visitors find a bustling and prosperous town offering a wide variety of accommodation, shopping and other facilities: plus its long standing advantage of a central location equally well placed for Highland and Lowland destinations.

25. Muthill

Three miles south of Crieff the dead straight A822 makes a sharp zig-zag through a village built mostly from a reddish stone. Welcome to Muthill. Early settlement in the area owes much to the Romans’ brief occupation, and this probably explains the straightness of the road from Crieff. Muthill itself was founded by Culdee Monks who had established a community here by the 8th Century. The name comes from the Gaelic word "Maothail". This is said by some to translate as "skin softening" and to imply that Muthill was seen by the Culdees as a comfortable place to be based. The oldest building in Muthill, by far, is the tower of the old church. This probably dates back to the 11th Century and would originally have been a free standing tower designed as much for protection as for worship. The tower has many similarities with others from the same period at St Rules Church in St Andrews and St Serfs in Dunning. The tower at Dunblane Cathedral was probably also very similar to Muthill’s before it was enlarged and incorporated into the Cathedral itself. A church was added to the Culdee tower in the 15th Century, but this is now a ruin in the care of Historic Scotland. The graveyard that surrounds it is fascinating for the use of iron markers on several of the graves. The dates of these are unclear as the detail has corroded away, but it is easy to imagine an 18th Century salesman promoting this modern material for a modern era. The traditional gravestones have been rather more enduring. From the graveyard you can see the Gothic-styled parish church that was built in 1826 by the Presbyterian arm of the church after the site of the original 15th Century church came under the control of the Episcopalians. The designer was Gillespie Graham, and it is easy to see in Muthill how he came by his nickname of "Pinnacle" Graham. The Episcopalians wanted to build a new church on the site of the old, but faced objections from residents whose relatives were buried there. They chose instead to abandon the old church and build a new one, which explains why Muthill has a third church, almost between the other two. St James, built in 1836, is the oldest Episcopal Church in the area. Muthill itself was largely destroyed in January 1716 by Jacobites retreating after the Battle of Sheriffmuir. Compensation was paid by the Government, but only in 1778. Much of what you see today dates back to the latter half of the 18th Century, and this gives the village a sense of unity with many cottages made of the same stone lining the mains streets. Muthill was designated a Conservation Area in 1974, and over 90 of the buildings in the village are listed. A little north of Muthill is Drummond Castle, ancestral home of the Earls of Perth whose estate included Muthill. However, it was from very much humbler origins, as a mill worker from near Muthill, that a local girl is said to have become Empress of Morocco in the 17th Century. Before you complete your walk round Muthill, take the time to visit the Muthill Village Museum, located in a white-rendered building backing on to the old churchyard. Here you can gain a wider understanding of the background and history of this Strathearn village. Finally, it is worth mentioning that Muthill also offers respite to those following the route of the Coats to Coast Walk from Oban to St Andrews.

26. Elie & Earlsferry

Elie occupies the eastern half of a mile long south-facing sandy bay framed at either end by rocky points. Since 1929 it has been formally joined with Earlsferry, which runs along the western half of the same bay. Of the two settlements, Earlsferry has the longer history, being made a Royal Burgh by Robert II in 1373. By then it had been an established ferry port for crossings to North Berwick for hundreds of years. It is said that MacDuff, the Earl of Fife, crossed from here in 1054 while fleeing from King Macbeth. Earlsferry ceased to operate as a port after a serious storm in 1766. This drowned seven Earlsferry fishermen: and completely filled the village’s harbour with blown sand. By this time Elie, which was much better protected from weather coming in from the east than Earlsferry, had already become the more important of the two. In 1850 Elie’s harbour was expanded, and a road was laid along the headland leading out to it. The village’s fortunes improved further in 1863 with the arrival of the railway. Together with the railway, regular steamers from North Berwick and Leith opened Elie and Earlsferry to the Victorian tourist trade from the 1870s onwards. The villages remain significant centres for yachting and together serve as a local resort whose beaches are matched as attractions by the golf available on Earlsferry links. The twin settlements of Elie and Earlsferry remain extremely attractive and charming places to visit. The oldest buildings are found on South Street, along the shore line. Parallel to it and a little inland is the main street, operating under a number of different names. Here you will find Earlsferry’s Town Hall, and, in Elie, most of the village’s shops. Elie High Street is also where you will find Elie Parish Church. This dates back to 1639, though the unusual tower was added in 1729. The clock was in turn added to the tower in 1900, though because there were no buildings north of the church at the time, it only has three faces. But most people visiting Elie do so for the simple joys of being by the seaside. The harbour is now used primarily by pleasure craft, and activity revolves around the converted granary out by the harbour wall. And both Elie and Earlsferry offer all the sand you could possibly want or need. Despite this you don’t have to stray very far east of the harbour to find a very different coastline. The rockpools and little inlets of Elie Ness provide a haven for those who enjoy the challenge of exploration and discovery as well as sandcastle building. On the east side of Elie Ness, at Ruby Bay, are the remains of the Lady’s Tower. This was built in the 1770s as a changing room for the use of Lady Jane Anstruther when she went swimming. When she wanted a swim she first sent a bell ringer around Elie to let the residents know they should keep away from Ruby Bay. This was the same lady who had a whole settlement moved to improve the view from her house, leading to a curse being placed on the family. Ruby Bay is named after the "Elie rubies", actually a type of garnet, that are sometimes found here.

27. The Wallace Monument

Completed in 1869 after eight years’ construction, the 220 feet high Wallace Monument sits prominently on the Abbey Craig two miles north of the town of Stirling itself. It was from this prominent hilltop in 1297 that William Wallace watched the English army approach across Stirling Bridge before leading the Scots into the battle of the same name: and victory. A fitting, and striking, location for the national monument to a national hero. Visitors to the Wallace Monument leave their cars at the foot of Abbey Craig, which they must then climb to reach the foot of the monument, though a minibus service is available from the Pavilion Visitor Centre next to the car park. In the entrance foyer of the Monument itself there is a display of general information about Sir William Wallace and about the construction of the Monument. If you pause here you learn that it cost in excess of £10,000: all funded by subscriptions. But you will probably want to head straight for the magnificent views awaiting at the top of the Monument, a mere 220 feet and 246 steps above you. The Monument has four levels above the ground floor, with Level 4 being "The Crown" or the top. The first 71 steps up to Level 1 bring you to a display telling the story of the life of Wallace and of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Here the highlight is a 3-D simulation in which Wallace appears to face trial at Westminster Hall, telling his own story via the ‘William Wallace Talking Head’. Also on display is the 700 year old Wallace sword, some 5 feet 4 inches long. Coming face to face with such a magnificent piece of metalwork you wonder how anyone could have lifted or carried it, still less fought with it. 64 more steps will bring you to Level 2 and the Hall of Heroes. Here are displayed marble statues of notable Scotsmen, the result of a worldwide appeal by the custodians in 1885. An audio-visual display adds tribute to the heroes and heroines of the twentieth century. 62 steps further lead to Level 3 and the Diorama, an illustration of the geographical layout surrounding the monument marked with important local landmarks and various historical battlefields. This is an excellent way to gain your bearings. The final pull leads to "The Crown" of the Monument with its breathtaking views bringing the Diorama to life and making every one of those 246 steps worthwhile. To the north you are immediately struck by the closest of the Ochil Hills, Dumyat, itself the subject of an Undiscovered Scotland Feature Page. East is the Forth Valley, with the river itself snaking away into the distance. To the south is the historic town of Stirling, dominated by its Castle To the west are the Trossachs and Loch Lomond and, on a clear day, a far reaching panorama of many of the southern highlands’ most striking mountains. Returning down the narrow spiral staircase to the ground level visitors can browse the Gift Shop or drop into the Victorian Tea-Room before descending the Abbey Craig on foot or returning by minibus to the car park.

28. Aberdour Castle

Aberdour Castle is a building that over a five hundred year period slowly moved from west to east with the successive building of new stages of accommodation more suited to the needs and aspirations of the owners of the day. The castle started life some time before the year 1200 as a two story tower house built by the de Mortimer family. The evidence for this comes in part from a dispute in 1180 between William de Mortimer and the Priory of Inchcolm about filling a vacancy for chaplain in the neighbouring church, now known as St Fillan’s. The remains of the original tower house can still be seen within the complex of ruins at the west end of the castle, though parts collapsed (and still lie where they fell) in 1844 and 1919. What is left of the original tower house is thought to be one of the oldest masonry castles still standing in Scotland. The first expansion of the castle took place in the fifteenth century, by which time it had come into the ownership of the Douglas family, the Earls of Morton. This increased the size of the tower house, and built a range of other buildings around a defended service courtyard. Remnants of the bakehouse and brewhouse can still be seen. Some of the outer defences from this time were lost (together with the original entrance to the castle) when the railway was built along the north side of the site in 1890. The first major move east took place under James Douglas, Earl of Morton, who was Regent of Scotland from 1572 to 1578. In August 1576, Aberdour’s new central range (as it is known today) hosted a meeting of the Privy Council, who could at the same time have admired Morton’s brand new terraced gardens, which are now being restored to their former glory. Morton was tried and execution in 1580 for his alleged involvement in the murder of Lord Darnley, husband to Mary Queen of Scots thirteen years earlier. Ownership of the castle - and title - passed to his nephew, and so stayed with the Douglas family. The central range was built on top of earlier buildings associated with the tower house, and marked the transformation of Aberdour from a primarily defensive structure into a primarily domestic one. It had three storeys and was linked to the accommodation in the tower house, which continued in use. The final move east came in the 1630s. The Seventh Earl of Morton, who was at the time the Lord Treasurer of Scotland, built what is now called the east range to provide more modern family accommodation. This comprised an L-shaped extension that today is the only complete part of the building, housing the gallery on the upper floor and the tea shop and stable on the ground floor. Outside the castle are extensive gardens. To the east is the walled garden whose outer wall in part encloses nearby St Fillan’s Church. To the south are the terraced gardens. These were only rediscovered in the 1970s and are now being fully restored. They are formed from four L-shaped levels descending in walled steps towards the sea. At their lower end lies the site of an orchard created in 1690. At the far end of the upper terrace of the garden is the spectacular beehive-shaped dovecot built at the end of the sixteenth century. This still contains over 600 stone nesting boxes. The purpose of the dovecot was to provide the household with a reliable supply of meat. It seems likely that rabbits were farmed near the dovecot for the same purpose. Aberdour Castle’s demise started when it caught fire, probably in the 1680s. Ambitious plans for full repairs and a major expansion to the north into the inner courtyard were shelved. Instead only the east range was restored by 1703, leaving the central and west ranges in ruins. Rather than extend again or remove the ruins, the family decided to buy the neighbouring Aberdour House, and by 1725 they had effectively abandoned what was left of Aberdour Castle and moved into Aberdour House. The east range saw a number of uses including as barracks and a school over the following 200 years, and in 1924 Aberdour Castle passed into the care of the state as an ancient monument.

29. St Fillan’s Church, Aberdour

It seems likely that parts of St Fillan’s church dates back to at least 1123, possibly even predating neighbouring Aberdour Castle with which its history is so closely entwined. The original church comprised just the nave and chancel. The north wall of today’s church and much of the structure of the chancel are likely to date right back to this first structure. The first link with Aberdour Castle emerged in 1180, with a dispute between William de Mortimer (who built the castle’s original tower house) and the Priory of Inchcolm about filling a vacancy for the chaplaincy of the church. The Priory won. The church was first recorded as being associated with St Fillan in 1390, though opinions differ as to which of two different St Fillans, both Irish missionaries, this was meant to be. A south aisle was added to the church in the 15th Century, giving it the charmingly asymmetrical layout it has today. Further changes including the addition of the belfy were made in the 16th and 17th Centuries. In about 1640 the Earl of Morton, by then owner of Aberdour Castle erected a family gallery in the area now occupied by the organ pipes. In the early 1700s another dispute over the occupancy of the ministry arose on the death of the incumbent. This time the laird won, and the Earl of Morton imposed his choice against the wishes of the population. The result was the mass exodus of the congregation on a Sunday to neighbouring parish churches. In 1790 St Fillan’s Church fell into disuse and by 1796 was a roofless ruin. The circumstances are not entirely clear. It is said that the Countess of Morton of the day was unhappy that the ordinary population should congregate so close to her home (though the family had moved from Aberdour Castle to nearby Aberdour House in 1725), and pressed for an alternative parish church to be built at the west end of Aberdour. This duly happened. It would seem, however that even this was not enough. It is recorded that a "lady of title" wanted to have the walls and churchyard flattened so as to stop them getting in her way when she was out hunting. Thankfully she did not succeed. Today, St Fillan’s is a beautiful little church with a wonderful atmosphere whose one-sided interior seems oddly sunken into the surrounding landscape. Externally it enjoys superb views across the Forth to Edinburgh and the Pentlands beyond. The church today is far from a ruin, and now serves the Aberdour parish again. This is due to the vision and commitment of local people who raised the funding needed to start restoration in 1925. This work included the removal of a large tree growing in the chancel arch. St Fillan’s held its first service in well over a hundred years on 7 July 1926: and in 1973 it celebrated its 850th anniversary.

30. Ravenscraig Castle

Ravenscraig Castle overlooks the sea at the west end of Ravenscraig Park, which is in turn found on the eastern edge of Kirkcaldy. Use the car park in Ravenscraig Park and walk from there past the new housing development to catch your first glimpse of the castle through the trees. The castle was built by James II in the 1450s. James had a passion for artillery, which proved his downfall in 1460. At Ravenscraig he wanted a castle that could withstand the latest guns then available. The result is a structure whose landward face is made up mostly of two massive, and massively thick, D-shaped towers linked by a range containing the main door. This is set in the wall high above the deep moat cut directly into the rock of the headland and from where you can really appreciate just how magnificent and brutally powerful Ravenscraig Castle must have been in its heyday. The rest of the castle ran back along the narrowing headland which falls away steeply on both sides to the shoreline. These days a fair part of the two main towers and range connecting them remains, but access to the interior and higher levels is very restricted. Much less of the rest of the castle on its headland can be seen today. To Ravenscraig Castle’s east side is a curving bay with a shingled beach. This seems to have been regarded as part of the defended area of the castle, for a defensive wall projects from the east (far) end of the bay out to a point below the high water mark. Above the beach is the beehive shape of a dovecot, still used today by pigeons as a nesting site, and probably ideal for the purpose as its ground level entrance has been sealed up leaving just the access hole in the top. The dovecot can be reached from the bay or from Ravenscraig Park, and it provides a fascinating insight into castle life in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Presumably, given its coastal location, the castle residents dined on fish as well as birds. A visit to Ravenscraig Castle is a fascinating experience, though in some ways it is a slightly unsettling one as well. It is all too easy to think of castles as remote and romantic ruins. Located on its dominating headland and towering over its own private beach, Ravenscraig Castle has many of the attributes you’d expect. But while it is fascinating, and from some angles it might qualify as romantic: no-one would today call it remote, despite the impression given by images on this page. Kirkcaldy predates Ravenscraig Castle by at least four hundred years. But since the castle was built the town has reached out to envelop it. Ravenscraig Park itself remains an oasis, but the castle looks westward over industrial development towards the centre of Kirkcaldy, and the remains of its tower are echoed by the nearby residential tower blocks built in the 1960s. More recently still, a development of low rise flats has taken place along the line of the ridge just inland from the castle, and it now has some very close neighbours.

31. Castle Campbell

With the Burn of Care on one side and the Burn of Sorrow on the other, Castle Campbell, originally called Castle Gloom, sounds like something out of a horror movie. Yet this is a beautiful place and the castle is an awe-inspiring sight as it first comes into view along the approach road from the lower car park. Sitting in lofty isolation at the end of Dollar Glen and overlooked by the Ochil Hills, Castle Campbell became the chief lowland stronghold of the Campbell clan, upon whose members the titles of Earl, Marquis and Duke of Argyll were bestowed. The castle itself was designed to serve three main purposes. Firstly to provide adequate defence, though the castle would never have been able to survive artillery attack. The entrance gateway was strengthened sufficiently to ward off a lightly armed raid but no more. Secondly, the castle was a statement of the lord’s wealth and power, and as such should be an imposing sight. Castle Campbell certainly fulfils this function, even today. Thirdly, it was a place of residence for an extensive household of a member of the senior nobility who also had to provide hospitality to guests and their entourages. These included royalty and other noblemen. Mary Queen of Scots stayed here in January 1563 and John Knox, advocate of Protestantism, in 1556. The buildings within Castle Campbell include a tower house, hall and chamber range and an east range. To the south are terraced gardens. The tower house has four main floors and is typical of late 15th Century style. The ground floor contains a vaulted storage cellar with service access. An upper entrance, once reached by an outside staircase, leads into the hall, the principal reception room. An original narrow spiral staircase was replaced in 1600 by a much more substantial one at the same time as the east range was also remodelled. The second and third floors of the tower house were most likely used as private chambers. Of particular interest on the third floor is the stone vaulting to the ceiling and a pair of grotesque ‘green man’ masks from the mouths of which lights would have been suspended. It is likely that the hall and chamber range superseded the tower house as residence for the earl. The reception room and the accommodation at its east end was certainly on a much grander scale. Sadly this part of Castle Campbell now lies in ruins. The east range dates from about 1600 and its facade shows that it was a very sophisticated piece of design. Remodelling of the stairs gave improved access to the tower house as well as interlinking the chambers and floors of the east range. It is likely that the gardens of Castle Campbell were formally laid out and maintained for the exclusive use of the lord, his family and guests. At the south-west corner of the terracing a rocky knoll is referred locally as ‘John Knox’s Pulpit’. To the west of the castle there would have been a kitchen garden. The estate that was to become Castle Campbell was acquired by the family in the second half of the 15th Century. James IV, by Act of Parliament in 1489-90, approved the change of name from Castle Gloom. The clan rose to be undisputed leaders of the Western Highlands but by the 17th Century their days at Castle Campbell were numbered. When, in 1650, Oliver Cromwell defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar there began a decade of turmoil. In 1654 the castle was sacked. The Campbells abandoned their old castle, but continued in possession of the lands. When the earldom was restored in 1661 the family chose to occupy property in Stirling and settled on the town house that was to become Argyll’s Lodging.

32. About Stirling

In March 2002 Stirling became Scotland’s latest - and sixth - city in celebration of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The City stands in a strategically important position, at the lowest ancient crossing point of the River Forth. There is evidence of a fortress at Stirling as far back as prehistoric times, guarding the passage between the lowlands and highlands. Whoever controlled the fortress effectively controlled the country. Much of Scotland’s history has been played out in Stirling. During the 13th and 14th Centuries control was wrested from the English, then lost but regained again, at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. It was at Stirling Castle between the 15th and 17th Centuries that the Stuarts chose to make their home and where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned in 1543. In the 18th Century Stirling once more became strategically important during the Jacobite rebellions. Today,Stirling Castle dominates the skyline of the city and is an impressive place to visit. It sits upon a great crag with the town falling away below it. Views from the castle esplanade are excellent, most notably of the Wallace Monument and of the craggy outline of Dumyat and the Ochils beyond. In the old town are the Church of the Holy Rude and Old Town Jail. Both welcome visitors. Also of interest is Argyll’s Lodging, dating in part from the early 16th Century, but now restored to its 17th Century splendour, when it was an impressive town house. Two and a half miles north of Stirling is the former spa town of Bridge of Allan. An ornamental clock stands in the main street and the Holy Trinity Church contains furniture designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. There is a glassware factory and shop. On the banks of Allan Water and five miles north of Stirling is the City of Dunblane. Dominated by ist Catherdal it has been an important ecclesiastical centre since the 7th Century. Further afield, some eight miles north-west of Stirling, is the village of Doune. Its 14th Century castle was a popular royal hunting lodge. It is one of the best preserved of its type and was the location for the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Stand on the battlements of Stirling Castle and look north to the hill of Dumyat. Running east from Dumyat are the Ochil Hills, including Ben Cleuch and King’s Seat Hill’s, which provide some excellent hillwalking. Hidden away towards the eastern end of the Ochils is Dollar Glen, with Castle Campbell at its head. This area also extends south to include Falkirk and other settlements north of the line of the Roman Antonine Wall, Undiscovered Scotland’s southern boundary. An attraction here is Blackness Castle on the banks of the Forth.

33. Stirling

Ask just about anyone, worldwide, about Stirling, and they’ll probably have heard of Stirling castle. But don’t, whatever you do, think that if you’ve seen Stirling Castle then you’ve exhausted all there is to see and do in this attractive and friendly city. And "city" it now is: Stirling was announced as Scotland’s sixth and newest city in March 2002. If you take a walk downhill from the castle towards the town you begin to come across other treasures. If you can drag yourself past the enticing Portcullis Hotel you see on the opposite side of the road Argyll’s Lodging. Beyond Argyll’s Lodging you come to the area known as the Top of the Town. This features the striking ruin of Mar’s Wark facing down the hill towards the town, and a range of other imposing, if in some lights slightly austere buildings. Mar’s Wark was begun in 1570, but work ceased when the Earl of Mar died two years later and it was never completed. Its condition was not helped by the treatment it received during the 1745 uprising. Behind Mar’s Wark lies the graveyard of the Holy Rude Church. The name, Holy Rude, is synonymous with "Holy Rood" or Holy Cross. The Church holds a unique place in history. It was here in 1567 that the child James VI was crowned. James VI later unified the kingdoms of England and Scotland. The church itself also houses some remarkable stained glass windows, and, if you are lucky enough, you can hear the the ringing of bells that are quite unlike anything else we’ve heard in this country, much more what you’d expect in Southern Germany. While you are in Holy Rude you can also wonder at one of the less glorious aspects of its history: the church was for many years internally divided in two following disputes amongst its congregation. Happily you can now see the church the way its builders originally intended. Opposite the side of Holy Rude Church is the white-painted Cowane’s Hospital, built in the mid 17th Century as an almshouse for bankrupt merchants. It fulfils a variety of functions these days, but is noteworthy for "Meet the Ancestors", a centre for information about the history of families originating in the Stirling area. Downhill from Cowane’s Hospital is Stirling’s Old Town Jail. This extremely impressive building backs onto the town walls and visitors are offered superb guided tours conducted by actors who really take you back to the far from "good" old days. An entertaining but extremely thought-provoking way to spend your time; complete with some excellent views over the town. Next door and downhill again from the Old Town Jail is Stirling’s Youth Hostel, backing onto the town walls and set back from the road to its front. Scottish Youth Hostels are located in buildings ranging from the very humble to the pretty grand. Stirling’s definitely comes somewhere at the grand end of the spectrum. Opposite the Jail and Youth Hostel is the Tolbooth, built in 1705, and other nearby attractions include the Mercat Cross. A little further down the hill is you the yellow-painted Spittal’s House, founded by Robert Spittal, tailor to James IV in 1530 to support the poor. Beyond it is Darnley’s House, where Lord Darnley, who became Mary Queen of Scots’ husband, is said to have stayed when she was in residence at the Castle. Further downhill still and you enter Stirling’s Lower Town, the commercial heart of the town and home to most of the opportunities to shop, eat or drink. You will also find here the magnificent (but sadly named) "Municipal Buildings", and if you continue on down Corn Exchange Road past them, you come to Dumbarton Road, the home of Stirling’s main Tourist Information Centre (there is another on the Castle Esplanade), and the Albert Halls. Remember this spot, for we’ll return to it en route back to the Castle. Between the Municipal Buildings and the railway station, Stirling could be mistaken for many other similar towns, with a mix of older and newer shops, a shopping precinct, and a collection of pedestrianised streets. Until very recently that would have been the end of any account of Stirling, for beyond the shops lies a wide road that used to be the main route between the lowlands and the highlands: and beyond the road is the railway station, marking the line of the railway that was driven through the lower part of the town in the 19th Century. But no longer, for the land beyond the railway is being redeveloped into attractive shops and leisure areas. This in turn is opening up access to the west bank of the River Forth from which Stirling has been largely cut off ever since the railway was built. The end result will be a much better balanced and even more attractive town. We’ve saved one of the nicest things about Stirling to the very end. Find your way back to Corn Exchange Road between the Municipal Buildings and the Albert Halls. A wide path called Back Walk leads uphill from here following the outside of the old town walls, above ever steeper wooded slopes. A series of wynds and gates can lead you back to various points on your downward journey, but if you stick with the Back Walk you’ll find yourself in the extensive gardens that intermingle with the graveyard of Holy Rude and occupy the dip between it and the Castle. This is a haven of calm that offers stunning views to the west. It is difficult to believe that from here you are only a stone flight of steps away from the bustle of the Castle Esplanade, and your starting point to this tour of Stirling’s "other" attractions.

34. Stirling Castle

A visit to Stirling Castle is an essential part of any visit to central Scotland. Its location rivals even Edinburgh Castle’s for sheer magnificence as it sits on its high volcanic rock, visible for many miles in every direction. The Castle is in the care of Historic Scotland and is open to the public all year round and seven days a week. There is evidence of a royal castle at Stirling from the twelfth century, though it is likely that there was a presence here long before then. Stirling Castle is in a strategically vital location in the centre of Scotland: between highlands and lowlands and guarding what was throughout much of history the lowest crossing point of the River Forth. In the past whoever controlled the castle was well placed to control most of Scotland. Some of the most important battles in Scotland’s history took place within sight of this mighty fortress, particularly those of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and Bannockburn in 1314. The buildings seen in the castle today mainly date from the 13th and 14th Centuries. From James I to James VI successive monarchs held court here and Mary Queen of Scots spent part of her ill-fated life at Stirling. Today the castle is approached across the Esplanade, as it would have been in times past. The frontage is plain but it was built for defence rather than for decoration. A single drawbridge crossing a deep ditch is the only access point. Perimeter defences protect all parts of the castle and within them the Guardroom Square forms a second line of defence. Former storerooms in this area now house the ticket office and a shop. Progress from here through a gateway and you come to the restaurant on one side, and wonderful views of the Palace and its garden on the other. The Outer Close is the lower of two courtyards in the castle and is bordered by the Palace to the west and the Great Hall to the north. This connects to the The Inner Close, which is the great square around which the main royal buildings of the castle are grouped. The King’s Old Building enjoys the best view from the castle and has seen many changes since its first phase of construction in 1496. It was modified after a fire in 1855 and subdivided both before and since. Today it houses the regimental museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Chapel Royal has been resited at least twice in the history of the castle. It was built in its present location in time for the baptism of James VI’s first son, Prince Henry. To enter the building visitors must pass through an imposing arched doorway with windows either side. The internal space is a long rectangle with signs of the paint decoration it received in advance of Charles I’s visit in 1633. The frieze around the interior shows the Honours of Scotland. The Chapel saw restoration in the 1930s, and a much more ambitious interior reconstruction in the 1990s. The Great Hall is the largest of its type ever built in Scotland. It was intended for great celebrations and occasions of state. Five fireplaces heated the vast space. It is seen today in the "good as new" condition its designers originally intended in 1500. The restoration, almost more of a reconstruction, of the Great Hall started when the army left Stirling Castle in 1964. It took thirty-five years to complete and has produced a result that, though rather controversial, is certainly very striking. The Palace was built in the mid 16th Century for James V, and was intended to be the most magnificent building in the castle. It has a highly decorated facade and overlooks both the Inner and Outer Closes. Statues and intricate carving grace the building and although only the fireplaces remain in the Queen’s Lodging it is known that the royal apartments were ornately decorated. The kitchens that served the Great Hall were built against the curtain wall on the north-east wall of the Outer Close. Visitors can see a display of how the kitchens would have appeared in operation in the 16th Century: complete with inadequate flame lighting, life-size models, and an interesting choice in foodstuffs. North of the castle’s main area and on a slightly lower level is the Nether Bailey containing the Guard House and four Powder Magazines. This also houses a miniature rifle range. Remains of the extensive gardens can be seen in the valley to the west of the castle, though they once extended much further. The Old Park was visible from the castle and was best seen from the Ladies’ Lookout. This was replaced by a New Park in the early 14th Century. And, finally, don’t think that Stirling Castle is all that Stirling has to offer the visitor. Once you’ve toured the castle, try to make time to take a look at some of Stirling’s other attractions.

35. Dumyat

Dumyat is a craggy outlier at the western end of the main range of the Ochil hills. Though only 1373ft or 418m in height it is a superb viewpoint along the length of the Forth Valley to Edinburgh, the Pentlands and beyond as well as to the south and west. The best route up starts on theminor Sherrifmuir Road above Stirling University. The starting point is just north of where electricity cables cross the road, at Grid Reference NS813980. There is a choice of pull-off places for a car at this point and to the south of it. The route to the summit is straightforward, so long as you take the higher path at a junction fifty yards or so from the starting stile. The total climb is only some 260m, and the distance covered to the top is about 2km. Despite its modest scale, this is a path that can get sloppy in places after rain, and is rocky in one or two stretches. Not a path on which to try out your new white Nike trainers... At the top you find a beacon, full of rocks, the usual Ordnance Survey triangulation point, and memorials dedicated to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. You also find the panorama referred to above, which would be the envy of many a much bigger mountain. The view down to the Wallace monument, and to Stirling and the Castleis the highlight, and well worth the modest climb you’ve made to appreciate it.

36. Doune

Doune lies seven miles north west of Stirling. Travellers on the A84 gain only the briefest of glimpses of the village as its centre lies a little off the main road. Doune’s history goes back at least as far as the Romans, who probably had a fort here in the area later occupied by Doune Castle. The discovery of medical instruments suggests the Romans also had a hospital here, on the site of what is now Doune Primary School. The village’s more recent history owes much to the Castle in whose shadow it originally grew. Over the years the centre of the village migrated steadily westwards, towards the line of the main drove route from the Highlands to the markets of central Scotland. Doune Castle now stands a little apart from the village and to its east. The village has a slightly time-stood-still feel, with a range of small shops intermingled with cottages. A surprise in the centre is the location on the main street of the headquarters of Harvey Maps, again looking like it belongs to another time and place. Doune is a lovely village to explore and enjoy. Doune’s centre today is the Mercat Cross, standing in a triangular area at which the main streets intersect. The Mercat Cross was the commercial heart of the village, and the centre of the many fairs held in Doune over the course of the year. A more grisly testament to the movement of the centre of the village can be seen from the declaration of King Charles I that public executions should take place at the Mercat Cross rather than, as before, at the Castle. Doune is bounded to the south by the River Teith. It is crossed today by the A84 at the Bridge of Teith. This is the same bridge that was built by the royal tailor, Robert Spittal of Stirling, in 1535. There had previously been a ferry across the river at this point. The story goes that Robert Spittal wanted to cross the river one day but was a little short of cash. The ferryman refused to carry him across for less than the standard fare. It is said that Robert Spittal’s subsequent building of the Bridge of Teith had less to do with his concern for the public good than his desire to do the ferryman out of a job. On the south side of the River Teith lies Deanston. This was a company village built in 1785 to house workers for the vast Adelphi cotton mill, designed by Richard Arkwright. In the early 19th Century the mill provided 1000 jobs for adults and children. Until 1933, all workers lived either in Deanston or Doune. The mill was enlarged and updated in 1950, but closed in 1965. It was then converted into Deanston Distillery, with the weaving shed becoming a warehouse. The distillery has since seen a change of ownership and a period of closure from 1982 to 1990, but it has been back in production since then.

37. Around Perth

Perth has Royal blood in its veins. Nearby is Scone, where all Scottish monarchs from 838 were invested. The ceremonial Stone of Scone, the Stone of Destiny, which featured in the investiture of successive Scottish monarchs, was taken from there by Edward I of England in 1296. It only officially returned to Scotland 700 years later, in 1996. Its potential was first recognised by the Romans, who built a fort nearby. Sited on the banks of the River Tay, Perth developed as a major trading centre based on its port and its strategically significant location at the lowest bridging point of the Tay for many centuries. Today it remains an important market town and a commercial centre for the region. Visitor attractions include St John’s Kirk, sited behind the City Hall; and the Fair Maid’s House, featured in Sir Walter Scott’s novel ‘The Fair Maid of Perth’. By the North Inch is Balhousie Castle, now the headquarters and museum of the Black Watch, originally the 15th Century home of the Earls of Kinnoull. The Perth Mart Visitor Centre explores Perth’s agricultural heritage. Caithness Glass has its factory and visitor centre just outside the town. Two miles north of Perth is Scone Palace. Built in 1580 in the grounds of a former abbey, it was enlarged it 1803 and having passed between families is today home to the Earl and Countess of Mansfield. The palace is sited in extensive parkland and there are rare pine trees in the grounds. A superb collection of French furniture is also on display in the palace. On the Crieff road out of Perth you will find Huntingtower Castle a fascinating glimpse of the way buildings are altered to meet the needs of their occupants: and another key part of the backdrop to Scotland’s history. Four miles in the opposite direction, on the south bank of the River Tay, is Elcho Castle, easily one of the best castles to visit in Scotland. A marked contrast, further south and near Glen Farg, is the high and lonely location of Balvaird Castle. The southern end of this area is marked by Loch Leven, complete with Lochleven Castle on Castle Island, and the nearby town of Kinross.

38. Perth

Until the early 1980s most journeys through eastern Scotland would sooner or later have brought you to Perth. Since then the town has been bypassed to the south and west by the M90 and A9. As a result very little through traffic needs to enter Perth, though it remains an extremely busy town. Perth’s origins lay in the fort the Romans built at "Bertha" in about 83AD to act as a supply base for their occasional occupation of north eastern Scotland. This was located at the highest point on the River Tay their ships could reach, at its confluence with the River Almond two miles north of the current centre of the town. A thousand years of silting meant the highest navigable point had moved downstream by 1125, when King David I set up a new town, again on the west bank of the River Tay. This formed the basis of modern Perth and was set out in the grid plan still so evident within the compact town centre today. At about the same time the first bridge was built across the River Tay, linking Perth with what later became called Bridgend, and with the ancient capital of Scotland at Scone, two miles upstream on the east bank of the Tay. Perth’s history has been intimately tied with its river ever since. As the lowest crossing point of the Tay it assumed a strategic significance that was not missed by passing armies over the following centuries. In the Wars of Independence the town was heavily fortified and held by the English. Robert the Bruce captured it in January 1313 after swimming across the town moat and climbing the walls. Its later visitors included armies owing allegiance to the Covenanters, the Jacobites and Oliver Cromwell. If the River Tay assured Perth’s growth and its wealth, it also formed an ever present threat to its low-lying site. This was demonstrated forcibly in 1209 when a flood destroyed the bridge across the river. It also badly damaged the earth motte near today’s High Street on which the castle had been built in 1160. As a result the castle had to be pulled down. Flooding by the River Tay has characterised the story of Perth right up to modern times. As recently as 1993 large parts of the town were inundated. This led to the construction over several years of large scale flood defences that were completed late in 2001, leaving Perth with a remodelled and very attractive riverside, and returning to the townspeople full access to the parks of North and South Inch. Problems with its bridges has been another recurring theme through much of Perth’s history. The bridge that was swept away in 1209 was swiftly replaced. Another bridge was built in about 1590. This was badly damaged in more floods in 1621 and finally destroyed, again by the river, in 1648. For the following 130 years Perth made do with a ferry link across the Tay. In 1771 a new stone bridge, Perth Bridge, was built. This survives, along with Victoria Bridge, opened in 1900. As a town Perth has expanded steadily westwards in recent years towards its bypass. But the town centre still occupies the area it did in medieval times, constrained as it is by the river and by the twin public parks of the North and South Inch. North Inch achieved a certain infamy as the site of the Battle of the Inch, organised here by Robert III in 1396. In an effort to end a long standing feud between the Kay and Chattan Clans (and in an effort to suppress wider trouble in the Highlands), the King arranged a fight to the death between 30 men of each clan. This took place in front of spectators, including the Royal Court, on specially built stands. The battle started with each man firing three bolts from his crossbow, and the survivors then closed with daggers and axes. After a bloody afternoon, eleven of the Clan Chattan were still on their feet when the last survivor of the Kay contingent escaped by swimming across the Tay. The battle took place on the part of North Inch now overlooked by Rose Terrace. Proximity to Scotland’s ancient seat of power at Scone led some to hope that Perth could become Scotland’s capital. During the reign of King James I the court spent much of its time at the Abbey of Blackfriars in the town. However the King was murdered here on 21 February 1437 by nobles he had antagonised. When his six year old son was crowned as James II, it was to be in Edinburgh rather than at Scone, as this was deemed by his mother to be safer. Perth’s hopes of capital status died with James I. Perth’s more recent history, at least until the coming of the motorways in the early 1980s, has been dominated by the railways. The third surviving bridge across the Tay was built in 1849 and carries the railway via Moncrieff Island towards Dundee. Unusually, the railway builders respected the existing pattern of development of the town and the railway station was located at the south western corner of the old town grid. From here various railway companies developed lines to most significant destinations in Scotland, including northwards via Dunkeld to Inverness.