A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Dunkeld (Celt. dun-ealden, `fort of the Keledei' or Culdees), a small but very interesting town of Strathtay, Perthshire, partly in the parish of Caputh, partly in that of Dunkeld and Dowally. A burgh of barony, it stands 216 feet above sea-level, on the left bank of the Tay, which here receives the Bran, and here is spanned by a magnificent bridge, leading 1 mile south-south-eastward to Birnam village and Dunkeld station on the Highland railway (1856-63), this being 801/4 miles S by E of Grantown, 8½ NW of Stanley Junction, 15¾ NNW of Perth, 61 ¼ NNW of Edinburgh, and 77¾ NE by N of Glasgow. The town lies low, deep sunk among wooded heights -behind it, Newtyle (996 feet) and Craigiebarns (900); and opposite, with the broad deep river between, Craig Vinean (1247) and Birnam Hill (1324). Gray, in describing the approach to it, speaks of the rapid Tay, seeming to issue out of woods thick and tall, that rise upon either hand; above them, to the W, the tops of higher mountains; down by the river-side under the thickest shades, the town; in its midst a ruined cathedral, the tower and shell still entire; and a little beyond, the Duke of Athole's mansion. Dunkeld is, indeed, the portal of the Grampian barrier; and its environs offer an exquisite blending of all that is most admired in the Highlands with one of the richest margins of the Lowlands.
About 815, or nine years after the slaughter of the monks of Iona by Vikings, Constantin, King of the Picts, founded the Culdee church of Dunkeld, as seat of the Columban supremacy in Scotland; which church was either completed or refounded by Kenneth ac Alpin, who in 850 translated to it a portion of St Columba's relics. So richly does Kenneth seem to have endowed this church, that, prior to 860 its wealth exposed it to pillage by the Danes, under the leadership of Ragnar Lodbroc. The first of its bishops was also first bishop of the Pictish kingdom, the Bishop of Fortrenn; but at his d
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a small but very interesting town" (ADL Feature Type: "cities") |
| Administrative units: | Caputh ScoP Perthshire ScoCnty |
| Place names: | DUN EALDEN | DUNKELD |
| Place: | Dunkeld |
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