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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PER-PIG |
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PERTHSHIRE , an inland county of Scotland, bounded N. by the shires of Inverness and Aberdeen; E. by Forfarshire; S.E. by the Firth of Tay and the counties of Fife and Kinross; S. by the shires of Clackmannan and Stirling; S.W. by the counties of Stirling and Dumbarton; W. by Argyllshire and N.W. by Inverness-shire. It is the fourth largest county in Scotland, having an area of 1,595,774 acres, or 2493.4 sq. m., including the island of Mugdrum in the Firth of Tay. By far the greater part of the county is mountainous. Including the hills on the confines of Inverness-shire and Argyllshire, there are at least fifty mountains exceeding 3000 ft. in height. Of these the most familiar are Ben Lawers (3984 ft.) near Loch Tay, Ben More (3843) east of Crianlarich, Ben Lui (3708) on the Argyllshire border, Schiehallion (3547) south of Loch Rannoch, Ben Vannoch (3125) west of Loch Lyon, and Ben Chonzie (3048) near the head of Glen Almond. Of the immense number of hills of lesser altitude there may be mentioned four that have been popularized by the Lady of the LakeBen Ledi (2875) and Uam Var (2179) near Callander, and Ben Venue (2393) and Ben A'an (1750), guardians of the Trossachs. The Ochils divide Perthshire from the shires of Clackmannan, Kinross and Fife. The chief
Geology.The Highland portion of this county is built up of a great series of schists and metamorphosed rocks grouped as " Dal-radian " or Eastern schists. The general direction of the strike of these rocks is W.S.W.E.N.E. They are cut off from the Old Red Sandstone, which occupies most of the remainder of the county, by the great fault which traverses the county somewhat to the north of Aberfoyle and Crieff. But for some distance north and eaz of Crieff the boundary between these two formations is an unconformable one. In the neighbourhood of the fault line the Highland schists are less metamorphosed than they are farther north ; about Comrie and Callander they consist of shales, greywackes and igneous rocks with radiolarian cherts'and black shales that are suggestive of the rocks of Arenig age in south Scotland. At Aberfoyle, Comrie and Dunkeld roofing slates are worked and massive lime-stones occur in Glen Tilt, Pitlochry, Callander, Blair Atholl, Loch Rannoch and other places. A gritty series comes on above theslates and is well seen capping the summit of Ben Vorlich. A great variety of schists form the bulk of the series; but granite masses appear in their midst as at Loch Rannoch, Loch Ericht and Glen Tilt, and there are numerous acid and intermediate dikes which are themselves traversed by later basaltic dikes. The Old Red Sandstone consists in the lower portion mainly of coarse volcanic agglomerates and lava flows followed by conglomerates, sandstones and marls. The lowest beds are exposed along the crest of the Ochil Hills which like the Sidlaw Hills are anticlinal in structure, while between the Ochils and the Highland fault the rocks are folded into syncline; near the fault they become very steeply inclined and even inverted, and it is interesting also to note that the sediments become coarser as the fault is approached. The Upper Old Red Sandstone is well exposed near the Bridge of Earn and it extends beneath the marine platform of the Carse of Gowrie. The rocks are mainly red sandstones and marls, let down between two parallel east and west faults but between the Bridge of Earn and Forgandenny, west of the tract, they are seen to rest unconformably upon the lower division. Small outliers of Carboniferous rocks (lower) occur on the north of the Ochils. The marks of ice action left by the Glacial epoch are abundant and striking in Perthshire; moraines are common in the Highland glens, as those at the head of the Glengarry on borders of Loch Katrine; ice-scratched surfaces are found on the Sidlaw Hills, the Ochils, Kinnoull Hill and elsewhere; and erratic blocks of stone, such as " Samson's Putting Stone," a mass of Highland schist resting on a hill of Old Red Sandstone near Coilantogle, are widely distributed. Old high level marine beaches form terraces far up several of the larger streams, and the Carse of Gowrie, as already indicated, is formed by the beach at the 50-ft. level. The gravel cones poured out at the mouths of many of the glens which open on the south of the Ochils on to the too-ft. or 50-ft. beaches are often the site of villages. Climate and Agriculture.The mountainous territory is extremely wet, the rainfall for the year varying from 93 in. in Glengyle at the head of the Loch Katrine to 37 in. at Pitlochry and 23 in. at Perth. Winter and autumn are the rainiest seasons. The temperature is remarkably constant everywhere, averaging 47 F. for the year, January being the coldest month (36.5 F.) and July the hottest (59 F.). Only a little more than one-fifth of the total area is under cultivation, and of this nearly one-third is in permanent pasture, while in addition there are about 930,000 acres of hill pasturage. The arable land is chiefly in the drier regions of the east and south-east, the soil for the most part being fertile. Light soils prevail in the lower undulating districts; clay and alluvial land occur in the Carse of Gowrie, the Carse of Stirling and the lower reach of Strathearn below and above Bridge of Earn. The best heavy carse land is very rich and productive, but requires to be thoroughly worked, limed and manured, being well adapted for wheat. A considerable area is occupied by orchards, the light quick
Industries.The shire is famous for its dyeing and bleaching works, which are situated in Perth and its vicinity; but, apart from these, there are flax and jute mills at Rattray and cotton
Communications.The Caledonian railway main line to Aberdeen enters the county near Dunblane and runs in a north-easterly direction via Perth. At Crieff junction it sends off a branch to Crieff and at Perth branches to Dundee and Lochearnhead. The Stirling to Oban line of the same company crosses the shire from Dunblane to Tyndrum. The Highland railway runs northwards from Perth, and has a branch at Ballinluig to Aberfeldy. Branches of the North British railway reach Perth from Mawcarse in Kinross-shire and Ladybank in Fifeshire; part of the branch from Buchlyvie on the Forth and Clyde line runs to Aberfoyle, and the West Highland railway skirts the extreme west of the shire. At several points coaches supplement the rail. In the tourist season steamers ply on Loch Tay and Loch Katrine, and there is a service on the Tay between Perth and Dundee. Population and Administration.In 1891 the population amounted to 122,185 and in 1901 to 123,283, or 49 persons to the sq. m. The rate of increase was the smallest of any Scottish county for the decade. In 19or there were 78 persons speaking Gaelic only and 11,446 Gaelic and English. The chief
History.In 83 Agricola explored the lands beyond the Forth and in the following year penetrated to the Grampians, defeating the Caledonians under Galgacus with great slaughter. The site of this battle is conjectured by William Forbes Skene to have been near Meikleour, south of Blairgowrie, but other writers have referred it to Dalginross, near Comrie; to Ardoch (where there are the most perfect remains of a Roman encampment in the British Isles); and even as far north as Raedykes, near Stone-haven in Kincardineshire. The Romans did not pursue their victory, and the Picts were left undisturbed for a considerable period. At this time, according to Ptolemy
capital first at Abernethy and then at Forteviot. Abernethy was the centre of the Celtic church after the conversion of the natives by Ninian, Palladius and other missionaries in the5th and 6th centuries. On the burning of Forteviot by the Norsemen in the 8th century, the seat of Pictish government was removed to Scone. In the latter half of the 9th century Dunkeld to which Kenneth Macalpine had brought some of the relics of Columba from Ionabecame the scene of monastic activity, the abbot succeeding to the position of the abbot of Iona, and exercising great influence for nearly a hundred years. The Danes periodically harried the land, but a crushing defeat at Luncarty in 961 put an end to their inroads in this quarter. In 1054 Macbeth was defeated at Dunsinane by Siward, earl
interest
capital until the beginning of the 12th century, when it was displaced by Perth. From the time of Alexander I. (d. 1124), therefore, the history of the shire is merged in that of the county town, with the exception of such isolated incidents as the removal of the Coronation Stone from Scone to Westminster in 1296, the defeat of Robert Bruce at Methven in 1306, the battle of Dupplin in 1332, the victory of Dundee at Killiecrankie in 1689 and the indecisive contest at Sheriffmuir in 1715. Among archaeological remains may be mentioned the hill-fort on Dunsinane; the ship-barrow of the vikings at Rattray, weems (or earth-houses) in the parishes of Monzie, Alyth and Bendochy; the witch-stone near Cairnbeddie, one of the numerous spots where Macbeth is alleged to have met the witches, but probably a sepulchral memorial of some forgotten battle; standing
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