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Things to do in Comrie


PLACE NAMES




Comrie
Town Hall, High Street, Crieff - 01764 652 578
info@visitscotland.com

Comrie is a village and parish in the southern Highlands of Scotland, towards the western end of the Strathearn district of Perth and Kinross, 7 mi (11 km) west of Crieff.

Comrie is a historic conservation village in a national scenic area along the River Earn. The village's position on the Highland Boundary Fault causes it to experience more tremors than anywhere else in Britain, thus, it is nicknamed the "Shaky Toun" or "Am Baile Critheanach" in Gaelic. The parish is twinned with Carleton Place in Ontario, Canada.

Comrie lies within the registration county of Perthshire and the Perth and Kinross local council area. The name Comrie derives from the original Gaelic name con-ruith or comh-ruith (from con/comh 'together', and ruith "to run", "running") translating literally as "running together", but more accurately as "flowing together" or "the place where rivers meet". In modern Gaelic the name is more often transcribed as Comaraidh, Cuimridh or Cuimrigh. This is apt as the village sits at the confluence of three rivers.

The River Ruchill and the River Lednock are both tributaries of the Earn at Comrie, which itself eventually feeds into the Tay.

Due to its position astride the Highland Boundary Fault, Comrie undergoes frequent earth tremors and has an old nickname of "Shaky Toun/Toon" (Scots) or 'Am Baile Critheanach' (Gaelic). In the 1830s around 7,300 tremors were recorded and today Comrie records earth tremors more often and to a higher intensity than anywhere else in the United Kingdom. Comrie became the site of one of the world's first seismometers in 1840, and a functional replica is still housed in the Earthquake House in The Ross in Comrie. The position of Comrie on the Highland Boundary Fault also gives the village a claim to the contested title of Gateway to the Highlands. To the north of the village, Ben Chonzie and the Grampian Mountains rise majestically, while to the south of the village broad open moorland is joined by lesser mountains and glens that provide a wide range of terrain and ecology.

There is significant evidence of prehistoric habitation of the area, marked by numerous standing stones and archaeological remains that give insight into the original prehistoric, Pictish and later Celtic societies that lived here.

In AD 79, the Roman General Agricola chose what are now the outskirts of Comrie as the site for a fort and temporary marching camp, due to the area's strategic position on the southern fringe of the Highlands. It is one of the line of so-called "Glen blocking" forts running from Drumquhassle to Stracathro and including the legionary fortress of Inchtuthil. The temporary camp was c. 22 acre (c. 9 ha) in size. An infamous battle between the Celts and Romans is known to have occurred on the unidentified mountain Mons Graupius. The area around Comrie, Strathearn, is one of several proposed battle sites.

James V of Scotland came to Comrie and Cultybraggan regularly in September to hunt deer. Records survive of the food he consumed included bread, ale and fish sent from Stirling. His consort Mary of Guise and her ladies in waiting also came to the hunting in Glenartney.

Comrie's early prosperity derived from weaving. This was mostly done as domestic piecework. Comrie was also important as a droving town. Cattle destined for the markets of the Scottish Lowlands and ultimately England would be driven south from their grazing areas in the Highlands. River crossings, such as at Comrie, were important staging posts on the way south. Much of the land around Comrie was owned by the Drummond family, Earls of Perth, latterly Earls of Ancaster, whose main seat was Drummond Castle, south of Crieff. Another branch of the Drummonds owned Drummondernoch, to the west of the town. Aberuchill Castle, however, just outside Comrie was originally a Campbell seat.

Over the years the village has grown to incorporate many smaller satellite settlements, including The Ross, a small settlement to the west of the village contained within a river peninsula (An Ros literally translates as peninsula) which became more accessible when the Ross Bridge was constructed in 1792. Before that the peninsula was only reached by a river ford. Similarly, the once isolated communities in the surrounding glens and mountains, such as Invergeldie in Glen Lednock and Dalchruin in Glen Artney, have generally come to be seen as part of Comrie village. Previously, they existed as small isolated settlements - for instance, Glen Lednock contained 21 different settlements of 350 individual structures and 25 corn-drying kilns. However, these exclusively Gaelic-speaking hamlets were largely eviscerated by the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries. The first earthquake reported in Scottish history occurred in Comrie in 1801; two farmworkers were killed when a barn collapsed during the earthquake.

Comrie underwent something of a renaissance in the early 19th century and Victorian periods as an attractive location for wealthy residents and visitors, an image which has been maintained to this day. This popularity helped to bring the railway in 1893, when the Caledonian Railway completed a branch line from Crieff. The line was later extended to meet the Callander and Oban Railway at Lochearnhead. The Comrie-Lochearnhead line was closed in 1951 and the Comrie-Crieff line in 1964, due largely to the improved road network in the area.

Comrie's mountainous setting with abundant streams and lochs brought a number of hydro-electric power plants into the area in the earlier 20th century. A dam was built in Glen Lednock and water piped to another plant from Loch Earn in the west.

Today Comrie is an attractive retirement village, recording the highest proportion of over-65s in Scotland in the 1991 census. Its economy is supplemented by adventure and wildlife tourism. Like other Highland villages, it has seen an influx of residents in recent decades. Some have bought buy-to-let and second-home conversions, which has tended to raise housing prices and cause tensions with locals. Even so, Comrie retains its spirit, traditions and community feel.

Notable sights include:
  • Ben Chonzie - a mountain and Munro that overlooks the village, known for its many mountain hares
  • Cultybraggan - an ancient farming site, and site of the once-secret underground nuclear bunker and, dating from 1941, one of two high-security prisoner of war (POW) camps in Britain
  • Linn a' chullaich (English: Pool of the Boar) - a deep freshwater pool still commonly used for wild swimming in the summer months, known locally as The Lynn
  • The Deil's Cauldron (Gaelic: Slocha'n Donish, English: The Devil's Kettle) - a deep rock waterfall where there resides a legendary water-elf called Uris-chidh, who lures victims to a watery death
  • The Earthquake House (Gaelic: An taigh crith-fuinn) - a small research station housing one of the world's first seismometers, still active today
  • Tullichettle (Gaelic: Tulach a' chadal, English: The knoll/mound of sleep) - an ancient churchyard
  • Auchingarrich (Gaelic: Achadh an gàradh, English: Field of the garden) - An ancient farming site. Now home to a wildlife centre
  • Loch Earn (Gaelic: Loch Éireann) - A beautiful freshwater loch surrounded by mountains.
  • Ben Vorlich (Loch Earn) (Gaelic: Beinn Mhùrlaig) - A nearby mountain and Munro.
  • Fort Victoria (Gaelic: An Gearasdan Borgach)) - The remains of a Roman 'glen-blocking' fort. This site is considered by some the furthest north that the Romans were able to invade Scotland.
  • Standing stones (Gaelic: Na tursachan) - A number of standing stones are relics of the pre-Christian Celtic and Pictish societies which once inhabited the area.
  • Melville Monument (Gaelic: Carragh Melville) - A 72-foot granite obelisk which sits on a high, steep, craggy hillside overlooking the village. Built to commemorate First Lord Melville Henry Dundas
  • Dundas Monument (Gaelic: Carragh Dhùn Deas) - A similar, but smaller obelisk to the east of the village
  • Glen Artney (Gaelic: Gleann Artanaig) (English: This may be Artanag's glen, a name based on old Gaelic art, meaning bear) - A beautiful glen and ancient royal deer forest immortalised in Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake (poem), it supplied venison to the Sovereigns of Scotland at Holyrood, Dunfermline and Falkland.
  • Glen Lednock (Gaelic: Gleann Leathad Cnoc) (English: The Glen of the wooden knoll) - A beautiful highland glen in the mountains above the village, once home to a smaller community prior to the Highland Clearances. The glen holds a great stock of wildlife, including elusive Scottish wildcat and capercaillie, golden eagle, buzzard, mountain hare, grouse and number of deer species.
  • Sput Rolla (English: The spout of the scroll) - A waterfall which breaks the River Lednock as it flows down from the mountains in Glen Lednock to the village.
  • Lawers House (Gaelic: Taigh Labhar) - A grand estate home to the east of the village.
  • St Kessog's Free Church of Scotland (Gaelic: An t-eaglais Naomh Cais-Òg) - A grand church built in 1879 which replaced the smaller Free Church (White Church)
  • The White Church (Scottish Gaelic: An t-Eaglais gheal) - Built in 1805 on the site of another ancient churchyard. The centrepiece of the village and a category A listed building. Now a community centre.
  • Brough and Macpherson shop - A building re-designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1903 following a fire.
  • The House of Ross (Gaelic: An Taigh Ros) - A grand estate home constructed in 1908 in the 18th-century Scots vernacular style. The home is now subdivided into a number of separate dwellings. The estate grounds contain an extensive miniature railway which is opened to the public several times a year.
  • Aberuchill Castle (Gaelic: Caisteal Obar Ruadh thuill) (English: The castle at the mouth of the red flood) - A grand castle and estate home initially constructed in 1602 at the foot of the hills of Ruchill. The castle is now owned by Vladimir Lisin, a Russian industrialist and billionaire and according to Forbes magazine the richest man in Russia. The castle has played host to many infamous characters of Scottish and world fame historically and to the present day.
  • Dunira (Gaelic: Dùn Iar-a) Castle and estates - A grand estate and home west of the village.


leonedgaroldbury@yahoo.co.ukFeel free to Email me any additions or corrections


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