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Things to do in Errol


PLACE NAMES




Errol
45 High Street, Perth - 01738 450 600
perth@visitscotland.com

Errol is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, about halfway between Dundee and Perth. It is one of the principal settlements of the Carse of Gowrie. It lies just north of the River Tay. The 2016 population of Errol was estimated to be 1,500 persons, compared to 1,070 in the 2001 Census and 1,311 in the 2011 Census.

Errol village is in the Carse and Gowrie electoral ward of the Perthshire North Scottish parliamentary constituency and in the Tayside Health Board area.

Errol is twinned with Mardié, a village on the Loire near Orléans in France.

Errol is surrounded by agricultural flat fields and has a prominent attractive location above the Firth of Tay within this setting. Errol is known for its reeds, which used to be collected up to a few years ago to make thatched roofs. These reeds grow in the banks of the River Tay and act as home to a fairly uncommon bird called the bearded tit or bearded reedling.

Errol has a large church, built in 1831, known as the "Cathedral of The Carse" which can be seen from most parts of the village and from far around.

Errol lies on the National Cycle Network NCN 77 from Dundee to Pitlochry and is situated about 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) from the A90 Perth to Dundee Road. This makes it popular for people who commute to work whilst maintaining a vibrant local community including the Church, the village hall, the bowling club, village pub, Lass O'Gowrie Cafe, an annual gala, Twinning Society, Take a Pride in Errol, and various other services/activities/groups.

People have lived in and around Errol from prehistoric times. A ring ditch 450 metres (1,500 feet) east of Mains of Errol is thought to be the remains of timber roundhouse visible as cropmarks on aerial images. At Hill of Errol aerial images suggest a settlement, with a rectangular building, souterrain and pits. At Clashbenny there is a standing stone of Neolithic or Bronze Age.

Errol Parish can be dated back to the creation of a barony by William the Lion granted to the Hay family in the twelfth century. A descendant, in James II's reign, was created Earl of Errol. The oldest surviving parish register of births and marriages in Scotland is for Errol parish and dates from 1553; it is a relatively complete record to 1855. Errol is mentioned as 'Arroll' in William Camden's Chorographicall Description published in 1607 and on Gerhard Mercator's Scotiae Regnum maps published in 1595.

In 1689, following the Glorious Revolution, Government troops arrived in Errol; the minister Dr John Nicolson would not recognise the new government and the religious settlement, which resulted in him being deprived of his parish in 1691 despite faithfully discharging his duties.

William Herdman, assistant to the parish minister, wrote an extensive entry in the Statistical Account dated 1791 which details agricultural changes which took place in the mid-eighteenth century, including the wide variety of crops grown and rentals paid. The land was productive and grain grown was sent to Perth, Dundee, and 'large quantities' exported from Port Allen by sea to Leith and to Glasgow via 'the canal'. The population recorded by Webster in 1755 was 2,229 and Herdman tells us in 1791 it was 2,685; 'of these 1,857 live in the country, and 828 in the village'. He lists the main occupations in 1791 as 211 weavers, 50 wrights, 25 tailors, 21 shoemakers and 14 blacksmiths, but also tells us there were four bakers, three butchers, two surgeons, and a writer (lawyer). To keep them all watered and fed there were seven innkeepers. The parish also had a school and schoolmaster.

In January 1814, during a severe cold spell the River Tay froze and people were able to walk from Port Allen at Errol across to Newburgh in Fife.

The entry for Errol Parish in the New Statistical Account was written by the minister the Rev. James Grierson and dated December 1837. His extensive chapter demonstrates his interest in the local geology and natural history, but also notes the construction of the great turnpike road through the Carse between Perth and Dundee in about 1800 (now the A90), which was connected by branch roads to Errol's local harbours on the Tay at Port Allen and Powgavie. Grierson estimated the population in Errol parish in 1837 to be 2,942, 1,220 of whom lived in the village itself. Of 680 families in Errol, 224 (33%) were employed in agriculture and 374 (55%) in trade, manufacturing or craft industries. The village had a library, a friendly society and a savings bank. A hiring or feeing market was held in July when agricultural workers could seek a new place and set a fee with their employer. The village had three inns and eight ale houses.

The population of the parish of Errol in 1801 was 2,653 and 2,012 in 1951; it peaked between these dates at 2,992 in 1831 and declined to 1,891 in 1931. The total number of households in 1951 was 591.

Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) described Errol as inhabited 'mainly by weavers and operatives'; it had a post office, a branch of the Union Bank, two inns, a gasworks, two schools, a reading-room and a library. Fairs were held on the last Wednesday of July and the Saturday after the first Friday of October.

In 1887 Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Errol, a parish with a population of 2,421 people, as 'the centre of business for a considerable part of the Carse of Gowrie' due to its chemical works and an engineering and machine-making works.

The water supply for Errol was poor until 1897 when a supply was obtained from moorland above Fingask at a cost of £9,000 paid by Sir William Ogilvy Dalgleish of Errol Park. To mark this achievement, a Red Dumfries sandstone market cross with granite basins and a carved lion's head fountain topped with a Unicorn was erected, with commemorative panels, in 1900.

A local landowner and farmer was the biological scientist Patrick Matthew (1790-1874) who planted a large orchard at Gourdiehill, Grange, Errol. A former student of Edinburgh University, he made scientific observations of his orchards and wrote On Naval Timber and Arboriculture in 1831 which included early descriptions of a process of natural selection. He is credited with being the first person to bring Giant Redwood seeds to the UK. The Patrick Matthew Trail was created in his memory.

The lands of Errol passed from the Hays to Sir Patrick Ogilvie in 1648 when the estate was said to have been lost in a gambling debt. Sir Thomas Blair of Balthaycock owned it in 1652 and by 1741 George Middleton, a London banker, lived there. He is thought to have built a residence in 1745, which can be seen with parklands on the Roy map of 1747-1755, but this was destroyed by fire in 1874. In 1795 John Lee Allen inherited Errol Park; his eldest son, also John Allen, married Lady Henrietta Duncan, daughter of the Earl of Camperdown. The Allens commissioned the notable A-listed Classical circular stables by John Paterson in 1811; which was extended by adding a tower in 1899 designed by Johnston and Baxter. The Allen family sold Errol Park in 1873 to Francis Molison who asked architect Alexander Johnston of Dundee to design a new house. Elizabeth Frances Molison inherited Errol Park in 1877; she was married to William Ogilvy Dalgleish. Elizabeth was the granddaughter of William Baxter, jute and flax manufacturer, and became a philanthropist funding initiatives concerning young women, education and the visually impaired.


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


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