Summer Outing to Crieff 30th August 2014

Report by Claire Muir

Research by Bobby Simpson MBE

 

Crieff was chosen for this year’s Rockvale Rebound Summer Outing. The day was Saturday, 30th August and once everyone going had been picked up we set off with high hopes of good weather.  

 

Crieff is a town which has been developing into a hub for tourism, trading mainly on its whisky and cattle droving history. For a number of centuries Highlanders came south to Crieff to sell their black cattle whose meat and hides were avidly sought by the growing urban populations in Lowland Scotland and the north of England. The town acted as a gathering point or tryst for the Michaelmas cattle sale held each year and the surrounding fields and hillsides were black with the tens of thousands of cattle – some from as far away as Caithness and the Outer Hebrides (for comparison, in 1790 the population of Crieff was about 1,200 which led to a ration of ten cows per person, similar to the sheep/human ratio in New Zealand).

 

During the October Tryst (as the cattle gathering was known), Crieff was the prototype ‘wild west’ town. Milling with the cattle were horse thieves, bandits and drunken drovers. The inevitable killings were punished on the Kind Gallows, for which Crieff became known throughout Europe. By the eighteenth century the original hanging tree used by the Earls of Strathearn had been replaced by a formal wooden structure in an area called Gallowhaugh – now Gallowhill, at the bottom of Burrell Street. What is now Ford Road was Gallowford Road which led down past the gallows to the crossing point over the River Earn. In such a prominent position, Highlanders passing along the principal route would see the remains of so punished dangling overhead. The Highlanders used to touch their bonnets as they passed the place, with the words: “God bless you, and the Devil damn you.” In Lord Macaulay’s history he talks of a score of plaids hanging in a row, but the remains of the Gallows – held in Perth Museum – suggest the maximum capacity was only six.

 

This small town in Perthshire was reached by our party via long and windy roads which passed several places like Muthill which I’d love to go back to visit and we reached our lunch destination in good time. The venue was organized by Margaret Fitzsimons who couldn’t have chosen a better place. The service at The Murray Hotel was excellent and the friendly staff served up a hearty soup and homemade bread and I certainly enjoyed the company as we moved on to the fish main course whilst others had a steak pie which looked very tempting. After a glass of wine with the meal, I appreciated not having to drive. Once the wonderful scones were served and the bill tallied, we all agreed it was a superb choice of venue and returned to our seats on the coach and headed off towards the town centre. The driver showed us where he would park and then dropped us off at the main shopping area where he would pick us up at the arranged time. The weather by this time was glorious and we resumed our exploration of Crieff.

 

 

 

Rob Roy MacGregor visited Crieff on many occasions, often to sell cattle. ‘Rob Roy’s outlaw son’ was pursued through the streets of Crieff  by soldiers and killed. In the second week of October 1714 the Highlanders gathered in Crieff for October Tryst. By day Crieff was full of soldiers and government spies. Just after midnight, Rob Roy and his men marched to Crieff Town Square and rang the town bell. In front of the gathering crowd they sang Jacobite songs and drank a good many loyal toasts to their uncrowned King James VIII.

 

In 1716, 350 highlanders returning from the Battle of Sheriffmuir burned most of Crieff to the ground. In 1731, James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth, laid out the town’s central James Square and established a textile industry with a flax factory. In the 1745 rising the Highlanders were itching to fire the town again and were reported as saying “she shoud be a braw toun gin she haed anither sing”. But it was saved by the Duke of Perth – a friend and supporter of Prince Charles. In February 1746 the Jacobite army was quartered in and around the town with Prince Charles Edward Stuart holding his final war council in the old Drummond Arms Inn in James Square – located behind the present hotel in Hill Street. He also had his horse shod in the blacksmith’s in King Street. Later in the month he reviewed his troops in front of Ferntower House, on what is today the Crieff Golf Course.

 

For us, the town square was the ideal place to relax after a lot of window shopping in the many, varied shops and was where we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine, idly chatting away and enjoying spotting others of our party as we all gravitated there with the same idea. After some time had flown by unnoticed, we decided on a lovely coffee shop where I ordered a coke float, in keeping with the holiday spirit I was feeling.

 

In the nineteenth century Crieff became a fashionable destination for tourists visiting the Highlands and as a country retreat for wealthy businessmen from Edinburgh, Glasgow and beyond. Many such visitors attended the Hydropathic Establishment. Crieff Hydropathic Establishment, now Crieff Hydro, opened in 1868, and remains in operation. Crieff still functions as a tourist centre, and the large villas stand as testaments to its use by wealthy city-dwellers.

 

Crieff was once served by Crieff railway station. The station was opened in 1856 by the Crieff Junction Railway, but was closed in 1964 by British Railways as part of the Beeching Axe.

 

Travel was no matter for us, we rejoined our group in a lazy trail from the town square to where our small coach was ready and waiting. Our willing driver, so caught in the laid-back holiday feeling, owned to day-dreaming and it was Bobby who spotted that we might not be where we should be on the way home. Perhaps conscious that going the scenic route last year caused a bit of a delay he promptly alerted the driver of the quicker route and we headed back arriving home with many happy memories of another great day out.

 

Photos to follow.