AUCHTERARDER, a parish and town and seat of a presbytery,
in the county of Perth, .54^ miles (N. W.)
from Edinburgh; containing, with the village of Smithyhaugh,
3434 inhabitants, of whom 2068 are in the town.
This place anciently belonged to the abbey of Inchaffray;
and in 1328 the lands were granted by charter of Robert
Bruce to Sir William Montifix, justiciary of Scotland,
whose daughter and heiress conveyed them by marriage
to Sir John Drummond, with whose descendants they
remained till their forfeiture by the participation of that
family in the rebellion of 1715. During that period of
distraction, the town was laid waste and burnt by the
Pretender's army, under the Earl of Mar, in order to
check the progress of the royal forces. For this injury,
indemnification was promised to the inhabitants, by
proclamation issued from the ancient palace of Scone in
1716; but the only compensation they received was from
the reigning family, to such of them as had not been
concerned in the rebellion. The commissioners appointed
to take charge of the forfeited estates, made a survey of
the barony of Auchterarder in 1778, by which it appears
that the inhabitants were in a very distressed condition,
on account of the backward state of agriculture
and the want of employment. From this depression,
however, they have been gradually rising; and since the
purchase of the estate by Captain Hunter, the place has
rapidly improved.
This TOWN, which, upon disputed authority, is supposed
to have been anciently a royal burgh, is situated
on the turnpike-road from Glasgow to Perth, and has a
station of the Scottish Central railway in its vicinity.
It consists chiefly of one street, more than a mile in
length, in which are some well-built houses, and numerous
other dwellings of inferior appearance, occupied by
weavers and manufacturers. The inhabitants are amply
supplied with pure water, from a copious spring conveyed
by pipes into their houses, mainly through the
exertions of Captain Aytoun, of the Royal Artillery, in
1832. The chief trades are, the weaving of cotton for
the manufacturers of Glasgow, in which more than .500
looms are in constant operation; and the making of
shawls, blankets, and other articles of the woollen
manufacture. There are two breweries for ale and beer;
and a branch of the Central Bank of Scotland, and a
branch of the National Savings' Bank, have been established.
The town is supplied with gas. A market is
held on Saturday, and is well supplied with provisions
and with grain, for which it is the principal mart of
the district. Fairs are held on the last Tuesday in
March, for grain; the Thursday after the last Tuesday
in May, for cattle; the Fridays before the Falkirk trysts
in August, September, and October, for cattle and
horses; and the 6th of December, for cattle and general
business. The post-office has two deliveries daily; and
facility of communication with Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Perth, and Stirling, is maintained by railway.
The PARISH includes the ancient parish of Aberuthven,
united to Auchterarder prior to the Reformation. It is
bounded on the north by the river Earn, and extends
eight miles in length from north to south, and three
miles in breadth from east to west, comprising 13,747
acres, of which 7176 are arable, about 300 acres woodland
and plantations, and the remainder meadow, pasture,
and waste. The surface is hilly, and rises from
the banks of the Earn to the Ochil hills, of which the
highest, Craig Rossie, 2359 feet above the level of the
sea, is within the limits of the parish. The principal
rivers are, the Earn, which rises in Loch Earn, and falls
into the Tay; and the Ruthven, which, after receiving
the waters of several rivulets descending from the
Ochils, flows through the parish, and falls into the Earn.
In the Earn are found salmon and large white and
yellow trout, and in the Ruthven a small species of
trout remarkable for the delicacy of its flavour. The
soil, in the eastern part of the parish, is light and
sandy; in the lower lands, a clayey loam; and in the
neighbourhood of the town, a rich black loam. The
chief crops are oats, barley, wheat, potatoes, turnips,
and peas, with the usual grasses. The system of husbandry
has been greatly improved; nuich waste land
has been reclaimed by embankment from the overflowing
of the Earn, and a considerable stimulus is afforded
by the premiums awarded at an annual ploughingmatch,
by the agricultural society of the parish. Cows
of the Ayrshire breed are kept on the dairy-farms; the
cattle on the pastures are generally the Teeswater, and
on the lower lands sheep of the Leicestershire breed
have been introduced. The annual value of real property
in the parish is £8600. The substrata are mostly of the
old red sandstone formation, grey slate of good quality
for roofing, and limestone, which, from the scarcity of
fuel, is not much wrought: a search has been made for
coal, but without success. There is little old wood now
remaining; the plantations, which are principally of
modern date, are chiefly larch and oak. Auchterarder
House is a handsome mansion in the Elizabethan style,
lately erected, and situated in grounds that have been
greatly improved.
For ecclesiastical purposes the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery of Auchterarder and synod of
Perth and Stirling: the minister's stipend is £199. 14. 2.,
with a manse, and a glebe valued at £17 per annum;
patron, the Earl of Kinnoul. The church, rebuilt in
1784, and enlarged in 181 1, is a plain structure, situated
in the town, and containing 930 sittings. In the aisle at
Aberuthven is the mausoleum of the (iraham family, in
which are several coffins containing the remains of departed
Dukes of Montrose, and in the vault beneath
have been interred many of their ancestors. There are
places of worship in connexion with the United Presbyterian
Synod and the Free Church. The parochial
school is well attended: the master has a salary of
£34. 4. 4., with a house, and au allowance of £2 in lieu
of a garden; the fees average about £40 per annum.
There is also a school for which a building was erected
in 1811 by John Sheddan, Esq., who endowed it with
property to the value of about £1000, the proceeds of
which are paid to the master on condition of his teaching
twelve children gratuitously. To the north of the
town are the ruins of a building supposed to have been
a hunting-scat of Malcolm Canmore's; the walls, which
are of great thickness, have been nearly demolished for
building materials. Eastward of these ruins are the
remains of the ancient church of St. Muugo, formerly
the parish church, the cemetery of which is still used
as a place of sepulture by the parishioners; and in
digging the foundation for the present church, a coin of
the Emperor Titus Vespasian was found, in a very perfect
state.