BLAIRGOWRIE, a burgh, inarket-town, and parish,
in the county of Perth, .58 miles (N. by W.) from
Edinburgh; containing about 3000 inhabitants, of whom
about 2600 are in the town. Blair is a term of doubtful
etymology, by some supposed to be derived from a
Gaelic root signifying a mossy locality, and by others
thought to come from a word denoting the scene of a
battle or of war. Gowrie was the ancient denomination
of the district in which the parish is situated, and has
been used as an affix to distinguish it from several other
places of the name of Blair. The town stands not far
from the eastern boundary of the county, bordering on
Forfarshire, and on a pleasant eminence on the western
bank of the river Ericht, forming the first step of the
acclivity of the hill of Blair. From its secluded and remote
neighbourhood, it has been free from the collisions
of the great political and religious tumults which have
been felt so frequently and extensively throughout the
country, the only historical recollection noted of this
kind being the passage of the celebrated Montrose
through the place, in one of his hostile descents into the
valley of Strathmore. But what, at the commencement
of the present century, was a small, quiet, and inconsiderable
village, has since grown into a bustling manufacturing
and market town; and not only the inhabitants
of this spot, but those of the parish generally, have exchanged
their rural for a commercial character, the peasantry
having given place to artisans, partly through the
breaking up of the cottar system by the consolidation of
small farms, but chiefly through the extensive introduction
of manufactures. About forty or fifty years since,
the village consisted of small, unsightly thatched houses,
collected in the vicinity of the church. It now contains
some good streets, which are well lighted with gas,
supplied by a joint-stock company established in 1834;
and its new and attractive character has for some time
been gradually drawing, from the other parts of the parish,
a considerable portion of the people to take up their
residence here. Blairgowrie is approached by several
good roads from different quarters. The most considerable
of these is the great north road from Perth to Fort-
George, which enters the parish at the southern boundary,
about two miles distant, and crosses the Ericht a little
way from the town, by the bridge of Blairgowrie. This
road has lately been made a turnpike as far as the bridge
of Cally, six miles north of the town.
The river Ericht, forming the eastern boundary of the
parish for ten miles, is a lively and interesting feature in
the strikingly beautiful scenery which is commanded by
the well-cultivated hill of Blair; it has its course through
diversified and romantic combinations of woods and
rocks, and falls into the Isla at Cupar-Grange. Within
half a mile of the town is a small cascade or salmon-leap,
partly artificial, called the Keath. The hill of Blair,
immediately behind the town, is crowned by the church,
and skirted by a deep well-wooded ravine stretching
down abruptly nearly to the river. From the churchyard
a view of the first order is obtained, embracing the whole
valley of Strathmore, in the northern portion of which
part of the parish lies, and terminated on the east by the
Hunter hill of Glammis, and on the south by the picturesque
chain of the Sidlaws. Near the town are the
mansions of Newton and Ardblair, large structures in
the castellated style, the former commanding beautiful
and extensive prospects over Strathmore, and being
itself seen as a conspicuous object from several parts;
and not far distant is Blairgowrie House, a large edifice,
situated on the low grounds to the south of the town,
the whole of the vicinity of which partakes of the rich
and varied scenery characteristic of the lower or southern
division of the parish, the northern district exhibiting the
features of a liighland locality.
The spinning-wheel, formerly so much in use here, has
been entirely superseded by machinery; and there are
at present five mills in operation, worked by water-power,
and employing about 'iOO hands in the spinning of flax
and tow into yarn. The flax used is imported into Dundee
from the Baltic, and after being spun, is either taken
to the former place for sale, or disposed of to manufacturers
in the neighbourhood, and at Alyth and Cupar-
Angus. The value of flax annually consumed at three
mills near the town is from £'20,000 to £'26,000 per annum,
and the value of yarn spun at the same mills, from
£33,000 to £36,000. About 350 persons are occupied
in weaving yarn by hand-looms into cloth of different
fabrics, consisting of fine dowlas and drill, and especially
Osnaburghs and coarse sheetings: these are generally
sold at Dundee, but sometimes shipped, on the part of
the manufacturer, direct to North and South America and
France. Another branch of trade carried on is that of
salmon-fishing, which, however, is in a very low state, the
rental for the whole course of the Ericht from the Keath
to the boundary of the parish being only £'21. 1'2. per
annum. This change from its former extent, which was
very considerable, is owing partly to the circumstance of
there being fisheries lower down, on the Tay and Isla,
and partly to the erection of the numerous mills on the
river, which in summer drain off nearly the whole of the
water. A general post-office is established in the town.
Besides the road from Perth to Fort-George, already
noticed, there is ^ road from Blairgowrie to Cupar-
Angus, made turnpike in 183'2, which quits the parish
about two miles south of the town; and the line of road
from Kirriemuir, Forfar, and other places, to Dunkeld,
passes through the town, in crossing the parish from
east to west. In 1846 an act was obtained for the construction
of a branch to Blairgowrie of the Perth and
Forfar railway. A market, which is well attended, is held
on Wednesday, in alternate weeks, during winter and
spring, for cattle and grain; and there are animal fairs
in the town on the third Wednesday in March; the
'26th of May, if it fall on Wednesday, if not, the first
Wednesday after; the '23rd July; the first Wednesday
in Nov. i the '2'2nd Nov., or first Tuesday after j and
the Wednesday before Falkirk tryst. There are two
branch banks, and a savings' bank in connexion with the
Perth National-Security Savings' Bank: the deposits in
the savings' bank amount to upwards of £3000.
Blairgowrie was erected into a burgh of barony by
charter from Charles I., dated 9th July, 1634, in favour
of George Drummond, then proprietor of the estate. In
the year 1809, the town was created a free burgh of
barony by a charter from Colonel McPherson, the superior,
and the burgesses were emi)0wered to elect a bailie
and four councillors for the management of the affairs
B L AI B L A I
of the burgh. The bailie, and two of the councillors,
vacate their office every two years; and their places are
filled up by the burgesses. The police is in accordance
with the general police act, and under the control of the
chief magistrate and four commissioners, the latter being
annually elected by the £10 householders; but the provisions
of the act respecting watching and paving have
not been adopted, the householders being still bound by
their charter to take the watching by turns, themselves
personally, or to provide substitutes. There are two
commodious and well-ventilated cells in the lower story of
the town-house, used as a prison, for the punishment of
offenders within the jurisdiction of the burgh magistrate.
The town is one of the seats of the quarterly sheriffcourt,
under the Small-Debt act, and a polling-place for
the county parliamentary elections.
The PARISH consists of a principal portion, about
seven miles long and one mile and- a half in average
breadth, and of two detached parts. One of these, lying
north-west of the large division, and separated by
branches of the parishes of Kiuloch and Bendochy,
contains a tract on each side of the river Ardle (consisting
of the estates of Blackcraig, Wester-Cally, and
Whitehouse), and part of the district of the Forest of
Cluny; covering altogether about four square miles. The
other detached part, called Creuchies, situated to the
north-east, and separated by the parish of Rattray, contaius
about two square miles. The total number of acres
in the parish is estimated at about 16,000 or 17,000, of
which about 10,000 are or have been cultivated, 5000
are waste and pasture, and the remainder wood and
plantations, comprising alder, birch, hazel, mountain-ash,
larch to a considerable extent, and Scotch fir. Blairgowrie
parish comprehends two divisions, the highland
and the lowland, separated from each other by a branch of
the Grampian range; the former is hilly, and constitutes
the northern boundary of the vale of Strathmore, while
the surface of the latter, which belongs to that vale, is
tolerably equal, and replete with that beautiful and
richly-diversified scenery for which the whole sweep of
country is so highly celebrated. The Ardle and Blackwater
streams, partly skirting the northern division,
unite near the bridge of Cally, and form the principal
river, the Ericht. This river, in the vicinity of Craighall,
passes through some of the most wildly romantic portions
of the district, the beauties of which supplied the
author of Waverley with many of the principal features
in the description of Tully-Veolan. The parish is partly
bounded on the south by the Lunan; and the Lornty,
after flowing for some distance, falls into the Ericht
about half a mile above the town. The streams abound
with trout: pike, perch, and eels are plentiful in all the
lochs, which are six in number; and the loch of Stormont
is frequented in summer by swarms of sea-gulls,
that build among the reeds and rushes, and furnish
large quantities of eggs.
The southern and most cultivated division of the
parish, stretching southward from the hill of Blair, for
four miles, to the middle of the valley of Strathmore,
exhibits great diversity of soil, comprising stiff clay,
moss, rich loam near the town, and alluvial earth; the
last, on the bank of the river, being the most fertile. In
this division is the muir of Blair, a tract comprehending
about 1000 acres, chiefly covered with thick plantations
of Scotch fir, beyond which, to the south, the soil, though
thin and light, is mostly under cultivation. All kinds
of grain and green crops are raised, and a considerable
revenue is derived from pastures and the thinning of
woods. The sheep kept here are not bred in the parish,
but are purchased in autumn, and fattened with turnips
eaten olf the ground in winter, for sale in the following
spring. Much improvement has taken place in the
stock of cattle, by crossing the native cows with the
short-horned bulls, and large numbers are fed for the
Glasgow and Falkirk markets. The husbandry is of a
superior kind, all the modern usages having been introduced,
and draining and inclosing have been practised
to a great extent. The annual value of real property in
the parish is £9291. The rocks consist chiefly of greywacke,
greenstone, and sandstone; the last, which is a
coarse red conglomerate, is extensively quarried in the
vicinity of the town, and there are several other quarries
in different parts, including one of day-slate, not
now in operation.
For ecclesiastical purposes, the parish is in the presbytery
of Meigle, synod of Angus and Meams, and in
the alternate patronage of William McPherson, Esq., of
Blairgowrie, and the Trustees of the late James Blair
Oliphant, Esq., of Gask and Ardblair. The minister's
stipend averages £222. IS.; with a manse, rebuilt in
1S3S, with the offices, at a cost of upwards of £500; and
a glebe comprising 9i acres, valued at £20 per annum.
The church, built in 1824, on the site of the old edifice,
on an eminence close to the town, contains 1000 sittings.
A chapel situated in Brown's-street was p\irchased for
the sum of £400, of the Burgher congregation who had
before used it, and was opened in 1837 in connexion
with the Established Church. The money for the purchase,
with the exception of £100 granted by the
Church-extension Committee, was raised by subscription.
No minister is now appointed. There are a Roman
Catholic chapel, and places of worship for members of
the Free Church and Independents; and a handsome
edifice has been erected in the early English style, consisting
of a nave and chancel, for the use of a congregation
of Episcopalians; it is named St. Catharine's, and
was founded at the expense of the Rev. John Marshall,
who ornamented the chancel with an elegant window of
stained glass. Attached to it is a library containing
many works of science and general literature, for the
use of all denominations. The parochial school affords
instruction in the usual branches; the master has a
salary of £34. 4., and about £60 fees. The late Mr.
George Barty, tobacconist at Perth, and a native of this
place, who died in 1S3S, bequeathed £1400 for the education
of poor children belonging to this parish, and the
parishes of Rattray, Bendochy, and Kinloch, in the
parochial school of Blairgowrie. An elegant new shooolroom
was built in 1842, at an expense of upwards of
£S00. The antiquities comprise the ruins of the castle
of Glasclune, formerly the property of the Blairs, and of
that of Drumlochy, the seat of the Herons; the buildings
are in close vicinity to each other, and between the
possessors a feud once raged, ending in the ruin of the
latter. There are several ancient cairns. A chalybeate
spring called the " Heugh well", situated in a cliff about
a mile from the town, is found of great benefit in
cutaneous and dyspeptic complaints. After the royal
visit to Ireland, Her Majesty, accompanied by Prince
Albert and her suite, passed through the town of BlairB
L A N B L A N
gowrie on the 15th August, 1S49, on her way from
Glasgow to Balmoral in Aberdeenshire.