Perth Scotland - It's Your City

History

Finds in and around Perth show that it was occupied by the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers who arrived in the area more than 8,000 years ago. Nearby Neolithic standing stones and circles followed the introduction of farming from about 4,000 BC, and a remarkably well preserved Bronze age log boat dated to around 1000 BC was found in the mudflats of the River Tay at Carpow to the east of Perth. Carpow was also the site of a Roman legionary fortress.

Early medieval period

Perths Pictish name, and some archaeological evidence, indicate that there must have been a settlement here from earlier times, probably at a point where a river crossing or crossings coincided with a slightly raised natural mound on the west bank of the Tay (which at Perth flows north-south), thus giving some protection for settlement from the frequent flooding. The presence of Scone two miles northeast, a royal centre of Alba from at least the reign of Kenneth I mac Ailpín (843-58), later the site of the major Augustinian abbey of the same name founded by Alexander I (1107-24), will have enhanced Perths early importance. It was for long the effective capital of Scotland, due to the frequent residence of the royal court. It was at Scone Abbey that the Stone of Destiny was kept, and on it the Kings of Scots were crowned down to Alexander III (1249-86).

12th and 13th centuries

King David I (1124-53) granted burgh status to the town in the early 12th century, and documents from this time refer to the status of the kirk there. Many of the records taken from this time were the result of the arrival of the Dominicans or Blackfriars whose House was established by Alexander II (1214-49) in 1231. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Perth was one of the richest trading burghs in the kingdom (along with such towns as Berwick, Aberdeen and Roxburgh), residence of numerous craftsmen, organised into guilds. There was probably some decline in prosperity during the numerous wars of the 14th century. The town also carried out an extensive trade with the Continent, and examples of foreign luxury goods have been recovered from excavations within the town (eg Spanish silk, fine pottery from France; wine will also have been a major import, not least for the use of the Church). The main destinations were France, the Low Countries and the Baltic. Medieval crafts are still remembered in some of the towns old street names, eg Skinnergate, Cutlog Vennel.

Much of the town, including its royal castle (on or near the site of the present Perth Museum and Art Gallery), was destroyed by a flood of the Tay in 1210, one of many that have afflicted Perth over the centuries. William I (1142-1214) restored Perths burgh status, while it remained as the nominal capital of Scotland.

14th century: English occupation

King Edward I of England brought his armies to Perth in 1296 where the town, with only a ditch for defence and little fortification, fell quickly. Stronger fortifications were quickly implemented by the English, and plans to wall the town took shape in 1304. They remained standing until Robert the Bruces recapture of Perth in 1313. He ordered the defences destroyed.

In 1332, the pretender Edward Balliol, son of John Balliol, invaded to claim the throne of Scotland with the backing of Edward III of England. Robert the Bruce had died three years previously, and the regent of his infant son David II fell quickly at the hands of Balliols army at Musselburgh. Balliol took Perth and the throne in September, and the Scottish Civil War ensued. Balliol himself was driven out quickly, only to return the next year. His deposition was only made complete in 1336; his supporters were eventually driven from Perth in 1339. As part of a plan to make Perth a permanent English base within Scotland, Edward III forced six monasteries in Perthshire and Fife to pay for the construction of massive stone defensive walls, towers and fortified gates around the town (1336). These followed roughly the lines of present day Albert Close, Mill Street, South Methven Street, Charterhouse Lane and Canal Street (these streets evolved from a lane around the inside of the walls). The town lade, which was led off the River Almond (Scotland) in an artificial channel to power the burgh mills, formed an additional line of defence around the walls. The walls were pierced by several ports or gates, whose names are still remembered: the Red Brig Port (end of Skinnergate), Turret Brig Port (end of High Street), Southgait Port (end of South Street) and the Spey Port (end of Speygate). There was probably also a minor gate leading to Curfew Row. These defences were the strongest of any town in Scotland in the Middle Ages. Though still largely complete at the time of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, they began to be demolished from the second half of the 18th century, and there are now no visible remains, at least above ground. The last tower, called the Monks Tower (corner of Tay Street and Canal Street) was demolished about 1810.

Late 14th and 15th century

During the Middle Ages, Perths only parish church was the Burgh Kirk of St. John the Baptist. With the town centre dominated by this huge building, Perth is frequently referred to as Sanct Johns Toun of Perth (or variants) in old documents. The local football team is still St Johnstone. The present church, though of much earlier origins, was constructed from the 15th century onwards. Though much altered, its tower and lead-clad spire continue to dominate the Perth skyline. The Church has lost its medieval south porch and sacristy, and the north transept was shortened during the course of the 19th century during street-widening. The building was split into three congregations (the East, West and Middle Kirks), divided by internal walls, after the Reformation, and was only returned to its medieval proportions in the 1920s by Sir Robert Lorimer, who restored the building as a war-memorial for those soldiers from Perthshire who had fallen in the Great War. Despite the damage done to the Church during and after the Reformation, it contains the largest collection of medieval bells still in their original building in Great Britain. Another rare treasure, a unique survival in Scotland, is a 15th century brass candelabrum, imported from the Low Countries. The survival of this object is all the more remarkable as it includes a statuette of the Virgin Mary. St. Johns Kirk also had the finest collection of post-Reformation church plate in Scotland (now housed permanently in Perth Museum and Art Gallery).

Medieval Perth had many other ecclesiastical buildings, including the houses of the Dominicans (Blackfriars), Observantine Franciscans (Greyfriars) and Scotlands only Carthusian Priory, or Charterhouse. A little to the west of the town was the house of the Carmelites or Whitefriars, at Tullilum (corner of Jeanfield Road and Riggs Road). Also at Tullilum was a manor or tower-house of the bishops of Dunkeld. The bishops also owned a house within the burgh itself, at the corner of South Street and Watergate. Other ecclesiastical foundations included the hospitals (with associated chapels) of St. Anne (between South Street and St. Johns Place), St. Paul (corner of Newrow and High Street), St. Catherine (location uncertain) and, a little south of the town, St. Mary Magdalene. There were also a number of chapels: St. Marys (at the east end of High Street, by the end of the medieval bridge), St. Laurences (at the Horse Cross) and Our Lady of Loretto (Loretto Court). None of these buildings survive above ground, though parts of the buildings of the Blackfriars and Whitefriars have been recovered archaeologically, as has a probable part of the graveyard of St. Laurences Chapel. In the medieval period, Perth was part of the diocese of St Andrews.

1396 brought the theatre of trial by combat to Perth. The Battle of the Clans pitted Clan Quhele against Clan Chattan, each thirty strong, at the towns North Inch. This tournament (actually an attempt to resolve a disruptive Highland feud) took place under the gaze of King Robert III (1390-1406) and his court, who watched the spectacle from the Gilten Arbour, a garden attached to the House of the Blackfriars. Although records vary, Clan Chattan is understood to have won the battle, with the last of their opponents fleeing to safety across the Tay. This combat is a central incident in Sir Walter Scotts novel The Fair Maid of Perth.

The House of the Dominicans or Blackfriars, established by King Alexander II in 1231, was paying host to King James I in 1437 when rebel nobleman forced entry to the building in the middle of the night. The Friary lay outwith the town walls and was defended only by a ditch. Robert Graham proceeded to stab the King to death; the Queen, Joan Beaufort, and her children escaped to Edinburgh. Perhaps as a direct result, James was the last king to command from a throne at Perth; the capital was moved to Edinburgh in the mid 1450s. James I was buried in Perth in the Carthusian Priory he had founded in 1429. This priory was also the last resting place of Joan Beaufort and Margaret Tudor, Queens of Scotland.

16th century

While political and religious strife engulfed England in the mid-16th century, John Knox began the Scottish Reformation from grass-roots level with a sermon against idolatry in the burgh kirk of St. John the Baptist in 1559. An inflamed mob quickly destroyed the altars in the Kirk, then attacked the Houses of the Greyfriars and Blackfriars, and the Carthusian Priory. Scone Abbey was sacked shortly afterwards. The regent of infant Mary Queen of Scots, her mother Marie de Guise, was successful in quelling the rioting but presbyterianism in Perth remained strong.

There are no visible remains of the pre-Reformation religious houses of Perth, though their approximate locations are perpetuated in modern street-names.

17th and 18th centuries

Charles II was crowned at Scone, traditional site of the investiture of Kings of Scots, in 1651. However, within a year, Oliver Cromwells Parliamentarians, fresh from victory in the English Civil War, came to Perth. Cromwell established a fortified citadel on the South Inch (a large park south of the town) in 1652, one of five built around Scotland at this time to overawe and hold down the country. Perths hospital, bridge and several dozen houses were demolished to provide building materials for this fort. Even graveslabs from the Greyfriars cemetery were used. It was given to the town in 1661 not long after Cromwells death, and began almost immediately to be dismantled. The ditch, originally filled with water from the Tay, was still traceable in the late 18th century, but there are now no visible remains. The restoration of Charles II was not without incident, and with the Act of Settlement, came the Jacobite uprisings, to which Perth was supportive. The town was occupied by Jacobite supporters thrice in total (1689, 1715 and 1745).

Late 18th century to present

In 1760, Perth Academy was founded, and major industry came to the town, now with a population of 15,000. Linen, leather, bleached products and whisky were its major exports, although the town had been a key port for centuries. In 1804, Thomas Dick received an invitation from local patrons to act as teacher in the Secession school at Methven that led to a ten years residence there for him. The school was distinguished by efforts on his part towards popular improvement, including a zealous promotion of the study of science, the foundation of a peoples library, and what was substantially a mechanics institute. Under the name Literary and Philosophical Societies, adapted to the middling and lower ranks of the community, the extesion of such establishments was recommended by him in five papers published in the Monthly Magazine in 1814. The Perth Royal Infirmary was built in 1814, although the town remained unsanitary for decades including a cholera epidemic in the 1830s. Piped water and gas became available in the 1820s, and electricity in 1901.

Despite being a garrison town and major developments, social and industrial, during the First World War, Perth remainded relatively unchanged according to Dr Bill Harding in his study of the effects of the war on the people of Perth published in On Flows the Tay: Perth and the First World War. (2000).

Given its location, Perth was perfectly placed to become a key transport centre with the coming of the railways. The first railway station in Perth was built in 1848. Horse-drawn carriage became popular in the 1890s although they were quickly replaced by electric trams.

From Wikipedia.org

				2010 Sep 07 Tue