Abernethy Photographic Trail. Stop 1 - Museum of Abernethy

Start at the Museum of Abernethy

The Museum building used to be the stables and byre associated with Mornington House next door. It was later a garage, and was converted in the 1990s into the Museum which opened in 2000.

Opposite the Museum is the old Primary School which has now been converted in to housing. The school was erected by the heritors of the Parish in the early 19th century to provide an education for the children of members of the Established Church. There was a separate school for children belonging to the Secession Church, located in Kirk Wynd. Fees ranged from 2 shillings per year for an “ordinary” education to 5 shillings if pupils were considered clever enough to warrant lessons in Latin, book keeping and practical mathematics. At that time, pupils could receive their entire education, up to what we would now consider secondary school level, at the local school, with particularly able pupils then moving on to Perth Academy to continue their education. The  Rev. David Duncan, writing the New Statistical Account of Abernethy in 1845, stated that “the heritors of the Parish of Abernethy are entitled to much praise for the sacrifices and exertions they have made for the education of the people”. The Primary School moved to its current building, on the Main Road towards Newburgh, in 2002, where it continues to provide an excellent education for the children of Abernethy.

School Class 1896

Mr Davidson and staff

Primary School 1960

Primary School 1978

Abernethy Photographic Trail. Stop 2 - Back Dykes

Back Dykes, now the main road through the village was so called because this was where the gardens of the houses on Main Street ended and their back walls were built. This became the main road through the village in the 1820s and was maintained by statute labour. From 1699 onwards, in Scotland, the Statute Labour Road system obliged people to supply labour, tools, horses and carts for road-mending purposes for up to six days a year without pay.

This is how the top of Station Road (directly oppposite School Wynd) would have looked until the A912 was refurbished in the 1960s

Back Dykes from the top of Station Road looking east towards Newburgh.

Back Dykes from the east. Looking towards the bottom of School Wynd

Abernethy Photographic Tour. Stop 3 - Free Church, Clows Factory, Hotel and Bowling Green

Clow Square is named after the Clow Family who manufactured nightwear in a converted church until the 1980s.

Abernethy Free Church, later to be the North United Free Church, and then Clows Factory (Tower Works) until the 1990s.

Clows Factory workforce in the 1930s

A Hen Party in Clows Factory in the 1960s

The factory building was demolished to make way for housing. To the west of Clow Square was Abernethy Hotel which was a  coaching inn serving one of the main routes from Perth to Fife.

This shooting party in the 1920s finished their day with a drink at the Abernethy Hotel

Abernethy Photographic Trail. Stop 4 - Toll Cottage

TOLL HOUSE (now Toll Cottage): Originally, this was where travellers would have paid their toll to continue along the main road as they entered Abernethy. Over time, as toll roads came under the control of local authorities, the building was re-purposed as the Corner Shop – where generations of Abernethy folk got their papers and their sweeties!

Granny Ramsay and her daughter Lily

OLD MANSE:

On the right of Toll cottage is a house now known as The Poplars. This was built as the manse for the Free Church

Nurse Peattties garden replaced the old Bowling Green in the foreground of this picture, The Poplars is in the background

NURSE PEATTIE’S GARDEN: Known today as Nurse Peattie’s Garden, this quiet piece of land was the original Abernethy Bowling Green. The land was donated to the Abernethy Bowling Club in 1901 by Mr. Duncan McGregor of Arngask, to be formed into and used as a bowling green; money to develop the land appropriately was to be raised by the Club members. In 1903, it was agreed that the Town’s Officer, who was responsible for street cleaning and other manual work related to the maintenance of Burgh infrastructure, should be responsible for the maintenance of the green; however, the Town Council were very clear that his wage for doing that should be paid by the Club and not the Town! The Bowling Green moved to its current location, at the back of the old hotel, in the 1960s, when the main road through Abernethy was realigned, as some of the land was needed to accommodate the changed layout. In 1966, the remaining land was re-developed into a memorial garden dedicated to Nurse Elizabeth Peattie, who was the District Nurse in Abernethy from 1936 to 1963. It is currently looked after by the Abernethy in Bloom group, who do a fantastic job of maintaining it as a peaceful place to wander, or to sit and reflect.

Abernethy Photographic Trail. - Stop 5 - Tootie House and Main Street

From mediaeval times onwards, local cattle and horses grazed in summer on the commonty, a common pasture on the hills above Abernethy (Perthshire).
A cowherd would 'toot' the horn at Tootie Corner on the Main Street, where nowadays the Tootie House stands. This was the signal for the cattle to be brought to him from the houses in the village. He would then take them up Coo Wynd to Tarduff Hill and tend them for the day before bringing them down for the evening milking.
Horned cattle were at one time very common, and the musical horns were probably taken from a local beast.
The Abernethy Horn is in the Museum of Abernethy. Look out for marks on the horn, no doubt carved by bored cowherds. One of these reads TP1744, although tradition in the village has it that it is considerably older than that date.

William Peddie also announced Great Britains victory in the Napoleonic War by blowing the Tootie Horn.

Opposite Tootie House is the Smiddy House. Next to it was the Smiddy where people brought their horses to be shod and their ploughs to be mended.

Abernethy Smiddy in the 1920s - John Scobie and Mr Gray were experts at rimming cartwheels.

Not a car in sight! Looking down towards the Smiddy House

Abernethy Photographic Trail. Stop 6 - War Memorial and Tower

TOWER: Abernethy Round Tower is one of only two round towers in Scotland (the other is at Brechin) and the only one which is accessible to the public. No-one knows exactly why it was built; legend has it that the first 12 stones from the bottom formed part of a Pictish broch, which seemed to be borne out by 19th century excavations which discovered stone coffins buried under the base. The remainder is thought to have been constructed in the 11th century by the Culdees who inhabited and maintained a monastery at Abernethy from at least AD 600. The monastery and church precincts are generally accepted to have covered the whole of the site occupied by the current Church and the graveyard. It is likely that the tower would have functioned as both a bell tower and a lookout tower to warn early inhabitants of potential raiders – the view from the top is spectacular, and you can see all the way to the River Tay! The Pictish symbol stone at its base was unearthed in School Wynd in the early 20th century and the iron “jougs” affixed to the side of the tower would have been used to restrain people found guilty of transgressions (whether criminal or religious). It was a particularly grisly form of punishment. The current bell dates to 1782, and the clock to 1868, although it has been repaired many times over the years! The Tower is a scheduled monument and is now maintained by Historic Environment Scotland; if you’ve a head for heights and don’t mind a climb, the key for the Tower is available from the Museum but we do ask that visitors respect the building’s historic status while going up and down. It’s well worth it for the view from the top!

WAR MEMORIAL:  Prior to the first World War, the square was dominated by the Town House, a dwelling house which the Town Council rented out at a low rent. In 1918, at the end of the War, it was tenanted by a Miss Murray and her son; the Council had, earlier that year, requested that her son move in to ensure Miss Murray paid her rent on time! At a meeting of the Town Council in December 1918, it was agreed that a committee should be formed to consider the most appropriate memorial to the soldiers and sailors who were lost in World War I. The Committee held a public meeting in April 1919 where it was unanimously decided that the Town House, should be demolished ”in order that a suitable War Memorial consisting of a Celtic Cross or Merkat Cross or other suitable erection be erected thereon”, and that suitable alternative housing should be sought for Miss Murray and her son. Finding alternative accommodation took some time, and in the meantime the Town Council sought tenders to demolish the Town House and cart away the rubble and engaged the services of an architect. The War Memorial was designed in the style of a Merkat Cross, and was inaugurated at Armistice Day in 1922.

Abernethy Photographic Trail - Stop 7 - Kirk Wynd

Kirk Wynd is named for the churches and places of worship which have stood there since at least 1743. The church building which remains in the Wynd now is now a private house, but it was a United Presbyterian Church built after an older one was demolished in 1866. In a letter to his sister in Canada, Jane Forbes Taylor, dated 1869, Peter Forbes said ‘it is the grandest country church we have ever seen’, ‘The spire and steeple cost 500 pounds. The stone for the baptismal font came from Paris’. The expense of building such a magnificent church was so great that the congregation were still in debt over its building in 1888 when a Bazaar was held to help pay for it.

The building was sold to Camerons of Perth as a furniture store. Then became a store for vintage military vehicles. It still stands in Kirk Wynd but has now become a house with the unstable spire being removed in 2003 for safety reasons. Please respect the residents privacy and do not go into the church grounds.

This picture is believed to show the earliest place of worship on the Wynd. The Associate Presbytery meeting house which was build in 1743 to house the minister, Alexander Moncrieff, and his congregation who broke away from the Church of Scotland in 1733.

Near the foot of the Wynd is Abernethy's last remaining Marriage Stone. It can be seen over a blocked up doorway and reads ' 17 LC MC 64' 

Looking down Kirk Wynd towards Main Street. Note the reed thatch on the houses which are now slated. The thatch came from the reed beds on the river Tay.

This Marriage Lintel from Main Street was lost when the building was restored in the 1960s

Abernethy Photographic Trail - Stop 8 - Old Post Office and Water Pump

OLD POST OFFICE: The Post Office was very much a family affair in Abernethy for around 200 years, from William Peddie in the 18th century until his great-grandson Norman retired in 1975. The building pictured here was owned by the Peddie family, and was extensively improved and re-modelled in the 19th century, and housed the Post Office and general store, with living accommodation upstairs. It is still in private hands, although not the same family! When Norman retired in 1975, the Post Office moved along the Main Street under the care of Mrs. Margaret Greig. Today, the village doesn’t have a physical Post Office at all.- it is served by a mobile van which visits twice a week. The building next door to the old Post Office housed a cycle shop and living accommodation, and is also now a private house. Both buildings were connected at the back; owned and inhabited by the (large!) Peddie family, it was the best way to stay connected. One of the upstairs rooms, was used as a school room for children whose parents were part of the Associate Presbytery congregation, and the children were taught by William Peddie senior until a purpose built school a was constructed in what became the grounds of the Kirk further up Kirk Wynd.

Before water was piped into individual homes, there were several water pumps spaced along the Main Street for the use of residents.

The last Post from the old Post Office being collected from Mr and Mrs Peddie

The new Post Office in Main Street in 1975 - Still run by the Grieg family in 2024, though the village doesn’t have a physical Post Office anymore- it is served by a mobile van which visits twice a week.

Abernethy Photographic Trail - Stop 9 - The Cree's Inn and Deads Lane

The Cree's - Or Cree's Inn - was the last Pub in the village. The scene of many musical nights, family parties and drinks with friends. There has been an Inn on this site for several hundred years and it was named after one of its previous Landlords. 

Cree's Inn around 1912

Cree's Inn 1990s

Cree's Inn 2022

The Cree's Inn sits at the bottom of a short gravelled road called Dead's Lane, which ends in a gate into the church graveyard. This road saw the last journey of many residents of Abernethy.

The Round Tower from the Dead's Lane gate in spring.

The Round Tower from the Dead's Lane gate at night.

Abernethy Photographic Trail - Stop 10 - Kirk of St Bride

There have been many churches of many denominations in Abernethy over the centuries, but this site is believed to have had a church building on it in some form or another for over 1500 years. The earliest foundation dates to the 5th Century and there have been communities of religious orders including the Culdees  (10th to 13th century), and a College of Canons (13th to 16th century) until the Reformation in 1560 when there was an uprising against the wealthy monasteries and churches.

This view from the north - dated 1790 - shows the small medieval church next to the tower.

The medieval church of Abernethy stood in the centre of the present graveyard and was in use until 1802 when the current church was built. The church still holds regular services and is joined with other nearby parishes.