1603-1774 AD – Perth Civic Trust

Charles I visit to Perth in 1633

King Charles I ascended to the English throne in 1625 and was crowned in England that year. However, the Scots insisted that he should also be crowned in his northern kingdom. The ceremony took place in Edinburgh, at the Palace of Holyrood House, on 18 June 1633, amid an elaborate and extravagant royal tour. This tour included a visit to Perth, commemorated in this stone plaque in the flood defence wall in Tay Street. It recounts that he was entertained by members of the Glover Incorporation performing a sword dance on a wooden platform moored on the River Tay.

0 Comments

09/12/2023

1000-1603 AD / 1603-1774 AD

Pillory

The site of the old Pillory is marked by this stone marker at the foot of the High Street near the River Tay. It is reported to have fallen out of use by 1786. It was situated close to the city tollbooth, the local prison presumably in order to detain prisoners before being taken to the platform on which the pillory was mounted and being secured into it. . (Penny’s Tradition of Perth. 1836).

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / Military

Threipland House on Dundee Road

A small low plaque in the front garden just opposite the entrance to the Rodney Gardens car park describes the history of the house and some small details of the Threipland family, particularly their Jacobite sympathies. Sir David Threipland fled to France after the “1715” with 100 others. He forfeited his estates which were only restored to the family when his son purchased them from the crown in 1782.

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / Military

Charles Edward Stuart at the Salutation Hotel

A prominent brass plaque reveals that Charles Edward Sturt (Bonnie Prince Charlie) visited the hotel on South Street during his stay in Perth in 1745 on his way south to Edinburgh. It is thought he planned his campaign in room 20 which the hotel is happy to say is still in use. The original building from the 1600s was the town house of the Murrays of Scone Palace. It was converted to a coaching inn in 1699.

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / Military

Jacobite Army in Perth

A plinth on the North Inch just off Charlotte Street records that the Jacobite armies assembled on the North Inch in 1715 and 1745. James VII “The Old Pretender” arrived in Perth in December 1715 where he received a cold reception. He reviewed his troops after they had fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715 and was so disappointed with what he saw he decided to “abandon the contest as hopeless, due to the reduced state of the army and its deficiency in arms and ammunition” (Marshall, T.H., The History of Perth: From the Earliest Period to the…

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / Military

Cromwell’s Citadel – South Inch

The building of the citadel began in 1652. A modern information board, located within the South Inch car park set out a comprehensive history of the site. This was recently replaced with Panel 11 of the Perth Medieval Trail entitled Cromwell in Perth. The board details the area occupied by the citadel and the quantities of material used in its construction giving an indication of just how large and extensive was the citadel. Many of the older historic buildings of Perth were destroyed by Cromwell’s engineers as they gathered building material for its construction. In some cases only plaques remain…

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / Military

Battle of Tibbermore plaque

This plaque is on the wall of a bungalow at the corner of Needless Road and Wilson Street. The Battle, also known as the Battle of Tippermuir, which is the old spelling Tibbermore, was fought on the 1st September 1644. The events were originally commemorated by a painted stone in the area of Fairies Road. This stone was moved from its original position in Fairies Road, closer to Pitheavlis Castle and later when the stone deteriorated beyond recovery, a decision was made to find a convenient site for what the Chairman describes as “some sort of memorial.” As a result,…

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1000-1603 AD / 1603-1774 AD / Military

The Monks Tower

One of the carved alcoves in the flood defence wall on Tay Street tells of the Monks Tower. The Monks Tower was situated in the south-east corner of the gardens of Gowrie House and jutted out over the river. The tower acted as a lookout post, working in tandem with the Spey Tower to defend the southern approaches to Perth. The Tower later served as an ammunition store prior while Gowrie House was being used as a barracks prior to its demolition at the end of the 18th century.

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1000-1603 AD / 1603-1774 AD / Military

The Gowrie House and Conspiracy

The large plaque on the front of the Sherriff Court in Tay Street records the events of the 5th August 1600 when an attempt was made on the life of James VI. The Gowrie House was built in 1520 by the Countess of Huntly who later sold it to the Ruthven family. After the Gowrie conspiracy the Ruthven family, who were considered responsible for the attack on the king, forfeited the building which was then held jointly by the Murrays of Stormont and Perth Town Council. Charles II stayed in Gowrie House after his Scottish coronation in Scone in 1651…

0 Comments

04/12/2023

1603-1774 AD / 1774-1901 AD

Former Council Offices, Police Station and Tolbooth

This historic site occupies the corner of the High Street and Tay Street. The entrance doorway of the old Perth Town Council Administrative Offices is on Tay Street. There is no plaque there at present, though doubtlessly one will appear in due course. The old police station, on Tay Street, was built in 1879 as part of the Perth Town Council Administrative Offices on the site of the Old Tolbooth. Above the doorway is the inscription setting out what would now be described as the mission statement of a police force. The text was originally on the medieval tolbooth.

0 Comments

02/12/2023