The Fair Maid’s House in North Port

The house was chosen by Sir Walter Scott as the home of Catherine Glover, the heroine in his 1828 novel “The Fair Maid of Perth”. Scott had been shown round the oldest parts of Perth in his search for an authentic setting for his novel. In a similar fashion to his choice of the Hal O The Wynd house the story pre-dates the buildings. Some of the walls date from 1475 but most are from 1629 and the whole building was extensively renovated in 1893-4. For 150 years it was the meeting place of the Glovers Incorporation of Perth. It now stands on North Port behind Perth Concert Hall. It house a visitor Centre (currently closed) and is part of the headquarters fo the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. The board across the road shown here is Panel 4 of the Perth Medieval Trail entitled 'Outside the Burgh' and replaces an earlier board (also pictured).

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Hal O the Wynd House in Mill Wynd

The naming of this building is entirely due to Sir Walter Scott. He named the house in Mill Wynd on a visit to Perth to find material to provide an apparently authentic background for his novel ”Fair Maid of Perth”. The building dates from 1774, so clearly did not exist in the time of Hal O the Wynd. It was originally used as a warehouse and factory. (Hunter, T., Perth Weavers and Weavers, 1936, p91 & p48) Scott similarly attributed the Fair Maid’s House to the Glover Family The legendary figure of Hal O The Wynd, whose actual name was believed to be Henry Wynd, or as the Highlanders called him “Gow Chrom” meaning the “bandy-legged smith, was said to have taken part in the Battle of the Clans in 1396. (Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy, Penguin 1995 f.note P315) Hal O The Wynd was a powerful local blacksmith/armourer who was drafted into the  army of Clan Chattan when one of their number absconded. He is said to have made a major contribution to the victory of Clan Chattan.  (Marshall T. H., The History of Perth: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, 1849 pp33-34)

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