Charlotte Street – Perth Civic Trust

1774-1901 AD

Statue of Prince Albert on the North Inch

Following the death of Prince Albert on December 14th, 1861, Perth Town Council were examining possible memorials. A bust in the council offices was rejected because “none but the privileged few would see it” and similarly a reading room was not considered to be sufficiently permanent. They decided on a statue at the southern tip of the North Inch adjacent to the corner of Charlotte Street and Charlotte Place. The statue is dressed in the robes of a Knight of the Thistle, the highest award of chivalry in Scotland. In his hand he holds the design of the Great Exhibition of 1851. During the construction of the statue Prince Alfred, the Queen’s eldest son paid regular visits to the sculptor, Brodie of Edinburgh, to comment on the design of Albert’s face and dress. Queen Victoria was shown a photograph of the statue and after amendments, approved it. She agreed to inaugurate the memorial on her way to Balmoral.Queen Victoria was making one of her rare visits to Perth. Her royal train arrived in Perth Station at 8:40am on 30th August 1864. She alighted and was escorted in procession along Marshall Place and on to the site at the North Inch. Following…

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02/12/2023

1774-1901 AD

Fire Insurance Plaque on 1 Charlotte Street

This light blue building on Charlotte Street adjacent to Smeaton bridge displays a fire insurance plaque (actually a replica as the original one was stolen). Probably the smallest plaque in our records , the plaque is above the door below the central upper window. It is the mark of the Sun Fire Office with the property’s registration number, 10154, at the bottom. Fire insurance marks were used in the eighteenth and nineteenth century prior to the introduction of municipal fire services. They were fixed to the front of insured buildings as a guide to an insurance company’s fire brigade. The plaques bore the emblem of the company which insured that particular building. If an insurance company’s Fire Brigade found the plaque of a rival company on a building, they might choose not to put out the fire or else they would extinguish the blaze and charge the insuring company. The first company to use the mark was the Sun Fire Office which was established in 1710. Cast metal plaques were made of iron, lead, or sometimes brass.

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27/11/2023

1000-1603 AD / Religious

Blackfriars Monastery

This plaque at the corner of Charlotte Street and Blackfriars Street sets out three important dates in the history of Blackfriars Monastery. It was thought to have been founded King Alexander II in 1231. The Church of the Friars Preachers of Blessed Virgin and Saint Dominic at Perth, commonly called “Blackfriars”, was a mendicant friary of the Dominican Order. Mendicant were Christian religious orders who adopted a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to the poor. At their foundation these orders rejected the previously established monastic model. The friary was frequently used for national church councils and as a residence for the King of the Scots. Perth was perhaps the most important royal centre in the Kingdom of Scotland until the reign of King James III of Scotland who died in 1488. It was at Blackfriars on the night of 20th February 1437 that King James I of Scotland was murdered by followers of the Duke of Atholl. An information board on the King James public house in Kinnoull Street tells the story of the murder and more.

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18/11/2023