Issue No.

32 April 2012

The City’s old coat of arms

Contents: Page

Chairman’s notes and Archive news 2 City Status; the Archive’s vital role 5 Dean of Guild plans; who designed them? 7 A Journey round the Northern 12 The Common Good; a historical sketch 19 An Archaological Dig—in the Archive? 22

Notes from our Chairman

"The Perth & Kinross Council Archive is probably the best local authority archive in the whole of and archivists Steve Connelly and Jan Merchant deserve national recognition for their efforts." (Paul Philippou, quoted in the Perthshire Adver- tiser (9 March 2012) during an interview about his newly launched book, Perth: Street by Street.)

"Perth also possesses one of the richest and most user-friendly local authority ar- chives in Scotland." (Professor Chris Whatley, quoted approvingly by the Historiographer Royal of Scotland in his introduction to Perth: a Place in History. )

Although these comments come as no surprise to those of us

who know the Archive and its devoted staff, it is nevertheless most gratifying to see such views publicly expressed. I often think how very fortunate residents of Perth and Kinross are to have an Archive like this on our doorstep, so to speak. As Friends we have a supportive role to play. Whether we are readers, volunteers, committee members or simply attend Friends' talks and read the newsletter, we can all give our friends and acquaintances positive information about the Ar- chive and our experiences of it.

The Friends' AGM approaches all too quickly and long- standing Friends will be aware that many of us on the Com- mittee have been serving for some years. Can I ask everyone reading this to give some con- sideration to serving as a Committee member or office-bearer? The Committee usually meets for about an hour about five times a year. Individual Committee members also become in- volved - on a strictly voluntary basis! - with attending (and sometimes organizing) various ar- chive-related events. The work is enjoyable and not too time-consuming, but members of the present Committee feel strongly that we need "new blood". If you feel at all moved to supply some, do please have a word with me or other members of the Committee or with the Archive professional staff.

As I write, the announcement from Buckingham Palace about Perth's City Status is still news and has given me, for one, a feeling of euphoria. What I haven't worked out is whether or how the restoration of official recognition of Perth as a city will affect the Archive or us, the Friends. But the news seems to me a good start to the Queen's Jubilee celebrations in the year of the London Olympic Games!

With my best wishes, Margaret Borland Stroyan

2

Archive News

The start of 2012 saw the Archive’s online catalogue go live – for the first time you can search our catalogues from the comfort of your own home. It’s been a long, occasionally frustrating time, getting the catalogue online, and the work is far from complete. But it has been well worth it – users can now more easily identify records that they’d like to see before they come to the searchroom, and from the feedback we’ve had so far, users are also finding records they’d no idea existed. It’s a wonderful addition to the Friends’ data- bases online; users can now choose to search through broad descriptions of the collec- tions or they can focus on particular topics, as well as get more detailed information about the records, find- ing people and places that don’t always appear in the catalogue. Working together, volunteers and staff are well on the way to providing comprehensive access to the collections. On page 4 you’ll find a useful listing of all the ways you can now access us, including flickr, twitter and face- book.

As fast as we’ve been populating the online catalogue, new accessions have been coming in. Perthshire Photo- graphic Society have deposited prints from exhibitions at Perth Concert Hall, Birnam Arts Centre, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Aschaffenburg, while Abernyte Heritage Group have deposited the recordings, transcripts and other pa- pers relating to their book Abernyte- The Quiet Revolution.

To help us keep pace, volunteers have been working hard at creating lists of the collec- tions: Graham has just completed listing MS212 Blairgowrie Barony Council papers and has begun listing additional papers to MS115, the Stuart of Annat collection. Meanwhile Jackie has been sorting through and listing MS308, the Kenneth Young Collection, which is extremely complex. As always, our thanks go to the sterling work of all our volunteers.

The final piece of major news is of course, Perth’s City Status award, and Steve’s article tells you about the role the Archive played in the campaign. You might notice the illumi- nated letter on the sasine – those of you who follow us on twitter and Facebook will recog- nise it as the Archive’s avatar. Jan Merchant

3 The Archive online: The catalogue is linked from the Archive’s home page, but you can also go straight to it at: http://archivecatalogue.pkc.gov.uk/ Images are on our P&KC Archive Flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pkcarchive You can Follow P&KC Archive on twitter at: www.twitter.com/pkcarchive We post to the Library & Archive page on Facebook as Archive Peek at: www.facebook.com/pages/Perth-Kinross-Libraries-and-Archives/104977659534223

Calling for volunteers!

The Archive has a few collections that require the help of knowledgeable volun- teers to list them. We’re looking for short-term placements, one volunteer who knows the Pitlochry area, and someone who attended Perth Academy. The Perth Academy job is to collate and cross-reference the school’s photographs, identifying as many pupils and staff as possible that appear in them. Someone who knows the Pitlochry area is required to help identify and list a large collection of photographs and a box of glass plate negatives. While these are discrete tasks, it’s difficult to say how long each will take; a lot de- pends on how frequently a volunteer can come in to the Archive to finish the job. We can pay reasonable travel expenses, and as a Friend, you can also get a free beverage from the Library café. And of course, you get to work with history! If you would like to discuss either of these placements, just give me a call on 01738 477012 Jan Merchant

Friends of PKC Archive, AK Bell Library, York Place, PERTH PH2 8EP

Scottish Charity No. SCO31537 Tel:(01738) 477012 Email: [email protected]

Hon. Presidents; The Provost : Sir William Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie : Mr Donald Abbott

Editor: David Wilson

4 This contemporary translation of the ‘Golden Charter’ of 1600 clearly states that James VI’s ancient predecessors had made Perth a free city and a regal and royal burgh—a fact that has long since been recognised by the city’s archivists and citizens generally, and was in no sense ‘discovered’ by journalists.

Once More The Fair City by Steve Connelly, The City’s Archivist

14 March 2012 proved a busy day in the Council Archive as the media sought interviews from the archivist about the background to Perth’s successful bid to have HM the Queen restore its historical status as a city. The King James VI Golden Charter to Perth of 1600, which makes reference to the place as a “free city and regal and royal burgh”, was the main star.

Despite media reports to the contrary, its various custodians over the last 400 years have been well aware of the charter’s existence and it hasn’t just been “discovered”. However, it certainly came under closer scrutiny as Perth & Kinross Council questioned why it wasn’t entitled to describe Perth as a city, especially as the grant of this status to Stirling and In- verness set the precedent of a city existing within a larger administrative unit. A meeting of the council in 2005 called by Provost Bob Scott and held in the old City Chambers re- asserted its belief that Perth was still a city and the 1600 charter and various other per- suasive items from the Council Archive were displayed for the elected members and in-

5 vited media. These included various Acts of Parliament referring to the City of Perth, the ma- triculated coat of arms of the City and Royal Burgh of Perth and, of course, extracts from Sir Walter Scott’s Fair Maid of Perth (, 1828) in which he makes numerous refer- ences to Perth as the Fair City.

The campaign was taken up by Provost John Hulbert, who recognised that the only way to settle the issue was to receive the consent of the Queen. The Diamond Jubilee presented the ideal opportunity to have Perth’s city status restored, although reports that only one place in the UK would be honoured did come as a setback. Provost Hulbert used the occasion of the Perth800 Conference in 2010 - Perth: a Place in History - to urge a more than willing audi- ence to get behind the campaign. The outcome has been that along with Chelmsford in Eng- land and St Asaphs in Wales, Perth has been named as a city in honour of the Diamond Jubi- lee. The support the council received from the Lord Lieutenant, the parliamentary represen- tatives, the local press, and Perth’s movers and shakers has been crucial in the successful outcome of the campaign. The vox pops on the telly also suggest that most of Perth’s citizens are quite chuffed as well.

The Council Archive staff like to think that the evidence they were able to provide for the bid document also played a significant part in the successful outcome and we will be happy to give the charter another airing when the Queen visits in the summer.

The Precept of Sasines accompanying the charter of 1600 which gave legal effect to its intentions.

6 Dean of Guild Plans: but who were the Architects?

by Marjory Howat

Jan Merchant recently asked me to do some research to fill out the rather scanty descriptions of the Dean of Guild plans we hold, by identifying the architects who made the plans. These plans are a popular resource, used by many people who want to know what their properties used to look like, or are intending to make alterations. However, before giving out copies of a plan, we need to know the name of the architect so that we can work out if the copyright has expired. Identifying the architect would also be very helpful to people with an interest in his work and career.

The Dean of Guild Court carried out the functions which are now the concern of Perth and Kinross Council Planning Department. The earliest plans we hold date from 1877. I started my investigations on plans submitted towards the end of 1898, and at the time of writing have reached 1910.

It seems strange that the name of the architect was not included, but it appears in only a few cases. Was it to avoid favouritism? In nearly every case the address is on the plan, so identification would have been easy. In 1900, there were nine architects who submitted plans. They were all local firms apart from one ‘outsider’, but one who had a base in Perth. Some other plans were submitted through the Royal Linen Bank House, presumably by a member of staff who steered them through the process.

The types of buildings for which plans are submitted range from the addition of water closets in villas to a church, so it seems that everything had to go through the Dean of Guild. And this leads to another thought. How many projects did an architect need to do each year to earn a living? In 1900, the numbers ranged from 13 plans from Mclaren and Mackay to two from A.G.Chalmers, and two from G.P.K. Young (who obviously went on to do many more). Were these architects doing work outside Perth where the writ of the Dean of Guild did not run?

I discovered that the names of architects could be readily identified via the addresses in the Perth Directory. Later, there are changes of address and apparently some amalgama- tions. In 1903, there are three architects with the surname “Smart" and I will leave it to a genealogist to work out if they are related.

The plans themselves are frequently works of art, showing details which no longer appear on computer generated material. Interiors are also included in some cases.

7

Social history can be discerned from some of the details. Plan 1901/14 for a dwelling on lsla Road includes a "motor car house", and the dimensions of 27’.6” x 14’, are given for a "motor house" in Jeanfield Road in 1908. The term "garage" seems to have been kept for a workplace where vehicles would be repaired such as the now demolished garage at York Place 1909/5.

A place to store coal was a necessity and is often adjacent to a scullery and wash house as in 1907/27. This also shows space for a bed in the kitchen, presumably for a resident maid. A plan for new flats in the High street 1906/30 shows a bed recess in the kitchen for some of the flats, but not all.

For a larger house, a place for ‘napery’ was included 1907/37.

1909/5; frontage and ground plan of a garage in York Place, now demolished

8

1907/35; The Hammerman Tavern—now occupied by a building Society

Some of the plans show what we have lost. 1907/35 shows the frontage of the Hammerman Tavern in the High street, now occupied by a building society and other less interesting frontages. 1903/33 shows the frontage of Main Street Bridgend, now rather mutilated.

Some plans show what we have never had. ‘Newton Road’ appears in 1905/1, but in 1907/32, it is scored out and replaced by ‘Glover Street’. 1905/50 shows ‘Bellavista Terrace’ which became (as far as I can tell) part of the Comely Bank layout.

9 While we can never be sure that the internal details ever materialised, 1905/2 shows the intended interior of the Thistle Bar in the High street and gives a good idea of the kind of interior not often recorded. 19o8/14 is a plan for the Northern District school and includes the design of a decorative cupola - interesting, since decorative details are not a feature of modern school plans. A detailed drawing of the intended desks is also included. Were they innovative for their time, or was there another reason for their inclusion? Today, they would be part of a separate contract.

1905/2: Interior of the Thistle Bar, High Street

1908/14: The Front of the Northern District School, showing the decorative cupola

10 Finally, it was satisfying to come across fine pen drawings of details which add interest. 1907/9 shows the internal staircase of the Guild Hall in the High Street; 1906/10 shows the glazing details of a shop in S. Methven Street; 1903/49 shows the frontage of 261 High street, and 1903/54 shows the ironwork above the frontage of the shop in Charlotte street now occupied by Panasonic.

Marjory M. Howat 3.3.12

1907/9: Internal Staircase of the Guild Hall in the High Street

11 Last Autumn Bob Scott, lately the provost of Perth and a long-time member of the Friends of the Archive, gave a well-received illustrated talk to the Friends describing his extensive tour round the lighthouses of Northern Scotland. The following article is loosely based on that talk.

Shining Lights: A Journey Round Scotland’s Northern Lighthouses

by Bob Scott

For many years I have been keenly interested in the lighthouses of Scotland and how they came into being. They are an important part of our maritime heritage, and I came to admire greatly the skill, courage and fortitude of the engineers who built them. But I also found them most enjoyable to explore, as they were often built on wild and rugged head- lands with dramatic seascapes. So some four years ago I set out to visit all the major lighthouses around Scotland’s coastline. It took six months to complete, but I felt that it abundantly justified the time and effort.

Perhaps I should first sketch the historic background. The Commissioners for North- ern Lighthouses were established by an Act of Parliament in 1786. to try to reduce

Robert ’s Masterwork; Building the Bass Rock 1807-1811 12 All images courtesy of SCRAN the appalling annual toll of hundreds of shipwrecks around the Scottish coasts. The com- missioners themselves had no experience of lighthouse building, nor had they a corps of professional engineers with the right knowhow to turn to. However, they made the in- spired, or lucky, decision to entrust the first four lights to Thomas Smith, an entrepre- neurial Edinburgh ironworker, tinsmith and maker of innovative streetlamps. Smith, who was soon joined by his extremely able son-in law, Robert Stevenson, had to learn the lighthouse business ‘on the job.’ They had to develop increasingly more effective lamps, to design buildings to withstand extremely hostile coastal weather, and to erect them in sometimes unbelievably difficult conditions. They had also to develop an infrastructure of access roads, housing and even small harbours. They then had to find and train light- house keepers for a completely new vocation, fix their wages and conditions, arrange sup- plies, and finally to embark on an unremitting cycle of inspection visits to ensure that buildings, lights and keepers functioned properly.

And thus began one of Scotland’s strangest dynasties, as Stevenson succeeded Stevenson as the Commissioners’ engineers. Robert was succeeded by his sons Alan, David and Thomas, who were active from the 1840s until the 1880s. They were followed by David and Charles, the latter continuing to design and build until the late 1930s. Each genera- tion was formally apprenticed to the last, and doubtless absorbed not only the technical expertise of their discipline and its ethical foundations, but the necessary skills for man- aging the family’s relationship with the board. In all, this engineering dynasty lasted from 1787 to 1937 - a century and a half - during which they built well over a hundred major lighthouses, as well as many minor lights, roads, harbours, breakwaters and housing for keepers and their families.

The family’s most famous member was of course the novelist , Thomas’s son. As was now traditional, he was inducted into the family business as a young man, and joined his father and uncle while still a student on several of their pro- jects around the coast, including harbours at Anstruther and Wick and lighthouses in and . However, it eventually became clear that his vocation lay else- where, and that in any case his frail health would not stand up to the rigours of the job. None the less, this experience, and the journeys he had to make through Scotland’s wilder reaches, left indelible marks. Many of the scenes in Kidnapped, Treasure Island and other novels and stories are clearly drawn from his own short-lived but intense experi- ences, but doubtless were also influenced by the lore he would have picked up from older family members in his formative years.

My own journeys started appropriately on Eilean Glas, Scalpay, in the western isles, one of the four original lighthouses ordered by the Commissioners in 1787. A few years later, in 1820, Robert Stevenson replaced it by a taller and more substantial tower, but Smith’s original tower has been preserved as a historic monument. Twenty miles off the coast of Lewis, on the Flannan Isles, is Eilean Mor of sinister memory. It was built by David Stevenson in 1899; a year later, three keepers vanished in a ‘Marie Celeste’-like in- 13 cident; it remains a mystery to this day. Breasclete, near the standing stones of Calin- ish on Lewis, was where the families of the Flannan Isles keepers stayed. It was a sub- stantial property for its time, when many local residents were living in the old black houses and scratching a living from poor crofting land. It illustrates the prestige enjoyed by employees of the lighthouse service in those isolated communities.

Returning to the mainland, I visited Rua Reidh some twelve miles west of Gairloch on the approach to Loch Ewe of arctic convoy fame. David A. Stevenson built it in 1912. The museum at Gairloch is well worth a visit; among much else of interest, it features the original paraffin lamp and optics from Rua Reidh with their immensely heavy battery of lenses. It illustrates how far the Stevensons had advanced from their early whale oil lamps with wicks and simple parabolic reflectors. Also worth a visit, to the north-west of Lochinver is the Point of Stoer headland with its lighthouse, Stoer Head, a 47 ft. tower located on a high cliff. It was built by David and in 1870. As else- where, the keepers’ cottages have been made into attractive holiday homes with magnificent sea views.

Cape Wrath Lighthouse

Cape Wrath is the north-west tip of mainland Scotland. The journey isn’t easy but well worth it for the spectacular setting of the , which Robert Steven- son built on the edge of immense cliffs thronged with seabirds. The name of Cape Wrath doesn’t refer to its fearsome winter weather, as one might reasonably suppose, but from

14 an old norse word meaning ‘turning point’; it was here that norse raiders and traders turned to head for home.

I too turned eastwards, to visit the lighthouses at and , which stand guard over the notoriously dangerous Pentland Firth. The road across the north of Scotland from Cape Wrath to Dunnet Head makes for an interesting drive, with many stretches of single track road. The Dunnet Head light is another spectacular; it was first lit in 1831 by Robert Stevenson on top of a huge 300-foot cliff. It has the distinc- tion of being the most northerly point on the British mainland, over two miles further north than John 0’Groats. A few miles further east, the other entrance to the Pentland

Dunnet Head Lighthouse

Firth is guarded by the Duncansby Head lighthouse, which (perhaps surprisingly, given its strategic location) was only established by the younger David Stevenson in 1924. It is very different in appearance from traditional lighthouses, with its rectangular tower and fort-like castellated battlements. Again, it is perched on magnificent cliffs, which are flanked by an array of pinnacle-like stacks.

But it was now time to cross to the Orkneys, where we soon come across more Stevenson works. After passing the famous Old Man of Hoy seastack, the Thurso to Stromness ferry approaches the little island of midway between Stromness and Hoy. Here the ingenious Alan Stevenson positioned a pair of lighthouses ‘Hoy Sounds High and Low’ at the east and west ends of the island, in such a way that when sailors bring the

15

The replacement Lighthouse, opened in 1854

two lights into line, they know they can move safely up Hoy Sound in deep water, clear of the many submerged reefs.

Before leaving the Orkneys I went to the most northerly inhabited island, North Ronaldsay, to visit two lighthouse towers. The shorter 70-foot tower, disused but still intact, was one of the first four that Thomas Smith built in the late 1780s. However, mari- ners complained that it was too low, and indeed had caused shipwrecks. The Commis- sioners firmly refused to accept any blame: but in a tacit admission, they eventually or- dered the Stevensons to build a 139-foot high replacement (still the tallest lighthouse in Scotland) which was opened in 1854. Built unusually of brick, it sports red and white

16 bands to distinguish it in daylight from the vertical black-and-white stripes of the Start Point light some eight miles to the south.

The next leg of my summer of travel was to Shetland, a group of over a hundred islands, thirteen of them inhabited by the 22,000 Shetlanders. It is 95 miles from south to north, but has a coastline of 900 miles. Famously, there is a strong Viking influence here; the fire festival of Up Helly Aa every January celebrates Shetland’s Norse roots. The ‘simmer dim’ and frequent northern lights reflect its high latitude.

For my first port of call, I paid an enjoyable visit to lighthouse, on the southernmost tip of Shetland. This dramatic headland, with its 300-foot high sandstone cliffs thronged with puffins and fulmars, is an important RSPB reserve. Above the cliffs Robert Stevenson built Shetland’s first lighthouse here in 1821, although this was replaced by the current tower in 1914.

Another lighthouse in a dramatic setting is Eshaness on North Mavine, overlooking St. Magnus Bay. It is a square tower lighthouse erected in 1929 by David A. Stevenson. This is an area of outstanding cliff and coastal scenic beauty and well worth a visit by anyone going to Shetland. But as it faces the Atlantic, winter storms can be incredibly fierce. It amazed me that I was able to pick up rocks and stones thrown on to the cliff top by the seas some 200 feet below.

Muckle Flugga stack with its lighthouse—it’s difficult to imagine waves breaking over it!

17 My final destination in Shetland was to the most northerly lighthouse in Britain –further north in fact than Bergen, St.Petersburg or Cape Farewell in Greenland. This is the notorious Muckle Flugga, which was built on an isolated 200-foot high stack off Unst, the northern- most inhabited island. Although the top of the tower is 264 feet above the sea, during winter storms waves from the Atlantic can break right over it! It must have been a fearsome place for keepers to live and work in, and one has to admire David and Thomas Stevenson and their men who erected it. It was first lit in 1858.

And so to the last leg of my journey - , flying out on the Islander plane from Shetland’s Tingwall airport. This little island lies midway between Orkney and Shetland It is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland, and is home to a world-famous bird observatory. Although Fair Isle is relatively tiny, over 360 species of birds have been observed here. Fair Isle has two lighthouses, Fair Isle North and South, both built in 1892 by David A. Stevenson. As usual, their settings are wild and beautiful, and on the South light the keepers’ accommoda- tion can now welcome summer visitors.

At Fair Isle South the last war brought tragedy into the normally peaceful lives of the keepers. In December 1941 the wife of one of the keepers was killed in a strafing attack by a German aircraft, and then during a second bombing and strafing raid in January 1942, a direct hit on the accommodation block killed another keeper’s wife and daughter and a soldier operating an anti-aircraft gun. Traces of the bombing can be clearly seen close to the lighthouse.

And thus I came to the end of six month’s travelling to some of the most remote parts of Scot- land. It was often arduous, but that was amply rewarded by a host of interesting experiences amid breathtaking scenery.

Duncansby Head Lighthouse, opened in1929 18 THE COMMON GOOD By Jim Ferguson

The concept of the Common Good has ancient roots. Before burghs existed, the ‘ferm toun,’ a small settlement of interconnected families, took a collective approach to certain aspects of farming, and in particular, shared the ‘common muir’ for grazing their herds and flocks. Later on, in feudal times, land was feued out in common for specific purposes such as peat-cutting, bleaching cloth and drying clothes.

As some of the ferm touns developed into burghs, so the common good developed as a legal concept. It allowed funds to be raised for the welfare of the burgh; these funds were to be ring-fenced and to be used only for the benefit of the burgh’s inhabitants. This was made clear by the crown in the Common Good Act of 1401; revenue from burgh property, and from various taxes and levies, were to be set apart for the general use and enjoyment of the people. The crown continued to watch over the burghs’ administration of common good funds and assets, and the Great Chamberlain was made responsible for holding mag- istrates to account.

Unfortunately over the years this vigilance was relaxed; burghs again began to use the assets of the Common Good for improper purposes and many abuses crept in. In 1612 , The Lord High Treasurer and his auditors were tasked with putting a stop to these abuses. Whatever success they had must have faded with the passing years, because in the early nineteenth century a Court of Session action was raised charging magistrates with gross mismanagement of Burgh property. Its direct result was Sir Wm. Rae’s Act for regulating the mode of accounting for the Common Good and revenues of the burghs of Scotland, which may have curbed some of the profligacy of earlier times, but didn’t completely end the abuses. Although the ‘Common good’ concept has survived all the administrative changes of the last two centuries, the Court of Session has been kept busy throughout that time with accusations against the managers of burgh funds.

The first documented reference to the Common Good of Perth itself, dating from 1614, was ‘An Act by the Lords in Council in favour of the Burgh of Perth applying the Common Good for rebuilding the bridge, kirk and prison’. It stated that the Lords in Council re- quested that the Provost, the Baillies, the Dean of Guild, the Treasurer and Deacons of Crafts of the burgh of Perth, representing the whole body of the said burgh, to consider using it for the rebuilding and maintenance of the bridge over the Tay, in place of the wooden bridge which had been swept away by a flood some ten years earlier. They speci- fied that it should be rebuilt in stone [and so it was - a hundred and fifty years later!] For good measure, the act also called for a rebuilt Tolbooth and for repairs to the lead roof of St. John’s Kirk.

On the whole, Perth seems to have maintained a fairly healthy Common Good fund. There is an interesting account of the condition of the fund in 1699, which detailed the assets

19 which were leased in that year for a period of nine years; they were the four mills, the two Inches, the fisheries, the meal market, the weigh house, the bridge of Earn, the duty of the parks, the four ports and Burghmuir.

The custom of leasing the assets continued during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but now for only one year at a time. The auction took place every Martinmas at the Tolbooth at the bottom of the High Street. The Archive still holds records of the names of the lessees of the various assets and the amounts they paid.

It is interesting to compare the assets listed in the 1699 account with the plans of Common Good properties drawn up in 1830 by W.M. Mackenzie, the burgh architect. These plans (PE/P318-333) show the fishmarket, the South and North Inches, the mills, the flesh and butter market, the coal shore, Tullylum farm, Leonard causeway, the old grammar school, the sawmill at Bridge lane and ‘the sand island’ (several of these properties are still recognisable to this day).

The current assets of the Common Good fund include several that it had held in both 1699 and 1830. They included the City Mills (now a hotel), the lower City Mills, 54 West Mill Street, the North and South Inches, the Fair Maid’s House and shop, Moncrieffe Island, Perth Harbour, and the town lade. The value of this fund was estimated to be £1.2 million. The in- come it generates each year is used for the benefit of the people of Perth’, as it has been for eight hundred years.

Finally, in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there was an extraordinary cascade of philanthropic activity on the part of prominent industrialists and businessmen, who were perhaps attempting to repay their home town for hosting their industries. They shared the ethic of the Common Good, without having any formal connection with it.

They included many well-known local personalities. Archibald Sandiman bequeathed large sums to the building of a notable public library, and helped a host of other causes - churches, the infirmary, a girls’ refuge, indigent old men’s and women’s societies and many more. Sir Robert Pullar (of ‘Pullars’s of Perth‘) helped fund the original Hillside Sanatorium; A.K.Bell, whose generosity gave rise to the A.K.Bell library, also founded the influential Gannochy Trust and Bell’s Sports centre, and supported many other sporting and community organisa- tions; and the Dewar family name will live long in Perth because of his gift of Kinnoull Hill to the city for the enjoyment of its citizens.

But they were not alone; in those days there were an extraordinary number of public-spirited benefactors who put often quite magnificent sums towards their chosen projects. John Gra- ham put £60,000 - an enormous sum at that time - to the Infirmary; Lord Forteviot helped restore St. John’s and set up a maternity home among other causes; Robert Brough helped to fund the Art Gallery, Rachel Pennycuick gifted two fire engines to the town, and James Murray put up money to build the Murray Asylum. To understand why the attitude of ‘richesse oblige’ went out of fashion in recent times would make a worthwhile study.

20

The Harbour area in 1829; for centuries, the harbours were some of the Common Good’s most productive assets

21 Archival Archaeology

by Margaret Borland-Stroyan

Some time ago I was delighted to be asked by Ms Sarah Winlow, then Leader of the Perth Young Archaeologists' Club (YAC), to do some sleuthing in the Archive for her. Before lead- ing a YAC field trip to study a couple of 19th century ruins on Kinnoull Hill, she wanted some factual information about what they had been. She sent me copies of the first two Ordnance Survey 25-inch maps of the ruins to enable me to locate the sites.

On a drizzly evening my husband Peter and I set off up Kinnoull Hill and managed to track down the first ruin, Westview, without too much difficulty. It retained the outline of a rectan- gular building, with stones protruding perhaps six inches out of the ground. Everywhere was covered with undergrowth. Nearby was a rather smart trough, of the kind erected in city streets for horses until well after the Second World War. We couldn't clearly identify the other main ruin – Tullymally – but decided to try again in better light on a dry day!

Back in the Archive, valuation rolls seemed a good place to start - and so it proved. In the rolls for 1869/70 I found reference to the existence of farms owned by Alexander Moncrieff and occupied by David Dawson, farmer, at Westview and Tullymally. Later valuation rolls record that David Dawson's sons James and David eventually take over the tenancy.

The valuation rolls do not clearly distinguish between Westview and Tullymally,but the area of land under cultivation does indicate that the heyday of the farms was in the 1870s, with an area of 66 acres and a rental valuation of £118. 10s per annum, although from the early 1880s this annual valuation declines. The census returns in the Library's Local Studies De- partment record a large number of people resident at the farms, including a employed groom. (It is not clear to me whether the groom was just there to look after the farmer's personal horse(s) or whether horses were grazed on the land commercially)

The Third Statistical Account (available on-line in the Archives Search Room and in Lo- cal Studies) confirms that fruit, barley and potatoes were cultivated on Kinnoull Hill in the 19th century. And then In Local Studies I found a book entitled Kinnoull, Bridgend and Barnhill by pupils of Primary VII of Kinnoull School, 1974. This informs readers:

In a smallholding, Tulliemally, very early strawberries were grown before everyone else's fruit, because south-facing slopes of hill are sheltered from east and north winds.

Miss Rhoda Fothergill confirmed this information, which she had learned from a Mrs Suther- land of Kinnoull.

The valuation rolls for 1901-1902 show the owner of the farms as Sir Alexander Moncreiffe of Culfargie and Barnhill, while the tenancy remains with the Dawson family, now represented by David Dawson junior. At the beginning of the 20th century, there is a sharp decline in the value of the properties. In 1915/16 the owner is shown as Malcolm Mathdo (whose second name is amended the following year to Matthew), while David Dawson remains as tenant. In 1922/23 Gerard Moncrieff is given as the owner. The following year, John Hay becomes the tenant.

In the 1920s ownership of the land passes to the Town Council. I had always mistakenly un- derstood that the whole area of Kinnoull Hill was gifted at one fell swoop to the City and Peo- ple of Perth. Over to Perth Town Council Minutes of 10 March 1924 for clarification.

22 They record “that Lord Dewar proposed to acquire the farm of Westview, Barnhill, and to present it to the Town as an addition to Kinnoull Hill, and that the acquisition of this addi- tional ground would provide a house suitable for the use of the Hill Warden, and would en- sure to the public free access to the Hill by the paths leading up from Barnhill.”

The Council was able to supply photocopies of Sasine No. 0017, concerning the transfer of ownership. A plan attached to the Sasine indicates an area of some 2.5 million square feet. Westview itself is shown with four buildings. Valuation amounts to £70, but there is a sharp decline the following year.

In addition to the tenant, John Hay, the valuation rolls for 1924/25 record a subtenant, George Paton, gardener, at Westview. Unfortunately, it would seem that Mr Hay was not an ideal tenant. As Perth Town Council Minutes 1925 record:

2c Westview Farm: “There was read letter of this date from the Superintendent of Inches drawing attention to the condition of some of the fields on Westview Farm tenanted by Mr Hay. After consideration the Committee instructed the Clerk to draw the attention of Mr Hay to the condition of the fields in question, and to state that unless the ground was farmed according to the rules of good husbandry action would be taken to protect the interests of the Town Council as proprietors.”

(Mr Hay's last appearance as occupier of Westview is in the valuation rolls for 1931-32. A John Hay is listed in Leslie's Directory for 1937-38 as a market gardener at Tayhill, Barnhill.)

As for the subtenants, the valuation rolls for 1925-1926 indicate that George Paton is re- placed by Daniel Cramb, forester, who remains at Westview until1944/45, when he is replaced by George Somerville, who in turn is replaced in 1953/54 by Arthur Cameron Butchart. The electoral roll for 1954 shows Mr Butchart and his wife, Elizabeth, living in Barnhill. Miss Joan F. Jamieson appears in Barnhill in the 1955 roll and all three are registered at Barnhill until 1959. From 1960 (following Mrs Butchart's death) Mr Butchart and his stepdaughter remain at Barnhill.

Minutes of the Town Council meeting of 8 September 1965 record that Mr Arthur Butchart, woodman, is to be allowed to continue work for a further year, but on 17 May 1966 the Town Council learns that he has retired through ill health. There follows discussion about the future use of the forester's house. Valuation rolls for 1967/68 describe the house as uninhabitable. The Council orders its demolition by Parks and Recreation Department. On 22 December 1966 the Council considers an enquiry from Mr John Lamb of Wellwood Cottage about pur- chasing or renting the forester's house. The Council agrees to inform Mr Lamb of the estimated cost of renovating the property to a habitable state. But in spring 1967 the minutes record that, despite interest (expressed in Mr Lamb's letter of 6 January) in carrying out building works and renting the property, the Council opts to go ahead with demolition.

Meantime, Mr Butchart and Miss Jamieson moved to 20A Gray Street, Perth, where Mr Butchart died in 1969. His death notice in the Perthshire Advertiser reads:

Arthur Cameron Butchart of 20 Gray Street. Park Ranger (retired). Widower of Elizabeth McKenzie and devoted stepfather of Joan Jamieson. Died 18.12.1969.

To my disappointment there are at least two outstanding questions to which I cannot find an answer. Firstly, except to confirm that some of the buildings were standing at the time of the OS survey in [1860], I still cannot date the ruins at Westview and Tullymally. Secondly, I can- not establish the significance in terms of land use of the employed groom and the water trough at Westview. The Archive holds records for the estate of Barnhill dating back to the 23 16th century. (Some papers feature valuations and other work by the famous cartographer and surveyor James Stobie.) There are references to ‘biggins’ on the land, but these are unfortunately not identified.

Some weeks after I reported these findings to her, Sarah organized a work party, and several YAC adult volunteers spent an energetic, and laughter-filled, evening clearing undergrowth from both Westview and Tullymally in advance of the YAC field trip. And, although I was unable to be present, I am assured that the Young Archaeologists also had great fun at the sites. Incidentally, Tullymally can be identified by a sculpture of a raven. This is one of Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park's most attractive wooden sculptures; it is numbered 7 in Perth & Kinross Council's Wildwood Safari leaflet.

Although my research in the Archive and Local Studies leaves unanswered questions, I found this a fascinating and enjoyable exercise. It demonstrated how public records, especially those in our Archive, can produce authoritative answers.

Westview Farm ; a surveyor’s plan from the 1920s

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