Fair Maid's House is an historic building in the centre of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

, Scotland. Located in North Port, it is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, partly dating from 1475 but mostly from 1629. It is two storeys, built of

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

, with a stair tower and slated roof. The building is most noted for providing part of the inspiration for Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

's novel ''

The Fair Maid of Perth ''The Fair Maid of Perth'' (or ''St. Valentine's Day'') is an 1828 novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. Inspired by the strange, but historically true, story of the Battle of the North Inch, it is set in Perth (known at the ti ...

'' (1828). The Glover Incorporation of Perth bought the premises, and used it for their meeting hall for over 150 years. Their motto, "Grace and Peace", is carved above entrance door. The building still incorporates medieval parts, but most of its

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

has been renewed, and the interior was re-done between 1893 and 1894 by J. & G. Young architects for its then-owner, solicitor William Japp, of

Alyth Alyth () ( gd, Ailt) is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, northeast of Blairgowrie and about northwest of Dundee. In 2016 the town had an estimated population of 2,400. First mentioned by name in a 12th-century royal charter of Willia ...

. (An error in an inscription in the exterior wall of the stair tower resulted in its reading 1393, instead of 1893.) A niche on an outside wall reputedly originally contained a

curfew bell The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval England as the curfew signal for everyone to go to bed.Wood/Peshall, p. 177 A bell was rung usually around eight o'clock in the evening which meant for them to cover their fires — dead ...

. A

prayer niche Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

and a fireplace on the first floor most likely date from the 15th century. The north wall of the building was part of the former Blackfriars Monastery (hence the street was formerly known as Blackfriars Wynd),''Official Guide to Perth and Its Neighbourhood by the Tramway Car Routes'' – Perth Town Council (1907), p. 22 where King

James I of Scotland James I (late July 139421 February 1437) was King of Scots from 1406 until his assassination in 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Ro ...

was murdered in 1437. The wall shows the location of two ancient fireplaces and the original level of the floor. Between 1965 and 1966, antique dealer Thomas Love & Sons used the premises. The building was restored and extended, at a cost of £750,000, by

Page\Park Architects Page\Park Architects was established in 1981 by David Page and Brian Park and has developed as one of Scotland's best known practices undertaking work over a range of sectors. With over 150 national and international design awards since its inc ...

for the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

in 2010–11, a project that won a commendation in the Scottish

Civic Trust Awards The Civic Trust Awards scheme was established in 1959 to recognise outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. As the longest standing built environment awards scheme in Europe, since 1959, more than 7000 projects have ...

2012.''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Graphic and Accurate Description of Every Place in Scotland''

Francis Hindes Groome Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore. Li ...

(1901)

Literature

The house was partly the inspiration for Sir

's 1828 novel ''

'', one of his

Waverley Novels The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the se ...

. The "fair maid" of the title is Catharine Glover. The house is also featured in a verse by the poet

William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote about 2 ...

."William McGonagall's Life and Rhymes, And photographs from Victorian times"
– Historic Environment Scotland

Gallery

File:House of 'The Fair Maid of Perth', Perth and Kinross, Scotland (O55427).jpg, An 1891 view

References

{{reflist 1629 establishments in Scotland Listed buildings in Perth, Scotland Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross Walter Scott

Literature

Gallery

See also

References