Muthill, pronounced , is a village in

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 ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, Scotland. The name derives from

scottish gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

Maothail meaning “soft-ground”. The village lies south of

Crieff Crieff (; gd, Craoibh, meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins the A823 to Dunfermline. Crieff has become ...

, just west of the former railway line connecting Crieff with Gleneagles. The line closed between the two points on July 6, 1964 as part of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...

. The ancient village was once an important religious centre and the site of a Celí Dé monastery. The church here also served for a time as a seat of the Bishops of

Strathearn Strathearn or Strath Earn (, from gd, Srath Èireann) is the strath of the River Earn, in Scotland, extending from Loch Earn in the West to the River Tay in the east.http://www.strathearn.com/st_where.htm Derivation of name Strathearn was one ...

(later

Dunblane Dunblane (, gd, Dùn Bhlàthain) is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links ...

) before the building of the cathedral at Dunblane in the 13th century. Muthill old church - geograph

The village was largely destroyed in the 1715–1716 Jacobite rising, by Jacobite troops retiring after their defeat at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, being rebuilt in the 1740s as it lay on the route of

General Wade Field Marshal George Wade (1673 – 14 March 1748) was a British Army officer who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance before leading the construction of barra ...

's military road through Strathearn.

Buildings

There are over a hundred

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 ...

s in the village. The kirkyard at the centre of the small town contains the ruins of an important 15th-century parish church, which incorporates an 11th-century bell-tower (originally free-standing, and comparable to, though on a smaller scale than, that incorporated into

Dunblane Cathedral Dunblane Cathedral is the larger of the two Church of Scotland parish churches serving Dunblane, near the city of Stirling, in central Scotland. The lower half of the tower is pre- Romanesque from the 11th century, and was originally free-standi ...

), built on the orders of

Michael Ochiltree Michael Ochiltree ''Ouchtre(d. 1445 x 1447) was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator. A close associate of King James I of Scotland, from the late 1410s he rose in rank from canon to Dean of Dunblane and then Bishop of Dunblane. He ...

Bishop of Dunblane The Bishop of Dunblane or Bishop of Strathearn was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunblane or Strathearn, one of medieval Scotland's thirteen bishoprics. It was based at Dunblane Cathedral, now a parish church of the Church of Scotland ...

(in the care of

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

; no entrance charge). This is almost the only visible reminder of the ancient village. An early Christian cross-slab (perhaps 10th-11th century) and a damaged 13th-century double effigy of an Earl and Countess of Strathearn (formerly within the choir of the church) are preserved within the tower. St James Episcopal Church dates from 1836 and is designed by

R & R Dickson Richard and Robert Dickson (usually simply referred to as R & R Dickson) were brothers, acting as architects in Scotland in the early and mid-19th century. Whilst most of their work is typified by remote country houses they are best known for th ...

. Muthill Parish church dates from 1826 and is by

James Gillespie Graham James Gillespie Graham (11 June 1776 – 11 March 1855) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the early 19th century. Life Graham was born in Dunblane on 11 June 1776. He was the son of Malcolm Gillespie, a solicitor. He was christened as J ...

. Muthill has its own primary school while secondary school pupils attend Strathearn Community Campus in nearby Crieff.

Notable people

* Rev John Barclay (1734-1798), founder of the

Berean Church In ancient times, the Bereans were the inhabitants of the city of Berea, also referred to as Beroea in the Bible. Today, the city is known as Veria in what is today northern Greece. The name has been taken up by certain groups within Protestantism ...

* John Buchanan (1855-1896), horticulturist and missionary *

David Brydie Mitchell David Brydie Mitchell (October 22, 1766 – April 22, 1837) was an American politician in Georgia who was elected in 1809 as governor of the state, serving two terms. He was elected again in 1815 for one term. Mitchell moved to Georgia at ...

(1766-1837), American politician *

Helen Gloag Helen Gloag (1750–1790) of Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, became an influential favourite slave consort of Mohammed ben Abdallah the Sultan of Morocco, and as such has been famously referred to in Scottish history as the "Empress of Morocco". ...

(1750-1790), slave consort of

Mohammed ben Abdallah ''Sidi'' Mohammed ben Abdallah ''al-Khatib'' ( ar, سيدي محمد بن عبد الله الخطيب), known as Mohammed III ( ar, محمد الثالث), born in 1710 in Fes and died on 9 April 1790 in Meknes, was the Sultan of Morocco from 175 ...

Trivia

In 2011, Muthill embarked upon a Community Action Plan exercise to explore how people envisaged the development of the village.

References

External links

Gazetteer for Scotland
{{Authority control Villages in Perth and Kinross