Rait () is a small village in
Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies northwest of
Errol, in the
Gowrie
Gowrie ( gd, Gobharaidh) is a region in central Scotland and one of the original Provinces of Scotland, provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It covered the eastern part of what became Perthshire. It was located to the immediate east of Atholl, an ...
area west of
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, on a minor road crossing the
Sidlaw Hills
The Sidlaws are a range of hills in the counties of Perthshire and Angus in Scotland that extend for 30 miles (45 km) from Kinnoull Hill, near Perth, northeast to Forfar. A continuation of the Ochils, they separate the valley of Str ...
through the
Glen of Rait
A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...
. The village is mainly residential with stone cottages, some modern developments and also features some single storey thatched cottages dating back to the 1700s or early 1800s which form a
fermtoun
A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...
. The former parish church, now ruined, was built in the Middle Ages, and abandoned in the 17th century when the parish of Rait was merged with
Kilspindie
Kilspindie is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is situated on the Kilspindie burn, approximately northwest of Errol, west of Dundee centre and east of Perth. The village has an area of of which are arable land and are woodlan ...
. The remains of a prehistoric
promontory fort lie to the east of the village. The 16th-century
Fingask Castle
Fingask Castle is a country house in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is perched above Rait, three miles (5 km) north-east of Errol, in the Braes of the Carse, on the fringes of the Sidlaw Hills. Thus it overlooks both the Carse of Gowr ...
is located to the north of the village, on the south-facing slopes of the Sidlaw Hills.
References
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Villages in Perth and Kinross