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South Inch is a large public
park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. ...
in
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 ...
, Scotland. About 31
hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
in size,The South Inch, Perth
– Perth & Kinross Council
it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the larger, 57-hectare
North Inch North Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 54 hectares in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the smaller, 31-hectare South Inch, located half a mile across the city. The inches were granted to the city, wh ...
, located half a mile across the city. The Inches were granted to the city, when it was a
royal burgh A royal burgh () was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...
, by King Robert II in 1374. Both Inches were once islands in the
River Tay The River Tay ( gd, Tatha, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing') is the longest river in Scotland and the seventh-longest in Great Britain. The Tay originates i ...
. The two Inches are connected by
Tay Street Tay Street is a major thoroughfare, part of the A989, in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Planned in 1806 and completed around 1885, it is named for the River Tay, Scotland's longest river, on the western banks of which it sits ...
. The park is bounded by King's Place and Marshall Place (both part of the A989, the latter named for Perth lord provost
Thomas Hay Marshall Thomas Hay Marshall (1770 – 15 July 1808) was twice lord provost of Perth, Scotland. With a passion for Georgian architecture,William Macdonald Mackenzie William Macdonald Mackenzie (20 July, 1797 – 25 February, 1856) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the first half of the 19th century.A912 Edinburgh Road, opened around 1760, passes through the park's eastern third. The eastern side of the park is known as the Lesser South Inch. Two paths diagonally dissect the main part of the park. The start of the path that originates from the northwest corner, at the foot of King Street, is overlooked by a statue of Sir Walter Scott, author of ''
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 ...
'' in 1828. The statue, a Category C listed monument, is the work of the Cochrane brothers, and was completed in 1845"Mystery surrounds disappearance of Sir Walter Scott’s faithful deerhound"
– ''Daily Record'', 21 October 2016
as one of their final works before leaving for Canada. It was accidentally acquired by the city
magistrates The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...
at the sale of a local sculptor's stock. The part of the statue of Scott's dog,
Maida Maida may refer to: People * Maida Abdallah (born 1970), Tanzanian politician * Maida Arslanagić (born 1984), Croatian handball player * Maida Bryant (1926–2016), New Zealand nurse, politician and community leader * Maida Coleman (born 1954), ...
, was stolen in 2020. It was also stolen in 2016. Craigie Burn enters the inch at its southwestern corner, via a tunnel, after passing beneath the Highland Main Line railway. It then runs along the inch's southern edge before going underground and exiting into the Tay. The category C
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 I ...
s at 1 and 2 St Leonard's Bank, currently occupied by the
Parklands Hotel Parklands Hotel (officially Parklands Boutique Hotel with Dining) is an historic building in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Located on St Leonard's Bank, it is a Category C listed building comprising two villas that have been combined into ...
, overlook the Inch's northwestern corner.


History

In 1651,
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
came to Perth following his victory in the Battle of Dunbar and established a fortified citadel in the northeast corner of the inch, using stone from the Our Lady's Chapel he demolished, one of five occupation forts built to control Scotland. The inch was formerly used as a
bleachfield A bleachfield or bleaching green was an open area used for spreading cloth on the ground to be purified and whitened by the action of the sunlight. Bleaching fields were usually found in and around mill towns in Great Britain and were an integral ...
, as well as for cattle grazing and horse racing, which was first recorded there in 1613.South Inch
– Scottish Places
Cattle markets appeared at the inch from 1785. The
Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...
of
St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559), is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haut ...
, founded in the 13th century,''The Tourist's Hand-book to Perth and Neighbourhood'' (1849), p. 33 once overlooked the southern end of the Inch from the western side, in the area where St Leonard's Bridge crosses the railway tracks today. It was suppressed in 1429 and its lands and rents were annexed by the
Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has i ...
monastery that had been founded. There was a church dedicated to St Leonard at Perth as early as 1163. In 1815, Muir & Martin established the South Inch Brewery.''Leslie's directory for Perth and Kinross'' (1911)
/ref> From 1928 to the 1970s, a pavilion stood at the northeastern corner of the inch, at the junction of Marshall Place and the Edinburgh Road, replacing a temporary one that stood beside the later location of the bowling greens.


Leisure

A former
boating lake A boating lake is a lake used for recreational boating. Such lakes are often in parks and can be artificially made. Some boating lakes are used for model boat Ship models or model ships are scale models of ships. They can range in size ...
is located in the southwest corner of the inch. Two bowling greens, the home of the South Inch Bowling Club until 2012,"South Inch cafe gets official unveiling"
– ''The Courier'', 17 May 2016
formerly occupied the northwestern corner, just inside the entrance. The property had become a target for vandals. They were torn up before the bowling club folded. The pavilion still remains, and is now a cafe. A similar previous venture was ended after Perth and Kinross Council put out an
invitation to tender An invitation to tender (ITT, otherwise known as a call for bids or a request for tenders) is a formal, structured procedure for generating competing offers from different potential suppliers or contractors looking to obtain an award of business ...
for the location. A
crazy golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...
course, putting green and adjacent
trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. People bounce o ...
park existed up until the late 20th century in the area now occupied by a children's playground.


Community and entertainment

The Lesser South inch is the location for the annual Perth Highland Games and Perth Show. A
skate park A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, wheelchairs, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, qua ...
is also in that section. Perth Farmers' Market takes place on the Lesser South Inch on the first Saturday of every month (except January). Party at the Park is scheduled to take place at the South Inch over the weekend of 27 and 28 June 2021.Party at the Park info and FAQs
– partyatthepark.scot


Gallery

File:England and Scotland 217.jpg, Statue of Sir Walter Scott at the northwestern entrance to the inch File:England and Scotland 216.jpg, King's Place from the northern edge of the inch File:England and Scotland 209.jpg,
St Leonard's-in-the-Fields Church St Leonard's-in-the-Fields (officially St Leonard's-in-the-Fields Church and Trinity Church) is a Church of Scotland church in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Standing on Marshall Place, at its junction with Scott Street, overlooking the ...
from the inch File:England and Scotland 211.jpg, The boating lake in 2006, with St Leonard's Bank in the background File:Perth city centre from the air (geograph 3605803).jpg, The South Inch is on the left in this aerial view of the city


References

{{reflist


External links


South Inch at Perth and Kinross Council's website
– Ham and Egger Files
Flooding After Thunderstorm On Visit To South Inch Park In Perth Perthshire Scotland
– tourscotland,
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, 12 August 2020
''The King James VI Hospital Perth''
– Friends of Perth & Kinross Council Archive, issue 28, April 2010 (a 1792 map of Perth, including the South Inch, is on page 8) Parks in Perth, Scotland Tourist attractions in Perth, Scotland