Aberuthven (; Gaelic: ''Obar Ruadhainn'') is a small village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies approximately northeast of Auchterarder and southwest 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 i ...

at an elevation of . It lies on the A824 road, formerly the A9, having been bypassed along with Auchterarder since 1983. The village is centred on the village hall, with a historic church just outside the village. The population has almost doubled in recent years.

History

In the 1880s the main industry in the village was

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weaving; also it was also the site of cattle fairs, and much later, a

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

Church

The mausoleum of James Graham, Duke of Montrose, Aberuthven

The former parish church stands in a graveyard a little beyond the west end of the village. It was dedicated to St Cattán, and is of early Christian origin, said to be one of the earliest ecclesiastical foundations in Scotland. It originally fell under the control of

Inchaffray Abbey Inchaffray Abbey was situated by the village of Madderty, midway between Perth and Crieff in Strathearn, Scotland. The only traces now visible are an earth mound and some walls on rising ground which once (before drainage) formed an island where ...

. The now roofless church is built of sandstone rubble, and may date from the 13th century. Two lancet windows with monolithic heads in the east gable, and an aumbry (partially buried by a rise in ground level) in the north wall, are the only surviving medieval architectural features. The west gable is crowned by a

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

added in the 1720s. The west end of the building is taken up by two burial aisles (interiors inaccessible), while the neoclassical Montrose Mausoleum (1736–38), now free-standing but originally forming a "laird's aisle", abuts it on the south side. The mausoleum contains the remains of

James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose James Graham, 1st Duke and 4th Marquess of Montrose (April 16827 January 1742) was a Scottish aristocratic statesman in the early eighteenth century. Life He was the only son of James Graham, 3rd Marquess of Montrose and Lady Christian Leslie ...

. The chapel was in use until 1673. There are a number of 17th and 18th-century gravestones in the churchyard.

References

Gifford, J 2007 ''The Buildings of Scotland: Perth and Kinross'', Yale UP, 147–8. Villages in Perth and Kinross {{PerthKinross-geo-stub