Aberfeldy () is a
burgh
A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...
in
Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...
,
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, on the
River Tay
The River Tay (, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing' David Ross, ''Scottish Place-names'', p. 209. Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, 2001.) is the longest river in Sc ...
. A small market town, Aberfeldy is located in Highland
Perthshire
Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...
. It was mentioned by
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
in the poem ''The Birks of Aberfeldy'' and in the
Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
song "The Hills of Aberfeldy".
Etymology
Aberfeldy means 'mouth of the Peallaidh'. The first element of the name is the
Pictish
Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...
word ''aber'' 'river mouth'. The river-name perhaps incorporates the name of a water-sprite known as Peallaidh, which in Gaelic means 'shaggy'. Aberfeldy is recorded in 1526 as ''Abrefrally'' and in 1552 as ''Abirfeldy''.
History
Early history
Beyond its association with Burns, who mentioned Aberfeldy in his poem ''
The Birks of Aberfeldy'', the town is known for
Wade's Bridge, built in 1733 and designed by architect
William Adam, father of
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...
. General
George Wade
Field Marshal George Wade (1673 – 14 March 1748) was a British Army officer and politician who served in the Nine Years' War, War of the Spanish Succession, Jacobite rising of 1715 and War of the Quadruple Alliance. He went on to be a milit ...
considered this bridge to be his greatest accomplishment. Aberfeldy is also mentioned in the traditional "Loch Tay Boat Song".
While working in the 1880s as a hired farmhand for Robert Menzies of
Tirinie, near Aberfeldy,
South Uist
South Uist (, ; ) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the ...
seanchaidh Angus MacLellan learned that a
Mass stone had stood in the middle of Menzies's farmfield since the days when
Catholic Church in Scotland
The Catholic Church in Scotland, overseen by the Scottish Bishops' Conference, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church headed by the Pope. Christianity first arrived in Roman Britain and was strengthened by the conversion of the Picts thr ...
and its
priests
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...
were
outlawed. A nearby
high cross
A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...
, Menzies added, marked the site of an important college of learning from the days of the
Celtic Church
Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. The term Celtic Church is deprecated by many historians as it implies a unified and identifiab ...
. Menzies explained that, even though the local population had long since switched to
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
, former Catholic religious sites were still viewed with superstitious awe and were never tampered with. Menzies further explained that the term for Mass stones, in the Perthshire dialect of the
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
, was ''Clachan Ìobairt'', meaning "Offering Stones".
John Lorne Campbell, to whom MacLellan dictated his memoirs, confirmed the latter's memories by interviewing Robert Menzies' descendants in Aberfeldy. Following
Catholic emancipation in 1829, the Catholic population of Aberfeldy was served by priests visiting from
Strathtay, who would offer the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...
at the site now known as ''Tigh an Tuir'',
[Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church](_blank)
Breadalbane Heritage Society. lit. "the house of the death-dirge". Since it was first built as a
tin tabernacle paid for by the
Marquess of Bute
Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute.
Family history
John Stuart was the member of a family that ...
in 1884, Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church has stood at the same location and has been part of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld
The Diocese of Dunkeld () is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in southern Scotland. The current bishop of the diocese is Andrew McKenzie, having been appointed as the diocese’s eleventh bishop on 27 May 2024.
History
It i ...
.
Contemporary history
Between 1960 and 1991, the burgh was the location of a
Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. It remains mostly intact.
The town includes a memorial to the
Black Watch
The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...
, an 9-hole golf course, a children's park, and a town square (laid out in 1806) which features stores, restaurants and art galleries. In 2002, Aberfeldy was granted
Fairtrade Town status, which was renewed by the
Fairtrade Foundation on 15 December 2003.
The
Aberfeldy Footbridge over the River Tay is constructed entirely of composite materials. It initially connected two sections of the town's golf course on either side of the River Tay, but the course on the north side of the river has since been removed and the bridge is now used by pedestrians and cyclists to cross the river.
Baryte mining
The
Precambrian
The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...
Dalradian geological formations in the Highlands north of Aberfeldy contain substantial deposits of the mineral
baryte
Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate (Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...
, which is mostly used as a weighting agent for drilling fluids to prevent blow-outs in oil and gas exploration wells. There are three locations with exploitable quantities of it. The Foss Mine, some NW of Aberfeldy at has been operational since 1984 and production averages 50,000 tonnes per annum. So far some 525,000 tonnes have been extracted there by M-I SWACO. In 1990, a locally based company began opencast extraction near the summit of Ben Eagach, due north of Aberfeldy. Approximately 25,000 tonnes were mined from a series of small pits which have now been abandoned.
The largest formation, containing a 7.5-million-tonne reserve is at Duntanlich, some due north of Aberfeldy, south of
Loch Tummel. In 1994, an application by MI Great Britain Ltd for an underground operation to mine the deposits was turned down. In 2000, M I Drilling Fluids UK unfolded new plans to establish a mine at Duntanlich to take six million tonnes from the deposit over the next 50 years and began preliminary talks with Perth & Kinross Council and
Scottish Natural Heritage. However, it was decided at that time not to take these proposals forward.
Geography

Aberfeldy is situated in Strath Tay on the upper reaches of the
River Tay
The River Tay (, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing' David Ross, ''Scottish Place-names'', p. 209. Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, 2001.) is the longest river in Sc ...
, which begins up-strath from Aberfeldy at
Loch Tay
Loch Tay () is a freshwater loch in the central Scottish Highlands, highlands of Scotland, in the Perth and Kinross and Stirling (council area), Stirling Subdivisions of Scotland#Council areas, council areas, the largest body of fresh water in ...
and carries on south and east from Aberfeldy until it discharges at its estuary east of
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
at the
Firth of Tay
The Firth of Tay (; ) is a firth on the east coast of Scotland, into which empties the River Tay (Scotland's largest river in terms of flow). The firth is surrounded by four council areas: Fife, Perth and Kinross, Dundee City, and Angus. ...
. Lying in an u-shaped
strath common to Scotland's glaciated landscape, the terrain in and around Aberfeldy is gently undulating. Farming and agriculture border the town in the strath. Areas further outside of Aberfeldy (particularly to the north and west) give way to the extensive
Grampian Mountains
The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...
, with scenic peaks such as
Creag Odhar,
Farragon Hill,
Schiehallion
Schiehallion (; , ) is a prominent cone-shaped mountain in the Breadalbane, Scotland, Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands, in the county of Perthshire. It rises to and is classed as a Munro. Schiehallion has a rich flora, interesting ...
,
Ben Lawers
Ben Lawers () is the highest mountain in the Breadalbane, Scotland, Breadalbane region of the Scottish Highlands. It lies north of Loch Tay and is the highest peak of the 'Ben Lawers group', a ridge that includes six other Munros: Beinn Ghlas, Me ...
and Sron Mhor punctuating the landscape.
Aberfeldy lies at the intersection of two A roads, the A826 to
Crieff
Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...
and the A827, which leads east and south towards the main
A9 trunk road. Aberfeldy is easily reached from southern locations by taking the A9 to the
Ballinluig exit, then the A827 to get to the town. Owing to its location off the A9 trunk road, Aberfeldy is less geared toward tourists than its cousin
Pitlochry
Pitlochry (; or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotland's 2011 census. (n.p. ...
.
From July 1865 until May 1965, the town was served by a
Highland Railway branch from Ballinluig. Although most of the trackbed leading into the town is still extant, the
site of the station has vanished under modern housing developments.
The entrance to the Birks of Aberfeldy – a gorge and scenic walk – lies on the southern outskirts of Aberfeldy on the A826. The Birks is classified as a "Site of Special Scientific Interest" and contains many varieties of flora and fauna, some of which are protected.
Glen Lyon
Glen Lyon () is a glen in the Perth and Kinross region of Scotland. It is the longest enclosed glen in Scotland and runs for from Loch Lyon in the west to the village of Fortingall in the east.
This glen was also known as ''An Crom Ghleann' ...
, regarded as one of Scotland's most stunning and least-visited glens, lies about 8 kilometres from the outskirts of Aberfeldy. Evidence of
fort
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
construction by
Roman legion
The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...
s more than 1,600 years ago is a testament to the region's historical as well as geographical relevance. At the mouth of Glen Lyon lies the village of
Fortingall, falsely claimed to be the birthplace of
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; ) was the Roman administration of Judaea (AD 6–135), fifth governor of the Judaea (Roman province), Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official wh ...
and home to the Fortingall Yew Tree, reputed to be more than 5,000 years old (though recent research suggests its age to be closer to 2,500).
Demography and culture
Population
The Scottish Census of 2001 recorded the town's population as 1,895. Perth and Kinross Council estimates the current population to be 2,292, which is forecasted to grow to over 2,800 by 2028.
Education
The town is home to
Breadalbane Academy. Based in Aberfeldy since the nineteenth century, Breadalbane Academy is an all-through, mixed English and Gaelic-medium school catering to children from the ages of three to eighteen years. The nursery and primary departments serve pupils from Aberfeldy and its immediate surroundings. The secondary department is the main secondary school for the whole of Highland Perthshire. It is the primary centre for
Gaelic-medium education in Highland Perthshire for children from Glenlyon, Grandtully, Kenmore, Kinloch Rannoch and Dunkeld all receive their secondary education in Aberfeldy. In fifth and sixth, pupils from the Pitlochry catchment area also attend Breadalbane Academy to study for their Highers and Advanced Highers.
Fully rebuilt in the early years of the twenty-first century, the school re-opened in December 2010 as a community campus. As well as nursery, primary and secondary departments, the new Breadalbane Community Campus includes a library, a swimming pool, squash courts, a gym, a cafe and a range of other facilities. These amenities are open to the public throughout the day. Only access to the school areas is restricted to authorised personnel.
Religion
Aberfeldy Parish Church meets in the former Breadalbane Church building in Taybridge Road, which was the first new building of the
Free Church
A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...
after the
Disruption of 1843
The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland.
The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...
. It reunited with the former parish church, St Andrew's in Crieff Road, built in 1884, and for a while was used as halls for the united congregation, until 2005 when the Crieff Road building was closed and a modern interior and suite of halls was added to the Taybridge Road building, providing excellent facilities for adult and youth work. There is also a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
parish in Home Street. The buildings formerly used as Congregational, Free, and
Episcopal churches are now all used for other purposes.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
meet in the local Kingdom Hall. The town is also home to the award-winning
Aberfeldy Watermill Bookshop Gallery and Cafe.
Sport
Breadalbane Cricket Club, founded in 1869, play home matches at Victoria Park in Aberfeldy. The team are the Perthshire Cup Winners for 2007 and 2008, and Strathmore Cricket Union Division One Champions in 2006 & 2007, Division Two Champions in 2014 & 2018, and Perthshire Indoor League Champions 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The town also has a
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
side
Aberfeldy RFC that plays in the league at the town's Wade Park.
Culture
Aberfeldy does not have a theatre or a music hall. However it does have two community venues, used regularly for music and drama,
Aberfeldy Town Hall and the Locus Centre. These are managed by Locus Breadalbane, a community charity. The nearest venues are the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, the Perth Theatre or the Perth Concert Hall. The new Community School has an auditorium.
The Birks Cinema, built in the very heart of the town in 1939 in a late
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
style, closed in the early 1980s for lack of business. It then turned into an amusement hall, for which purpose the entire interior was demolished. The amusement hall closed in 2004 and the building stood as an empty shell for several years. In 2009 it was bought by the "Friends of the Birks" with a grant from the Scottish Government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund with plans to refurbish and reopen as a new 92-seat cinema and café-bar. The Friends are now a formal company limited by guarantee and registered as a charity. In spring 2011, the Birks project was awarded £658,520 by the Scotland Rural Development Programme - half the sum needed to carry out the building work. Match funding for the SRDP grant has now been raised - notably through a Big Lottery grant of £539,950 announced on 9 February 2012. Building work began in April 2012 and opened in Spring 2013. The patron of the project is the actor
Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish actor, writer and presenter. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. He re ...
, who was born in the town.
Aberfeldy is the location of the poem "The Birks of Aberfeldy" by
Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
:
In 2001, the author
J.K. Rowling purchased the nearby 19th-century
Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay.
Namesake
Aberfeldie, the suburb of
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Victoria, Australia
Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...
was named, indirectly, after the town, as was the locality of
Aberfeldy, Victoria.
[https://www.domain.com.au/news/neighbourhoods-aberfeldie-nov-3-776737/]
Gallery
File:Aberfeldy-1.jpg, Aberfeldy Distillery
File:Birks of Aberfeldy.jpg, The Birks of Aberfeldy
File:Aberfeldy Square - geograph.org.uk - 152632.jpg, Aberfeldy square
File:Church in Aberfeldy, Scotland, United Kingdom.JPG, The 'Auld Kirk', now a thrift shop
File:Abberfeldy.JPG, Aberfeldy, town centre
File:Old watermill building, Aberfeldy.jpg, The old water mill, now a bookshop
File:Loch Derculich near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.JPG, Loch Derculich, north of Aberfeldy
File:Black watch monument Aberfeldy.jpg, Black Watch Monument
File:Falls of Moness at the Birks of Aberfeldy.jpg, Falls of Moness at the Birks of Aberfeldy
See also
*
List of places in Perth and Kinross
References
External links
Aberfeldy Church websiteAberfeldy Tourism WebsiteAberfeldy Footbridge over the River Tay
National Library of Scotland archive films relating to Aberfeldy
{{authority control
History of Catholicism in Scotland
Mass stones in Scotland
Towns in Perth and Kinross
Parishes in Perthshire