Clunie is a small settlement in

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 ...

, Scotland, west of Blairgowrie. It lies on the western shore of the

Loch of Clunie Loch of Clunie is a small lowland freshwater loch that is located west of Blairgowrie and Rattray, Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Clunie Castle The Loch of Clunie has a single island, said to be artificial, which has the remains of ...

History

Near the village on a small hill are the foundations of an early defensive settlement. The fortifications on the site date back to the 9th century and even

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

material has been discovered at the site. There is also evidence of defensive structures nearby to this

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

dating back to the Roman period. One notable use of this hill site was by

Kenneth MacAlpin Kenneth MacAlpin (; ; 810 – 13 February 858) or Kenneth I was King of Dál Riada (841–850), and King of the Picts (848–858), of likely Gaelic origin. According to the traditional account, he inherited the throne of Dál Riada from his fa ...

, the first king of Scotland, as a base for hunting in the nearby royal forest of Clunie. English troops occupied the site following their victory at the Battle of Dunbar during the

First War of Scottish Independence The First War of Scottish Independence was the first of a series of wars between Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. It lasted from the English invasion of Scotland (1296), English invasion of Scotland in 1296 until ...

. On a small island (formerly a

crannog A crannog (; ; ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually constructed in lakes, bogs and estuary, estuarine waters of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were built ...

) in the loch stand the remains of Clunie Castle, a tower house of the

bishops of Dunkeld The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dunkeld, Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded Bishops in the Catholic Church, bisho ...

. The current parish church in the village dates from 1840, designed by Perth architect William Macdonald Mackenzie, replacing a previous structure with a new bell tower. Within the grounds stands a

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

with a romanesque doorway thought to be from an earlier 12th- or 13th-century church that stood on the same site. The church is now linked with those at Kinclaven and Caputh. There is a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

style war memorial in the village park which was erected in 1946 to mark two locals who lost their life in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The cairn also displays nine names of soldiers from the area who died during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Clunie village hall dates from 1912 and is still used by the local community for functions, clubs and events.

Notable people

Clunie is the birthplace of John Macleod, co-recipient of the 1923

Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

References

{{authority control Villages in Perth and Kinross