Dunkeld, View from the Cathedral Tower

Category

Library Item

Item no

24471

Title

Dunkeld, view from the Cathedral tower

Description

This photograph shows a panoramic view of the town of Dunkeld. The photograph is taken from the Cathedral tower thus we see the town from a high vantage point. The centre of the picture shows a stone bridge crossing the River Tay, in the foreground the roofs of local houses can be seen whilst trees and hills fill the background.

Artist / maker

Valentine, James

Date

1865

Size

11.2 x 17.7 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Dunkeld is a small town which sits at the foot of the highlands in Perthshire. The town sits on the bank of the River Tay and dates back to medieval times, when a monastery was founded in the 6th Century. The present day sees a cathedral sitting on the site where the first King of Scotland, Kenneth MacAlpin brought the bones of St Columba and thus established Dunkeld as the first ecclesiastical capital of medieval Scotland.

The medieval town was mostly destroyed in August 1689 after the Battle of Dunkeld, where Orange Covenanter forces fought the Jacobite Royalist forces shortly after another local battle, the battle of Killiecrankie. The Orange covenanters were victorious and this contributed to the end of the Jacobite rising.

Dunkeld is linked with its neighbour, Birnam which sits on the opposite bank of the Tay, by a seven arched stone bridge, five over the river and two on the land. The bridge was built in 1809 by Thomas Telford. Dunkeld also shares its railway station with Birnam. In Victorian times, when Birnam was formed, it was the end of the line for the local railway and became a popular tourist destination with the likes of Beatrix potter and her family who were visitors to the area

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Related images

Related subjects

Landscape > Land > Hills

Landscape > Water > Rivers and streams

Places > Scotland > Kinross-shire

Places > Scotland > Perthshire

Places > United Kingdom > Scotland

Transport > Infrastructure > Stone bridges

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