A Gazetteer of Place Names in Blair Atholl Parish

(The locations of where people were living)

Read this Introduction or Jump to Index

Names of Homesteads

This "Gazetteer of the Place Names in Blair Atholl Parish" lists, in alphabetical order, the dwellings shown in James Stobie's map of Perthshire (1783), and also those given in the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1867). Additionally, many dwellings in adjacent parishes are included as they are frequently mentioned in the marriage entries of the Old Parish Records. The whole of the south side of Loch Tummel is within the parish of Dull, as is Glen Fincastle. The parish of Fortingall commences west of the Wade road from Dalno to Trinafour.

To fully appreciate where people lived in previous times, it is possible to look at these maps as both are available on-line from the National Library of Scotland.

To view James Stobie's map of Perthshire (1783), which is in four sections, use the hyper-link below. The parts of Perthshire covered by this Gazetteer are in the top two sections. The controls to manipulate the maps are easy to use and self-explanatory.

To view the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1867) from the National Library of Scotland (NLS), use the hyper-link below.

This will display a fudgy grey image of Scotland which will give you the Ordnance Survey six-inch to the mile, 1843-1882, in a seam-less version so that you don’t have to pull separate maps for each area. At the top where it says County, select Perth (for Perthshire) on the pull-down menu. Then select your parish from the second pull-down menu.

Navigation controls for magnification and direction are as normal. However, you will notice that in the bottom right-hand corner the mouse position is being tracked as a National Grid Reference (NGR). Back at the top of the page, the first box says Gazetteer / NGR: So, if you already know the National Grid Reference, it’s even easier to find the place you are looking for. This Gazetteer lists the NGRs for most of the dwellings in Blair Atholl parish and the immediate surroundings. For instance it shows that the NGR for Achastle in Fincastle (actually in Dull parish) is NN 8620 6268. Just copy it across, hit Return and you should be there.

Some of the listed places which are far up the glens, start with the word "Ruidh". These are probably summer shielings or the huts of shepherds.

Alternative Names of Homesteads

For most people, Gaelic was a spoken language rather than a written language, so that is not surprising that in old documents the names of homesteads were written in a variety of ways. Bail a’ Chaisteil, Balchastle, Balcastle, Ballachastle, Bailchastail, Castleton, and Castletown can all refer to the same place. The first ones are all Gaelic renderings, but the last two show that many officials had little regard for the Gaelic language and anglicised the names.

Locations of Homesteads

As well as being listed alphabetically, the dwellings have been divided into sixteen geographical areas.

1. River Tummel from Bridge of Garry to Glen Fincastle
2. Glen Fincastle and the old Tummel road
3. Strathtummel and Borenich from Glen Fincastle to Dalno
4. South side of the Tummel from the Falls of Tummel to Tummel Bridge
5. Road to the Isles from Dalno to Kinloch Rannoch
6. The Wade Road from Dalno to Trinafour
7. Glen Errochty from Trinafour to Struan
8. South side of River Garry from Struan to Bridge of Garry
9. The North Road from Bridge of Garry to Blair Atholl
10. Glen Girnaig from the North Road
11. Allt Cluain from Aldclune to Loch Moraig
12. Glen Fender from Old Bridge of Tilt
13. Glen Tilt from Blair Atholl
14. The North Road from Blair Atholl to Bruar
15. Glen Bruar from the North Road
16. The North Road from Bruar to Dalnaspidal

The "Location" hyper-link takes you to the specific location where the homesteads are arranged in the same order that they would be seen by a traveller following the road, or river. This facility is intended to assist in locating specific homesteads on the available maps.

Grid References

Each place has been given an eight-figure Ordnance Survey Grid Reference to help researchers who are trying to find remains of these settlements in the countryside. These grid references have been generated using Memory-Map Ordnance Survey Edition Version 5 - Southern Scotland (Region 5), and not by field studies. However, they should be accurate enough to be used with confidence for any fieldwork.

Where a settlement is no longer shown on the current Ordnance Survey map, its location was found on the 1st edition of 1867 and using surrounding topography such as river branches and hill-tracks, was transcribed to the current map. In some cases James Stobie's map of Perthshire (1783) was the only source of information, and it is amazing how accurately the topography was recorded even then.