Sixty Years of Heritage in Breadalbane

1962 – Breadalbane Archaeological Society

The chairman of the new Breadalbane Archaeological Society was, appropriately, Sonia Yellowlees, supported by six committee members.  The first business meeting in December 1962 approved the Society’s aims and constitution and Dr Margaret Stewart was elected as the first honorary president.  Three honorary vice-presidents were also elected: Provost James Fisher; Mr Douglas Hutchison, Bolfracks; Major Ramsey, Farleyer.

Our Society was established in November 1962, at the Station Hotel, Aberfeldy, when seventy people turned up at a public meeting to discuss the possibility of founding an Archaeological and Historical Society.  The meeting was chaired by Sonia Yellowlees, wife of the local GP Walter Yellowlees.  The background to the meeting is an interesting story in its own right.   Dr and Mrs Yellowlees wanted to build a new bungalow just off the Urlar Road in Aberfeldy.  Before planning permission was given to start the build, an official archaeological investigation was required for the site.  The dig was led by Dr Margaret Stewart, a highly respected archaeologist from Perth and although nothing was found, Dr Stewart’s enthusiasm encouraged Sonia Yellowlees to call that first public meeting.

(Photo of Sonia Yellowlees excavating at Carse Farm, courtesy of Dr W Yellowlees)  

In addition to the winter evening meetings, summer excavations were planned with the first major project undertaken in 1963 at the ‘four-poster’ stone circle on Lundin Farm road, east of Aberfeldy.  The efforts of the volunteer diggers were rewarded with the discovery of human bone fragments and a small Bronze Age beaker.  The following year in 1964, a Bronze Age funerary urn was found at the base of the standing stones at Carse Farm.  These objects are now in Perth Museum.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s, many illustrious speakers came to the winter meetings. They included not just archaeologists but geographers, antiquarians, museum curators, historians and on one occasion the first Director of the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University. The topics were very wide ranging.  A meeting in 1968 on ‘Farming in Strathtay, 1900 to 1950’ was followed the next month by ‘British Honduras – Excavation of a Maya Ceremonial Site’.

The Society’s first publication was in 1971 when ‘Strathtay History Trail’ was produced as a contribution to European Conservation Year. 

1975 – Breadalbane Archaeological and Historical Society

By 1975, the interests of the Society had widened beyond just archaeology and a new name was adopted – the Breadalbane Archaeological and Historical Society.  Visiting speakers talked about ‘Compiling the Scottish National Dictionary’, ‘Mediaeval Castles of the Western Highlands’, ‘The Flora and Fauna of Ben Lawers’, ’Wade’s Roads and Bridges’ as well as current archaeological projects.  At the 1978 AGM, Dr Trevor Watkins spoke about ‘Excavations on the new A9 of an Earth House and other important finds’.

The first season of the new decade included talks about ‘Scottish Marriage from the 16th to the 20th Century’ and ‘John Knox – the Pope of Edinburgh’.  When the Society reached its twentieth anniversary, the event was celebrated at an Open Night hosted by Sonia Yellowlees and the Vice President Agnes Bain.

1982 – Breadalbane Heritage Society

In 1982, the Society widened the scope of its interests even further and became the Breadalbane Heritage Society.  The new programme included the following statement:

The aim of the Heritage Society is to foster interest in all aspects of Breadalbane’s heritage – its geology and scenery, its culture and traditions, native flora and fauna, and its history of human endeavour from earliest times to the present day.’

The Society had first heard about crannogs at a talk in 1967.  In 1982, Dr Nicholas Dixon, of the Crannog Centre at Kenmore, gave his first talk to members.  We have welcomed Dr Dixon to the Society’s meetings several times since then.  The AGM in March 1984 heard a talk about General Wade and one of the proposed excursions in the summer of that year was a Walk on a Wade’s Road.  The tradition of having a connection between the subject of our talks and the summer outings still continues today.

During 1990, three aspects of Scotland’s industrial history were highlighted with a talk on ‘Construction of Local Hydro-Electric Schemes’, a visit to the Foss Barytes Mine and a talk on a ‘Stone Axe Factory at Creag na Caillach’.  All part of the eclectic mix of interests supported by the Society.

A second revision was published in 1998 and a completely new edition, with a history and a gazetteer section, was published in 2008.

Following the example of Sonia Yellowlees and the first archaeological volunteers, the Society has continued to be active in the matter of heritage. 

The first talk of the new century in January 2000 was on the ‘Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project’.  In February, the Society’s own Russell Coope gave a talk on ‘The Cavemen of South Africa and human origins’.   Unsurprisingly, the summer outings that year did not include a trip to Africa but a visit to Inchmahome Priory on the Lake of Menteith.

Returning to its roots in 2002, the Society supported an archaeological dig at Dull church.   There was much excitement when the excavators found a silver groat from the time of Robert lll (1390 to 1406) and a stone with a carved cross and inscription.  This was believed to be of Irish origin and probably from the 8^th century.

In a departure from the more usual format, in October 2003 the Society had its first ‘musical’ evening when Pete Clark provided a remarkable insight into the life and work of Niel Gow, illustrated by his own virtuoso fiddle playing.  Two years later, Sheila Stewart gave us ‘Songs and Stories of the Travellers’ and in 2006 Duncan McDiarmid told us the ‘History of the Great Highland Bagpipe’.

In 2004, membership of the Society reached the magic 100 mark.  It had outgrown the Lesser Town Hall and moved to the Grandtully Village Hall where meetings were held until 2011 when we returned once more to Aberfeldy Town Hall.

Another joint venture in 2005 with the Kirk Session of Fortingall Church provided the impetus to achieve the funds to open up access to Rev Duncan Macara’s grave.  The involvement of the Society is recorded on the commemorative plaque in front of the grave.

Over its lifetime the Society has given many items of interest to the Perth and Kinross Archives.  One of the most remarkable donations was the collection of 19^th century Breadalbane Toll Road Papers found in 2006 during a house clearance by antique dealer Roy Sim of Blairgowrie.  Much work on their interpretation was done by Hamish Nicholson and the collection was finally given to the County Archive in 2008.

Without the dedication and enthusiasm of our founder Sonia Yellowlees and the unfailing support of Dr Margaret Stewart, there would probably not be a Breadalbane Heritage Society.  Many people have contributed to the strength and longevity of the Society and many have served their time on the committee, both Clare Thomas and Gillian Hull having contributed more years than most.

Sixty Years of Heritage in Breadalbane: 2012 to 2022

The last ten years have been challenging in all sorts of ways. The Society meetings were held in the Lesser Hall at the Town Hall but recently it was felt that this restricted our numbers and did not have some of the technical resources to enable growth, so the meetings moved to the Breadalbane Campus. The lecture theatre there proved too small too, so the meetings moved to the main auditorium which has the benefits of a digital projector (which as it caused some problems at times, we now use our own projector), a large screen and a sound system. The advantage of this has been that talks on more contentious subjects such as beavers, which attracted more than a hundred people, can be presented in comfort on the raked seating.

The other challenge was, of course, the COVID pandemic. Thanks to the digital expertise of various members, particularly Ian Stewart, we were able to offer talks on Zoom and these attracted participants from a wider area, from different similar societies and even as far as America and Australia. As the membership includes a number of people who, due to age or infirmity, do not want to come out in the evening in the winter, these Zoom talks are being continued in January and February. This also enables the choice of speakers from further away to deliver interesting talks in these winter months without having to travel a distance in bad weather.

The talks and excursions have been many and varied keeping to our constitutional remit of covering archaeology, history, antiquities, folk-lore and natural history, particularly concerning the Breadalbane and Upper Tay area of Perthshire. Although the local area has been our main focus, the topics covered have also extended into the wider issues which have also impacted on Breadalbane.

Our winter talks have ranged over the whole expanse of history from the Romans in Scotland, the Picts, through Waterloo and Wade’s roads to more modern periods. We have learned about excavations in Perth and Fortingall and have explored local gardens at Drummond castle, Blair Castle and Menzies Castle.

The Natural History topic has been explored by a visit to the Aigas Field centre, as well as talks on beavers, salmon and ospreys.

Aigas Field Centre

A number of interesting Scottish figures, both local and with local connections, have featured such as Margaret Lady Nairne, Niel Gow, Archibald Menzies, Andrew Carnegie, Kitty Duchess of Athol, the Marquis of Bute, the Wolf of Badenoch, Robert Burns, the Perth Suffragettes and James Maclaren. The talks on Margaret Lady Nairne and Niel Gow were illustrated with music.

Music featured as well at our Summer Crannog parties where PlaidSong (Nicola Small and Syd House) entertained as did Dougie and Hilary Law, and the Aberfeldy singing group.

Our association with The Scottish Crannog Centre has continued with a crock washing event in 2022 and the invitation to continue participating in that task.  Summer parties there gave an opportunity for the kind of social interaction which does not happen at formal talks.

Visits during the summer have usually echoed the topics covered in the winter talks.  We went to Stirling Castle, the Burns Museum, the Black Watch Museum, the Antonine Wall and the Burrell Collection among others.  More local trips visited the Croft Moraig Stone Circle, Old Lawers Village, Tomtayewan, Tomnadashan (Ardtalnaig) Copper Mine and Menzies Mausoleum.

A new venture has been the three- or four-day residential tours to Iona and Angus which have been well attended and have given a chance for immersion in an area. 

Walking on Iona.

House of Dun in Angus

In the past ten years the post of Chairman has passed from Neil Hooper to Anne Beeson, then Nick Grant and Lesley Whitwood.  We lost some of our long serving and faithful members: Anne Beeson, Gillian Hull, Merril Sylvester and Hamish Nicholson all of whom will be sadly missed.

One of the advances made in the past few years has been the registration of the Society as a charity, which enables us access to various grants and benefits, although it also means that we have to report each year to OSCR about our activities and our financial affairs. This was a fairly complex procedure ably managed by Nick Grant as Chairman.

Another new initiative has been the assistance in Family History research headed up by Helen Stewart in conjunction with Culture Perth & Kinross and the Breadalbane Community Library, and this has prompted some contact and enquiries through this website. Our current website has been developed by Ian Stewart and is full of interesting information on our project activities and our events, including the recordings of recent talks since 2021, especially those presented on Zoom.

With a current membership around 100, the Society looks forward to the future with confidence.  There will always be Heritage in Breadalbane and there will always be an enthusiasm to know more about it.