History of the area
If you have any old photographs of our area we should be very grateful if you would lend them to us to scan in to this section and return to you. You can contact us on bgkcc@hotmail.co.uk.
We are grateful to Mr James Nicol for information about Bridgend and his photo of the Potterhill Gardens prefabs and to Dr Bill Gray for information about Kinfauns and Kinnoull Hill.
Bridgend, Kinnoull and Barnhill were separate villages connected to Perth by a succession of bridges and/or by ferries. Development of our side of the river and incorporation into the Burgh of Perth only happened after the opening of Perth Bridge in 1772. Before that, Bridgend and Kinnoull was a burgh of barony entitled to hold weekly markets and four annual fairs.
Bridgend
Bridgend was settled from at least the 16th century. It was formerly a leper colony and a place for “less desirables” from the city. By 1736 it was described as a sorry village with a few thatched hovels except for the house at the shore where the ferry boat landed. This and the houses at Potterhill and Rosemount were said to be the only respectable buildings. The road to Scone was a narrow dirty lane lined with mean clay huts. However when Perth Bridge opened Bridgend blossomed into a thriving village with many new houses. There were at one time 16 taverns including Cross Keys. In the early nineteenth century the “smart set” built villas in Bridgend and Isla Road.
Back Wynd (right) was the original line of the road to Coupar Angus. The buildings on the triangle formed with East Bridge Street and Gowrie Street were demolished in 1980. These included Willie Munro's Ironmongery shop. This area is now a car park.
Commercial Street (left) was a ferry village with ferrymen, boatmen, sailors, wharf workers, importers of wine, maltsters, brewers and bakers. There were shipbuilders such as Murrays’. There were two large icehouses on the river bank to store salmon for dispatch to the south. The quays (including one called Gibraltar Quay) were directly opposite Perth Harbour, then at the foot of the High Street. By the eighteenth century trade was slack but smuggling took place and a boathouse on the site of Kinnoull Church was used by smugglers. The Commercial Street buildings fell into disrepair and were demolished in 1975. The present buildings were completed in 1978 and have won design awards. They were even featured on a 31p stamp in 1984. The Commercial Street area was flooded in 1894 and again in 1993.
Main Street (right) still has tenements built in the 19th century. Bridgend Church was opened in Main Street in 1894 but has since been demolished. Bridgend Court was built on the site in 1972-3. Bridgend Post Office opened in 1891 and closed in 2009.
Strathmore Street grew after the opening of Perth Bridge. The Landlord was the Earl of Kinnoull. Its houses were demolished in 1973 and replaced by sheltered housing.
Bridgend had its own water supply until 1880 when the Perth city supply became available. The Bridgend of Perth Water Company Limited’s water works were constructed in 1858 and took water from the Langley Burn. There were two outbreaks of cholera in Bridgend in 1849 and 1866 which were blamed on water drawn from the Tay.
From the 1860s, horse buses passed from Perth to Scone through Bridgend six times a day. They were replaced by horse drawn trams in 1895 and then electric trams in 1905.
Bridgend was incorporated into the Burgh of Perth in 1866.
Gannochy
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries there was expansion towards Scone following the tramlines running from Perth to Scone.
A. K. Bell (of Bell’s whisky) bought the estate of Gannochy on which 150 model cottages were built in 1925-32 for the deserving poor including unemployed local railwaymen. More houses and a community centre were built in the late 1970s. The estate is now administered by the Gannochy Trust set up by A.K. Bell in 1937.
Kinnoull
The parish of Kinnoull included Barnhill, Corsiehill and part of Kinfauns. In 1795 the population of the parish was 1465 and by 1811 was 2431.
There were lots of farms on the slopes of Kinnoull Hill and a number of medicinal herbs were grown. There were renowned plant nurseries. James Dickson’s (later W. Dickson & J. Brown) was established in 1766 where Brompton Terrace, Hatton Road etc. now are. Dickson & Turnbull’s Nursery was on land beside the church.It supplied specimens for Kew Gardens.
In the Victorian era mansions spread up the lower slopes of the hill. The newer money of the late nineteenth century was used to build houses in the area of Dundee Road and Kinnoull Terrace.
Bowerswell Road is on the line of the old road to Dundee which went round the back of Kinnoull Hill.
One of the oldest buildings in our area is the Kinnoull Aisle which contains the tomb (erected in 1634) of George Hay, first Earl of Kinnoull and Lord Chancellor of Scotland to Charles I. It formed part of the parish kirk, dedicated to St. Constantine, the foundation date of which is unknown, although it is mentioned in Bagumond’s Roll (a papal taxation) in 1287 as being in the diocese of St. Andrews. Sir Robert Erskine, in the reign of David Bruce in 1361 gave the patronage of the church to the monks of Cambuskenneth. This was not of lasting effect and it remained an independent parsonage. The kirk was rebuilt in 1779 and demolished in 1836. The surrounding graveyard has many interesting graves including those of river boatmen and their families. The last internment took place in 1965. Effie Gray (q.v.) and Millais' children are also buried there.
Kinnoull Church was built in 1826 at a cost of £3873.15/6d and refurbished in 1930 and 1977. Its west window painted by Millais (q.v.) and the gate and railings are a World War II memorial. During the war the church hall was taken over for military use. There was an influx of civilian evacuees and Polish soldiers to the parish.
Kinnoull School built in 1804 at a cost of £236/6/6d, was originally in the building next to the Isle of Skye Hotel which is now a dentist’s surgery. The schoolhouse was where the hotel now stands. Pupils came from Old Scone, Quarry Mill and Walnut Grove as well as our area. The present school was erected in 1876 in Witchhill quarry (so called because suspected witches were rolled in a barrel down the hill into a pool). 
Potterhill House was one of the first mansions to be built on Kinnoull Hill. It was converted to flats in 1947 and replaced by a high-rise building in 1961-2. Originally the Council had problems finding tenants for it. A market garden beside the big house was taken over for pre-fabs (left) in 1946 which were then replaced by council houses and flats. Demolition of the prefabs was completed in 1972.
Barnhill may have been a Pictish settlement. A pictish earth house was found in 1905 when a road was being built in front of St. Leonard’s Manse. The lands of Barnhill belonged to the Moncrieff family who lived in a big house close to the river. Around 1800 the lands of Barnhill were let in lots as gardens (gardens in the city being taken over for housing). The turnpike road from Dundee was opened in1829 and the toll house is on Dundee Road at the boundary between the estates of Barnhill and Kinfauns. A barrier of wood with prices on it stretched across the road barring the way until dues were paid. In 1847 the railway line from Dundee terminated at Barnhill. Passengers then paid 1 penny to go by horse coach to Bridgend or less to go by ferry across the river. Barnhill had grown when the road opened and the arrival of the railway moved the “smartest villa dwellers” to build houses here. Barnhill Sanatorium was established in 1901 for the treatment of people with tuberculosis. It closed in 1958 when the few remaining patients were transferred to Bridge of Earn.
Kinnoull also had its own water supply. There were a number of springs which supplied wells at Bowerswell, Wellbank, Murray Royal Asylum and Barnhill Sanatorium. In 1859 water came from the Earl of Kinnoull’s private water works, the source being Muirhall quarry. Since 1900 our town supply has come via Muirhall Reservoir.
Extension of Perth Burgh in 1889 and 1908 took in Kinnoull.
Bridges and ferries
In 1210 the bridge suffered in the floods. In 1329 King Robert the Bruce ordered that the bridge be repaired with stones from Kincarrathie quarry. Town Council minutes of 1586 refer to the brig having twice fallen down and decayed and lately being erected of timber being ready to fall without present help. Others were built and collapsed. In 1621 the bridge which had been built by John Mylne, Master Mason to James VI and led from the bottom of the High Street to Commercial Street was destroyed. There were no more replacements until the current Perth Bridge, which was started in 1767 after £26,631/12/5d was raised by public subscription headed by the Earl of Kinnoull. It was built by John Smeaton and was widened in 1869. Locomotive Bye-laws can still be seen on the wall of the building which was latterly Lees’ fish and fruit shop. Bridge tolls were removed in 1786. It had cost one farthing per crossing for pedestrians. During World War II it was drilled in readiness for explosives should the enemy invade
The Queen’s Bridge, opened in 1960, replaced the Victoria Bridge which had been opened in 1901 and demolished in 1959.
In 1849 a wooden railway bridge, with an opening span to allow the passage of ships, was built to carry the Dundee line from Barnhill to Princes Street station and then Perth Central. This was the first railway bridge to span the Tay. There is still a railway bridge with a footpath connecting Barnhill to Moncrieff Island built in 1862.
When there were no bridges crossings were made by ferries with terminals at the lowest part of the original Commercial Street (the ferry slip being just past the present Commercial Street houses) and at Kincarrathie. The opening of Perth Bridge led to thirty or so ferrymen being made redundant. Animals going to marts had had to swim from Kincarrathie to the North Inch
Further buildings of historical interest
Private houses
Annat Lodge was built in the late 18th century and became the home of Sir John Everett Millais (q.v.), his wife Effie Gray and their family. Millais created several works of art here.
Ardchoile House was built around 1851. It was the residence of the 6th Earl of Mansfield who died in1935. In 1954 it became the Headquarters of Perth County Constabulary and its successor forces until 1977. It now contains flats with villas in the grounds.
Bellwood House was built in the early 19th century for Archibald Turnbull of Dickson and Turnbull's Nursery (see above). It was the first mansion to be built on our side of the river. It has also been a dower house for the Moncrieffe family and a base for the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. In Victorian times there were two cannon on ramparts in the grounds to help the Kinnoull Hill Rock Artillery Company repel any enemy flotillas on the Tay.
Bowerswell House built between 1844-8 by George Gray W.S. (who was largely responsible for instituting a golfing society in Perth) was the home of Effie (see above) who married John Ruskin, divorced and then married Sir John Everett Millais. As Perth’s World War II Memorial it was converted into a retirement home with cottages in the grounds in 1950.
Garry Lodge was built by the fourth Duke of Atholl as his town house. It later became the Nurses’ Home for Hillside Hospital which began as a nursing home in 1876 and awaits redevelopment.
Kincarrathie House was built in 1755 on an estate belonging to Lt.Col. James Sharp, probably by his son. It was enlarged in1853 and bought by Arthur Bell. After the death of his son A.K.Bell it was extended by the Gannochy Trust and converted to an old folk’s home. To the east of the house was the chapel built around 1694 and used latterly as a garden shed. There was also a doo’cot with the date 1694.
Tayside House in Isla Road was the home of Sir Robert Pullar from 1879. It was bought by General Accident and workers were evacuated there from London in 1941. It was demolished in 1963 to make way for new offices which later became a nursing home.It also awaits redevelopment.
Commercial premises
Clockserrie Brewery occupied the site at the junction of Strathmore Street and Isla Road from the late 1770s. By 1851 it was operating as a distillery. Its owner, Mr Forbes, lived in Croft House in Keir Street. It was bought by the Tay Distillery Company which was liquidated . The Isla Distillery Company then took over until 1926 when operations ceased. Warehouses remained until World War II. It is now a park.
Cross Keys succeeded an ancient hospice run by the monks of Scone Abbey hence the cross keys, sign of St. Peter. It may also have been a customs house where ships paid dues to Scone Abbey. It later became the place to obtain horses and transport to Coupar Angus, Dundee and the east. In 1836 the innkeeper Mr Clark had stabling for nearly 200 horses and Clark’s Close led from the original Commercial Street to the river. In the 1990s as the Riverside Inn its disco was the place to be for Perth youngsters. It became an art gallery/coffee shop and is now "Cupcakes" retaurant.
Proudfoot's Bakery was started in a one-time fish and chip shop in1933 later expanding into Johnny Sinclair's cycle shop next door. Proprietor Jimmy Proudfoot was Provost of Perth. The bakery was on the site of stables and cattle sheds belonging to the Strathmore Inn which dates from the 1820s. The bakery has been replaced in 2007 by Proudfoot's Court (housing).
Murray Royal Hospital was built by James Murray who had inherited a fortune from his half-brother William Hope. It opened as an asylum for the insane to eighty patients in 1827 when it was incorporated by Royal Charter as James Murray’s Royal Asylum. Many other buildings were added over the years including a chapel built to the design of the physician superintendant, Dr Urquhart, in 1901 and now a listed building. Work is now under way to build a new hospital and medium secure unit. The former nurses' home has been demolished and the villas flanking the chapel are also to be removed. It remains to be seen what will happen to the remainder of the site.
Rodney Pavilion is now a fitness centre belonging to the local authority but was opened in 1934 as General Accident’s social and athletic club. The name was taken from Rodney Lodge, originally Marshall Cottage owned by Murray Patton, Sheriff Clerk and nephew of Lord Provost Thomas Hay Marshall. It was bought in 1866 by the Hon. John Rollo who patriotically changed the name. It was demolished to make way for the Victoria Bridge.
St. Mary’s Monastery founded in 1868 was the first monastery to be built in Scotland since the reformation. In 1870 there were petitions against it by the local M.P. Mr Kinnaird in the House of Commons and the Duke of Newcastle in the Lords.
Open spaces
Branklyn Garden was developed by John Renton and his wife from 1922 on former Barnhill orchard land. It now belongs to the National Trust.
Doo’cot Park is next to Kincarrathie House and was created as a cricket pitch by A.K. Bell. It has a cricket pavilion built in 1924-5 in the arts and crafts manner.
Kinnoull Hill is an extinct volcano. In 1829 after undertaking the Grand Tour Lord Gray, the Earl of Moray built the “ruined” tower on his land on the hill to enhance what he saw as the resemblance of the Tay to the Rhine. He had previously built a tower on the Binn in 1813 and used it as an observatory. It was reported in 1836 that many people made a living from gathering pebbles from the soil at the foot of the cliffs (probably agates). Kinnoull Hill was gifted to Perth by Lord Dewar in 1924.
A cave above Dundee Road is called Dragon’s Hole and is said to be where a dragon was slain by St. Serf.
Millennium Park on Muirhall Road is presently run by the Community Council. It is let by the Trustees of the Jonathan Gloag Trust at a peppercorn rent for the benefit of the community.
Norie-Miller Riverside Park, created to honour Sir Stanley Norie- Miller, the Chairman of General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation was handed over to Perth in 1971.
Rodney Gardens lie in front of Rodney Pavilion and belong to the Local Authority. They can be reached from the Norie-Miller Riverside Park by walking under the Queen's Bridge.
Other famous people
Bonnie Prince Charlie was entertained in 1745 in a cottage (the dower house of the Moncrieff Barnhill estate) at the foot of Bellwood Park.
The Bridgend Ghost made an incessant racket in an old tenement although it was never seen. Ministers tried to exorcise it but it was never laid.
David Douglas the plant collector was transferred to Kinnoull School from Scone because he had played truant and “indulged in high-spirited mischief”.
Sir Patrick Geddes, the sociologist and town planner lived in Mount Tabor Cottage (later called Gean Tree Cottage) from the age of three in 1857 until he left in 1874 to study botany.
Margaret Tudor, the widow of James IV married Archibald Earl of Angus In Kinnoull Church in the sixteenth century.
If you can provide any further information on the history of the area or wish to correct any errors please contact us at bgkcc@hotmail.co.uk