Balquhidder

A Highland glen in Perthshire, Scotland.

Related Topics:
Perthshire - Scotland

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The attractive little hamlet of Balquhidder (which is pronounced Bal-wh-idder) is overlooked by the dramatic mountain terrain of the Braes of Balquhidder, at the head of the glorious Loch Voil. The local churchyard is the final resting place of Rob Roy, his grave marked with the appropriately defiant motto 'MacGregor Despite Them'. He lies with the remains of his wife and two sons, the graves marked by three flat stones. Balquhidder Glen is also popular for fishing, nature watching and of course walking. Above the village, Creag and Tuirc is a long treasured viewpoint, well worth the short climb.

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St Angus, who may have been a monk from Dunblane, came to Balquhidder Glen in the 8th or 9th century and recognised what the Celts called a "thin place" where the boundary between Earth and Heaven was a thin one. He knelt and blessed the Glen and built a stone oratory at Kirkton, where he spent the rest of his life. Angus may have brought Christianity to Balquhidder but there was already a long tradition of pagan worship. He would have passed the remains of a neolithic Temple (1800 BC) and several "worshipping stones". On his left rose a spur at Beinn-le-Dia (Ben Ledi) the mountain of god, and on his right, behind the present church, Tom nan Angeae, the hill of fire, where until the 19th century hearth fires were renewed at Beltane (1st May) and Samhain (1st November) to encourage ancient gods to bring warmth to the land. Angus was buried at the foot of this hill and a flagstone laid over him. It stands today in the Church.

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Glen Buckie, now a quiet backwater on the south side of Balquhidder glen was the scene of one of the last acts of the 1745 rebellion. Dr. Archie Cameron had returned to Scotland in the early 1750's hoping to raise support for a possible last-ditch coup against George II. He was captured in the glen, and was later hanged in London, the last Jacobite to be killed for treason.

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Musical Reference: Braes O' Balquhidder

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Let us go, lassie, go

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Tae the braes o' Balquhidder

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Whar the blueberries grow

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'Mang the bonnie Hielan' heather

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Whar the deer and the rae

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Lichtly bounding thegither

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Sport the lang summer day

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On the braes o' Balquhidder.

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Lyrics penned by Robert Tannahill appeared twice in R. A. Smith's "Scottish Minstrel" (1821-1824) - Vol. I, p. 49 and Vol. IV, p. 89. The lyrics are from a 1994 recording by the Tannahill Weavers.

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