Crieff

Crieff is second largest town in the central region of Perthshire Scotland. It is principally a market town but in recent years has developed into a hub for local tourism, trading mainly on its whisky and cattle droving history. Approximate population 6,000.

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For a numbers of centuries the Highlanders came south to Crieff to sell their black cattle whose meat and hides were avidly sought by the growing urban populations in Lowland Scotland and the north of England. The town acted as a gathering point for the Michaelmas cattle sale held each year and the surrounding fields and hillsides were black with the tens of thousands of cattle - some from as far away as Caithness and the Outer Hebrides (for comparison, in 1790 the population of Crieff was about 1,200 which led to a ratio of tens cows per person, similar to New Zealand or Australia today).

Scotland: :For other uses, see Scotland (disambiguation). See also British Isles (terminology)....

England: :For an explanation of often confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology)....

Michaelmas: Michaelmas (pronounced ) or the Feast of Ss. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael is a day in the Christian calendar, taking place on 29 September. It is one of the English and Welsh and Irish quarter days....