| Kinnoull Hill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 222 m (728 ft) |
| Coordinates | 56°23′23″N3°24′00″W / 56.3896°N 3.3999°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Perth, Scotland |
Kinnoull Hill is a hill located partly in Perth and partly in Kinfauns, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It shares its name with the nearby Kinnoull parish.
In view from the 222 metres (728 ft)-high south-facing summit is the Friarton Bridge, a stretch of the Tay Coast railway line and the Sidlaw Hills. [1] Further to the south, Moncreiffe Hill can be seen.
[The view] commands the lower course of the Tay and its estuary, widening out between the level expanse of the Carse of Gowrie, thickly sprinkled with farms and mansions, and the opposing shores of Fife, onward to where it is closed by the smoke of Dundee and the line of the Tay Bridge.
— Francis Watt, 1889 [2]
Near the summit, which is divided into two points, is the Windy Gowle, a hollow which (historically, at least) offered "an echo of nine distinct reverberations". [3]
William Wallace is said to have concealed himself in a cave on the hill, to avoid detection by his pursuers. [3]
On an outcrop a few hundred yards to the east of, and several feet below, the summit is Kinnoull Tower, a folly built in the eighteenth century, by Thomas Hay, 9th Earl of Kinnoull, to resemble castles along the Rhine he had admired in Germany during his Grand Tour of Europe. Kinnoull saw a similarity between the mountainous landscape along the Rhine and the rocky outcrops on his estate near Perth. On his return, to achieve a similar effect, he built a modest castle on the highest point of Kinnoull Hill, with its tower overlooking the River Tay. The tower is a Category B listed structure. [4]
Another of Hay's lasting legacies is the Perth Bridge over the Tay, which he helped fund.
Jane Austen visited Kinnoull Hill in September 1789. She described Kinnoull Tower in "Lesley Castle", one of two Scottish stories in her Juvenilia, as:
An old and Mouldering Castle, which is situated two miles from Perth on a bold projecting Rock, and commands an extensive view of the Town and its delightful Environs. [5]
Today the tower is more easily accessible, via a winding footpath through the woodland park.
In 2009 and again in 2010, Kinnoull Hill was awarded Green Flag status. [6] In 2010, Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park also came runner up in Scotland's Finest Woods Awards. [7] [ failed verification ]
Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park is managed in a partnership between Forestry and Land Scotland [8] and Perth & Kinross Council. [9] A Users Group has also been established for many years and supports the management of the Woodland Park through a Management Committee. [10] Branklyn Garden was built by Dorothy Renton and her husband in the western foothills of Kinnoull Hill. The house and garden are owned by the National Trust for Scotland. [11]
In 1793, wild roses which were discovered on the hill were transplanted into an extensive nearby nursery owned by James Dickson and James Brown. [12] At its peak, the nursery employed around eighty people. [3]
Woodland sculptures created by Pete Bowsher have been erected in the Woodland Park. There are fourteen sculptures reflecting the animals and plants of the park.
The hill's summit has become well-known as a location for suicides. [13] In 2015 it became "highlighted as a national area of concern for completed suicides". [14] That same year, 20-year-old Forfar Athletic player Jack Syme committed suicide at Kinnoull Hill. [15]
In early January 2002, Daniela Smith, a 31-year-old mother-of-two, pushed her infant children off the hill's summit while they were strapped in their pushchair, before throwing herself off. Their bodies were discovered on a ledge about 100 feet (30 m) below the summit on 15 January. [16]
The bodies of two men were found below the hill in 2014. [13]
The Kinnoull Campus of De La Salle College in Melbourne, Australia, is named after this hill. The property previously on the site of the College, built in 1856 by Sir James Palmer, was renamed Kinnoull by Sir Alexander Stewart (1874-1956) (former chairman of BHP), who was born near Kinnoull Hill.
Abernyte Brewery released a beer called Kinnoull Red, named for the hill. [17]
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. It was a local government county from 1890 to 1930.
Perth is a centrally located Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018.
Auchterarder is a town north of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, and home to the Gleneagles Hotel. The 1+1⁄2-mile-long (2.5-kilometre) High Street of Auchterarder gave the town its popular name of "The Lang Toun" or Long Town.
Aberfeldy is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, on the River Tay. A small market town, Aberfeldy is located in Highland Perthshire. It was mentioned by Robert Burns in the poem The Birks Of Aberfeldy and in the Ed Sheeran song The Hills of Aberfeldy.
Dunkeld is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundary Fault, and is frequently described as the "Gateway to the Highlands" due to its position on the main road and rail lines north. Dunkeld has a railway station, Dunkeld & Birnam, on the Highland Main Line, and is about 25 kilometres north of Perth on what is now the A9 road. The main road formerly ran through the town, however following modernisation of this road it now passes to the west of Dunkeld.
Bridge of Earn is a small town in Perthshire, Scotland. Often referred to simply as 'The Brig'. The village grew up on the south bank of an important crossing of the River Earn, whose sandstone bridge existed from at least the early 14th century, when it is known to have been repaired by order of King Robert I of Scotland (1306–1329). Substantial remains of the medieval bridge survived into the 1970s, when almost all the stonework was demolished, for (allegedly) being in a dangerously ruinous condition. This ancient bridge was a major landmark on the road between Edinburgh and Perth for several centuries. The village's oldest houses are to be found lining the road leading south from the site of the demolished bridge. Among them are some with 18th-century datestones.
Thomas Hay, 9th Earl of KinnoullPC, styled Viscount Dupplin from 1719 to 1758, was a Scottish peer, British politician, and scholar.
Kinnoull is a parish in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, approximately half a mile northeast of Perth city centre. Beginning at the level of the River Tay, which separates the parish from Perth, Kinnoull's terrain continues to rise as it continues southeast, culminating in Kinnoull Hill, the summit of which is at 728 feet (222 m).
North Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 57 hectares in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the smaller, 31-hectare South Inch, located half a mile across the city. The inches were granted to the city, when it was a royal burgh, by King Robert II in 1374. Both inches were once islands in the River Tay; today, they are connected by Tay Street, part of the A989.
The Municipal Buildings are a municipal facility at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 High Street, Perth, Scotland. The facility is a Category B listed building.
Dorothy Graham Renton was a Scottish gardener noted for creating Branklyn Garden in Perth with her husband John. She took the Veitch Memorial Medal for her work in 1954 from the Royal Horticultural Society. Branklyn was described as "the finest two acres of private garden in the country". It is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.
Branklyn Garden is a hillside public garden in the Kinnoull area of the Scottish city of Perth. The garden is set in 2 acres (0.81 ha) in the western foothills of Kinnoull Hill.
Bridgend is a village near Perth, Scotland, approximately 0.25 miles (0.40 km) east of the city centre, on the eastern banks of the River Tay. It is in Kinnoull parish. A settlement has existed here since at least the 16th century.
Perth Sheriff Court is an historic building on Tay Street in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The structure, which is used as the main courthouse for the area, is a Category A listed building.
Andrew Heiton was a Scottish architect. He designed several notable buildings in Scotland, mostly railway stations and country houses.
Kinnoull Parish Church is a Church of Scotland church in the Kinnoull area of Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. A Kinnoull Church appears in documents when it was granted to Cambuskenneth Abbey in 1361. It was rebuilt in 1779 but demolished in 1826 after the completion of a church on the Perth side of the River Tay, which flows a short distance behind the church.
High Street is a street and the primary retail area of the Scottish city of Perth. Established in at least the 15th century, its central section has been both modernised and pedestrianised, while its two ends are mainly Victorian in terms of their composite buildings. It runs for about 0.5 miles (0.80 km), from Tay Street in the east to Caledonian Road in the west.
Gowrie House was a building in the centre of Perth, Scotland, which existed in the 16th and 17th centuries. An earlier house on the site was standing in 1518, built or occupied by Elizabeth Gray, Countess of Huntly and the second wife of Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly. A document of 1552 mentions the great lodging that she had built in the Speygate of Perth. Latterly, the rebuilt and extended house was the home of George Hay, 1st Earl of Kinnoull (1570–1634), amongst others.
Mill Street is a prominent street in the city of Perth, Scotland. Established in at least the 18th century, it runs for about 0.25 miles (0.40 km), from Bridge Lane in the east South Methven Street in the west, passing through roughly two-thirds of the northern third of the city centre.
Public transport in Perth and Kinross is available for two main modes of transport—bus and rail—assisting residents of and visitors to Perth and Kinross, without their own vehicle, to travel around much of the council area's 2,041 square miles (5,290 km2).
