Perthshire is a county of spectacle, in its glens and moors and its broad lowland valleys. It stands across the division between the Highlands and the Lowlands. This is a large shire encompassing the whole of the basin of the River Tay and so by size it is mainly of mountain but by population mainly lowland.
The main towns of Perthshire lie in the low ground formed by the dales of the Rivers Tay and Earn. The Firth of Tay becomes a broad arm of the sea and divides the county from Fife. Westward, Perthshire is bounded on the south by Kinross-shire and Clackmannanshire, then the River Forth, which forms the boundary with Stirlingshire.
The City of Perth, the Dark Age capital of Scotland, is on the River Tay where it broadens before becoming the Firth. Nearby is the site of Scone Abbey where royal coronations took place. Between the Firth of Tay and Strathmore are the Siddaw Hills, shared with Angus.
The whole north of Perthshire is taken up with the Grampian Mountains, out to the bounds of Inverness-shire. Some of the greatest spectacles of the Highlands are found in the Perthshire. The mountain towns of Pitlochry on the upper Tay (famed for salmon fishing), Blair Atholl and the Forest of Atholl and Crianlarich are in the Grampians. There are also grand and beauteous lochs slicing through the landscape, including Loch Rannoch and Loch Tay. A detached portion of Perthshire, some 6 miles long by 4½ miles broad, lies along the upper reach of the Firth of Forth, separated from the main body by a belt of Fife and Clackmannanshire.
County Facts
County Town: Perth
Main Towns: Abernethy, Blackford, Coupar Angus, Doune, Callander, Dunblane, Killen, Perth, Pilochry, Scone.
Main Rivers: Tay, Garry.
Highlights: Blair Castle; Drummond Castle; Trossachs; Gleneagles Hotel; Scone Palace.
Highest Point: Ben Lawers, 4,004 feet.
Area: 2,493 sq miles
County Flower: Alpine Gentian
