Dunkeld

• Wander along Cathedral Street and The Cross, where the Trust has restored many of the 17th- and 18th-century houses.
• Gaze up at the Atholl Memorial Fountain and see how many of the wildlife carvings you can identify.
• Look out for salmon a-leaping in the River Tay.

Beautifully situated on the banks of the River Tay, Dunkeld is a picturesque and tranquil place. This town has a rich cultural heritage, from being an early centre of Celtic Christianity to becoming a hub for modern folk music.

The Atholl Memorial Fountain (which replaced the old mercat cross) has been carefully preserved, and the Trust has restored 20 houses (mostly council-owned, tenanted, and not open to the public) and some office and retail space in the surrounding pastel-coloured houses, some of which date back to the 17th century. 

However, this little town was not always this peaceful. Shortly after the Battle of Killiecrankie, a fierce battle raged in the streets on 21 August 1689 between the Jacobites and government soldiers. Many of the buildings were burned or destroyed, and much of the Dunkeld we see today was rebuilt in the 18th century.

Today, visitors can wander around Stanley Hill Park, and climb the steps to the top of a tiered man-made hill, built up from the natural existing hillock around 1730 to look like a fortification from an earlier age. This hill once had a battery of small cannons for firing salutes. You can also look into the depths of the ice house located on the hill’s lower slopes – the Trust removed 4.5m of infill from it in 1995 but still did not reach the bottom!