Our Heritage Blairgowrie & Rattray

18/03/2026

The 1975 Blair High yearbook had a "how well do you know your town" quiz. Who wants to have a go?

1) Where is the post box with V.R. on it?

2) When were the Burghs of Blairgowrie and Rattray united?

3) How old is the Hill Primary School (remember, as of 1975)

4) What is the name of the MP whose ancestors built the Lornty and Brooklinn Mills?

5) By what name is Knock-ma-har better known?

6) Where would you find a mill lade that was never used?

7) Where did the Covenanter hero escape Claverhouses dragoons?

8) When was the golf course formed in Blairgowrie?

9) Where is there a stone circle?

24/02/2026

It's local history all this week at Blairgowrie Library, and we've got displays and talks going on all week highlighting some of the lesser known stories from Blair's history.

Events like this are also a great way to demonstrate local interest in history, which helps us enormously when it comes to arguing the case for permanent exhibitions and heritage facilities in the town.

So please come along if you're able to, and support this fantastic Culture Perth and Kinross event so we can organise others in the future.

14/01/2026

A suitably wintery photo for this week's archive dive, illustrating Blairgowrie High Outward Bound Club's 1978 expeditions.

Anyone remember any of these or any other outdoor adventures?

07/01/2026

Found in the archives, advert from the 1969 Blair High magazine. Anyone remember going to school in one of these?

26/11/2025

Anyone remember "the big puddle" of Rattray common?

This appearance from January 1994 was relatively minor, and caused by frozen ground and iced up drains, but in it's golden age before upgraded drainage mostly fixed it, the puddle could get up to five feet deep!

05/11/2025

Anyone know what's going on here?

One of the many interesting (but slightly lacking context!) photos in the Blairie archives.

We know this event took place in June 1994 but there's no listed location unfortunately.

05/09/2025

Some images from the archive (the actual "dusty boxes" one!) of Braemar nights past. Not sure when this was (60's maybe?), or even if they're all the same year, but the boats certianly haven't been in the river in a good while!

19/05/2025

Did you catch us on the news earlier? Exciting times for our Printworks project. If anyone is interested in getting involved, or has any skills they think might be of use, please drop us a DM. We'll have more information available soon!

Since 1880, the B-listed building has produced everything from leaflets and letterheads to pamphlets and newspapers.

01/04/2025

12 Noon Edit: So clearly this all nonsense (check date....) but the real Cleaven D**e story is pretty good too, theres a link in the comments to our website where you can find all the info on this, as well as some other odd local history tales and legends, like the time a lion escaped in the wellmeadow (no, really.....)

Original Post

Although most people believe the Cleaven D**e at Meikleour is prehistoric in origin, this is in fact an elaborate wartime hoax to conceal it's true purpose.

Developed in the early 1940s, Project CHANDELIER was a mysterious machine built deep in the woods which focussed unique gravitation z-waves found only in east Perthshire to disrupt the inertial navigation instruments used to direct Luftwaffe raids towards the Glasgow shipyards.

General Ged Dearmann of the US Army Air Corps was in charge of the site, but the actual technology was local, developed by Professor Barry Deacon of Abertay University.

Little is known about this shadowy project save for this single image donated to our archives by Professor Deacon's granddaughter Sian, shorty before her mysterious disappearance in 2013.

01/02/2025

If you read The Courier UK you might have seen an article about the Cleaven D**e.

They might not have taken drones for a look at it from above, but we did 😁

Article is linked in the comments.

24/01/2025

A great image from the P&K Archive of a train-load of farm machinery leaving Blairgowrie Station.

You can find out more about J Bisset & Sons on our timeline, linked in the comments 👇

Blairgowrie Railway Station in full swing,1929. The wagons are laden with agricultural equipment, most probably made by the well-known local manufacturer J Bisset & sons based at the Greenbank Works on the Dunkeld Rd, Blairgowrie.