PERTH TO ABERDEEN BY RAILWAY. The route from Perth to Stanley Junction (which is the station for Dunkeld) has been already described (page 263), and we now continue it from Cargill Station (11 miles from Perth). Here, a little to the left, opposite the confluence of the Isla with the Tay, is the ancient castle of Kinclaven, where Edward I. abode a night in 1296, Above it, on the east side of the Tay, are Meikleour house and village. Having skirted the luxuriant tract of country known as "the Carse of Gowrie," the scenery loses its peculiar richness, and bogs, heath, and clumps of dark firs diversify the landscape. The next station is Cupar-Angus (152 miles), a town of about 3000 inhabitants, with ruins of an old abbey. About four miles to the northward is the village of Blairgowrie (p. 269), the key to the Highlands in the direction of the Spittal of Glenshee and Braemar. At Meigle Station (214 miles, and where there is an inn, the Belmont Arms), a branch-line strikes off, past Newtyle village, to Dundee. The ancient churchyard of Meigle possesses several old monuments, said by the common people to mark the grave of Queen Vanora, wife of King Arthur. In addition to those previously known, four others were found in the walls of an old corn kiln, during the spring of 1858, all of which, like those in the churchyard, bear a variety of hieroglyphical figures with representations of men and animals. Close by is Belmont House, a seat of Lord Wharncliffe. Near Glamis Station (264 miles from Perth) is Glamis Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore, one of the most interesting places in Scotland, both on account of its historical associations, and the elaborate style of its architecture. It is about 27 miles from Perth, and 6 from Forfar, and is easily reached by railway, coming out at the Glamis Station, which is within a mile of it. In visiting it from Perth, it is advisable to take the first train, so as to catch the one returning in the afternoon. Strangers are admitted to the interior when the family is absent. The great hall bears the date 1621, and the initials of Earl John on the ceiling. It contains portraits of Graham of Claverhouse, the Duke of Lauderdale, Charles II., James VII., etc., and some carved furniture. The rooms shewn are—the kitchens (modern and ancient), the billiard room, the apartment where it is said Duncan was murdered, where Sir Walter Scott slept, the dining-room, and drawing-room or great hall (a magnificent apartment with old arched ceiling), communicating with a quaint little chapel, in the Jacobean style, decorated by numerous appropriate paintings by De Witt, about 1688. A stair of 143 steps leads to the top of the castle, but the view is tame. According to Hector Boece, Glamis was the scene of the death of Malcolm II., and Macbeth (says Shakspeare), was thane of Glamis. Before the manse door at the village of Glamis, there is a large sculptured obelisk, called "King Malcolm's gravestone," where tradition says he was buried. After Malcolm's time the castle of Glamis was frequently used as a residence by the Scotch kings, more particularly by Alexander III. in 1263-4, of the expenses of whose household some curious accounts are preserved in the Chamberlain Rolls. The castle and thanedom of Glamis were given by Robert II. to John Lyon, who married the king's second daughter by Elizabeth Mure, and became the founder of the present family. On the barbarous execution of the young and beautiful Lady Glamis for witchcraft, on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh, in 1537, the estate again fell to the Crown, and was for some time a residence of James V., but was afterwards restored to the Lyons. The castle of James V.'s time (the old kitchen and cellars only excepted) was raised by Patrick, ninth Lord Glamis, who succeeded his father in 1578, and the old part of the present edifice, which was completed by his son, Earl John about 1621, was built chiefly after plans made by Lord Patrick himself. Earl Patrick's grandson also adorned the castle considerably; and to his time belong the curious sundial near the entrance to the castle, and the grotesque figures on the N. and S. gateways, etc.* Soon after leaving Glamis Station, the sculptured stone monument of Cossans-one of the finest specimens of its kind-is to be seen in a field on the right, situated upon a sloping bank, which is supposed to have been at one time the boundary of the Loch of Forfar in that direction. To the south is the wooded eminence of Thornton, where there is also a remarkable stone of the same type as that of Cossans. Passing near the old mansion of Balindarg, on the left the Kirriemuir junction is reached, to the north of which a good view of the thriving town of the same name is obtained. It is the most populous burgh of barony in Forfarshire, containing 8000 or 9000 inhabitants, with a large trade in linen weaving. It is a place of considerable antiquity, having belonged of old to the Celtic earls of Angus. The ancient *See Glamis; its history and antiquities. A. and C. Black, 1861. |