Archive Projects
Over the last 20 years the Trust has undertaken a large number of projects focused on preserving and promoting the historic environment.
Details of a number of these projects are outlined below, with images from each project available to view in the gallery to the right.
Library Lodge, Perth
Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust’s offices are based in The Lodge, originally the entrance lodge of the Perth County and City Infirmary, now the A K Bell Library. The building was purchased by the Trust in 1998 and carefully restored and converted to open as offices in 2000, having stood derelict for nearly thirty years. The work received a Perth Civic Trust award for an outstanding improvement to the built heritage of Perth in 2003.
The building was designed by William Macdonald Mackenzie (1797-1856). W M Mackenzie was a Perth City Architect for some thirty years and left an impressive legacy of public and domestic buildings in and around Perth. The Lodge was built in 1840, as part of the 1836 Perth County and City Infirmary complex, arguably one of Mackenzie’s most important commissions. It was built in a neo-classical style to ''harmonise with the elegance of the principle building'', however it was moved and rebuilt in its present prominent position c1867.
St Kattan's Chapel, Aberuthven
Aberuthven was one of the earliest ecclesiastical foundations in Scotland. The church is dedicated to St Cattan, Bishop and Confessor in the 6th century. In 1618, when Aberuthven Parish united with Auchterarder Parish, St Kattans lost its status as a Parish Church and fell into disrepair.
The chapel, which is both B-listed and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is rectangular in plan and built of sandstone. There are two lancet, ogee-headed windows in the east wall and a 17th century bellcote on the west gable. During the 18th and 19th centuries three mausolea were built into the fabric of the ruined chapel. The Montrose Mausoleum which was built into the south wall of the chapel was designed by John Adam in 1736.
A detailed survey and specification of stonework repairs was prepared by Traditional Building Repair, in conjunction with Historic Scotland. Lime mortar was used with locally sourced pinnings and sand. Wall heads were stabilised using clay capping and turf. All stones were numbered and photographed in order to ensure their correct replacement and sections of 1 square meter were worked to ensure systematic stabilisation and accurate reconstruction of the fabric.
Black Castle, Moulin
The Black Castle of Moulin is an impressive example of an enceinte medieval castle, with high, embattled curtain walls and round corner towers, only one of which survives. It represents a period of innovation in Scottish castle design: the transition from the 13th century timber, palisaded motte and bailey of the Norman settlers to the tower-house of the 14th century.
Conservation of the castle involved vegetation clearance to reveal architectural features, for example, the curved interior stones of the base of the corner tower. Unstable masonry was taken down and rebuilt, and lime mortar was used for all re-pointing. Facing stones were carefully recorded and re-bedded in their original position. Overhanging masonry was supported by cantilevered stone pillars. Areas of wall head were capped using turf and clay to protect the core stone work from rain and weathering.
Auchterarder Old Church Tower
The original Church, of which the existing Tower was part, was constructed in 1660. In January 1716 the Church served as a refugee centre after Auchterarder and a number of neighbouring villages were torched by the Jacobites in order to impede the advance of the Government troops after the Battle of Sheriffmuir. In 1786 a new church was built on top of the earlier nave. Later on the church was the principal location for the outbreak of the great schism in the Established Church in 1834, when the elders refused to accept the minister appointed by their patron the Earl of Kinnoull. Nine years of argument later the Free Church of Scotland was created by a House of Lords decision. The Church was demolished in c1905, though the original bell tower was retained.
The bell tower had been neglected in recent decades. In 2004 a programme of work involving the repair and bracing of roof timbers; re-slating; erection of a new weather vane; installation of new cast-iron guttering; re-pointing the stonework; and installing a new oak door to the vaulted chamber at the base of the tower. In order to convey the original size of the building, the footprint of the church was marked out with strips of Caithness flagstones set into the gravel surround of the war memorial.
Fortingall Kirk
Early Medieval Cross Slabs Fortingall is nestled in a fertile river valley surrounded by mountains in highland Perthshire, to the north of Loch Tay. In and around the Kirk is compelling evidence of an early Christian monastic complex dating from the 7th century AD onwards. This includes a monk's hand-bell, an early Celtic baptismal font and fragments of early cross-slabs showing a combination of Christian symbolism and Pictish decoration.
In partnership with the Kirk Session, the Trust carried out a project to mount and cross-light the cross-slabs within the Kirk, which is perhaps most famous for its ancient yew tree.
Kinnoull Aisle and Monument
The Kinnoull Monument is one of the most remarkable of its kind in Scotland, dedicated to the First Earl of Kinnoull, George Hay, who died in 1634 at the end of a brilliant career as a courtier, politician and industrialist. Kinnoull Aisle, just outside Perth, is an ancient burial place and is all that remains of the church which stood in 1635 when the ceiling of the Aisle was raised to accommodate the great height of the monument built within. During conservation the roof of the Aisle was restored to stone slate, the masonry was indented and pointed and the interior was given a coat of lime plaster and ochre lime-wash.
Camserney Longhouse
Cruck-framed dwellings like Camserney long-house were common all over Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. The long-house is a good example of what once formed part of a typical crofting settlement or 'fermtoun'. The Long-house is an impressive 22m by 5.5m structure, the west half of which dates from the mid-18th century with the eastern half dating from the early 19th century. It was last occupied in the 1950s.
Before restoration the east end had no roof apart from the corrugated iron which covered the lathe and plaster hanging lum. Between 1993 and 1997 the east end was restored using replacement crucks and a new roof was laid using turf and rye straw with a box chimney and turf ridge. The west end was re-thatched using the existing cruck roof structure. The crucks were stabilised, missing purlins restored and divots of turf laid over the timbers. Structural analysis was carried out by an engineer to confirm that the crucks were capable of supporting a thatch.
Upper Glendevon Reservoir
As a result of the warm and dry summer of 2003, the water level at Upper Glendevon reservoir fell dramatically revealing a number of archaeological sites. An initial rapid walkover survey by PKHT, and subsequent field survey by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), identified and recorded the remains of medieval or later rural settlements (MOLRS), two possible cairns and a Bronze Age cist burial on a distinct mound.
Rescue excavation of the cist burial was carried out in October 2003 by PKHT along with CFA Archaeology Ltd, in order to record the cist burial as it, and the ground cover of the mound, were known to be eroding as a result of continued fluctuations in the water level of the reservoir. The cist was found to be almost completely destroyed, with only one end slab, two side slabs and the base slab remaining, and no internal deposits surviving. A section was also excavated through the deep rock-cut ditch that defined the knoll, cutting it off from the surrounding hillside. The V-shaped ditch was found to be 9.25m wide and 2m deep, and its construction is believed to be contemporary with the cist burial, creating a large prehistoric burial monument from what was effectively a natural spur of land.