History

FOWLIS WESTER HAS ITS PLACE IN HISTORY

Farming communities have been working this land from earliest times. Standing Stones are seen around Fowlis Wester and throughout Strathearn. The most famous Bronze Age site is on the moor above the village. There is a large standing stone and a partially destroyed stone circle. Between them there is a kerb cairn of an unusual type. On the druidical festival of Hallowes Eve it was customary to kindle a large bonfire called Samhin or the Fire of Peace - a custom which has been repeated in recent times. Settlement forts, really well defended farmsteads, represent the Iron Age. There is one at Milquhanzie Hill and one buried near the Cultoquhey Hotel. For a brief three years Fowlis Wester was included within the area garrisoned by the Roman army. The Governor, Agricola, established a chain of forts to guard the mouths of the Highland glens. One of these forts was at Fendoch, about four miles north-west of the village, to guard the south end of the Sma' Glen. Little can now be seen but past excavation and aerial photography have revealed the outline of these military installations.

The first mention of the Picts is in AD297, the name meaning the 'Painted People'. Fowlis is fortunate in having two magnificent examples of Pictish carving. The Cross, previously in the Village Square, dates to the 8th or 9th Century. To preserve it the women used to wash it every year with boiled oil but it nevertheless became badly weathered. To protect it it was moved into the Church in 1992. The second cross in the Church was found buried in one of the walls when the church was renovated in 1927. The Picts were overtaken by the Scots paving the way for Malcolm Canmore to become the first King of Scotland.

Fairs were anciently sanctioned by the Church and derived their name from some saint. Fowlis Wester held its St Beanus Fair on 26th October. A 'Fee-ing Market' (Hiring), famous throughout Perthshire was also held by the farm owners every year.

The area was well known for its cattle trysts and Fowlis Wester had its own though Crieff was larger and the 'Drovers Tryst' is still held every year - without the cattle! Imagine the scene of Highland drovers, not noted for their manners, mounted on small shaggy ponies bringing approximately thirty thousand cattle in different herds from all over Scotland, meeting up near Fowlis and overspreading the adjacent country for miles around. The Earl of Perth was entitled to grazing dues of twopence per beast. When English dealers wanted a market further South Falkirk took the ascendancy. Perhaps there is regret that cattle dealers drovers, auctioneers, gamblers, bankers, ballad singers and beggars have long since left the scene and there is no clamour now. 

The demise of the tryst was followed the growth of a thriving weaving industry. Traditionally it was the farmer's wife who would have spun the wool from the sheep and followed through by weaving a rough cloth to be turned into garments for her family. In 1686 an Act of Parliament stipulated that everyone had to be buried in linen 'winding sheets' made from materials which had been grown, spun and woven in Scotland. By 1838 the country boasted eighty five thousand looms. Fowlis Wester grew the blue flax it needed in the local fields, retted the stems in its ponds and wove it on many village looms. The 'mort cloth' (which covered the coffin) produced in Fowlis Wester was of a very high quality. To quote from ‘Preacher Pastor Poet’ written by the Revd Thomas Hardy, minister of Fowlis Wester from 1852 to 1910 - " From almost every house in the little village that nestles round our old kirk here, and in many a now vanished hamlet not far away, the music of the shuttle with its busy rapid click could be heard from early morn on to late, late night as in skilled and practised hands the shuttle did its faithful work by its each swift passage to and fro."

Fowlis Wester was a thriving community having its own tailor, shoemaker, two joiners, two blacksmiths, a carrier and a cooper. Two grocery shops and three general merchants supplied the needs of the community. The main road coach went through the village and the old coaching inn was a popular stopping place when all the latest happenings were discussed with great relish over a glass of ale. Apart from some buildings, most of which are private residences, little of this remains. The Old Inn, closed in 1922. The National Trust took it over and after restoration work was carried out the building was sold. The building to the west of the Church was originally stables built by Abercairney Estate for the convenience of the Drummond-Moray family when at church services. The School, on the South side of the Square, with only eleven pupils on the roll, closed in June 1983. It is now used by a private educational unit. The School House is on the North side so that the teacher had a very short walk to work. The Old Post Office is now a house but the Gilbert Scott red telephone box is still in use.

The prefix 'pit' means 'farmstead' with local examples at Pitmonie and Pitlandie. The house, Pitmonie, at one time was known locally as 'The Smuggler's Den'. Tradition had it that supplies of illicit whisky from the glens were deposited there for distribution throughout Strathearn.