Forteviot being the residence of the first King of Scotland Kenneth MacAlpin. Kenneth I. lived from 810 to 858 and was arguably the first King of the Kingdom of Scotland, which he ruled from 843 to 858. At the time he was referred to as King of the Picts. He was son of King Alpin II of Dalriada and succeeded his father to the crown of Dalriada in 839. This effectively made him King of the Scots, whose territory roughly covered modern-day Argyll. Meanwhile, also in 839, the Picts, who until then had controlled all of Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde except for Argyll suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Vikings. Most of the Pictish nobility was wiped out in the defeat, including King Bridei VI.
Kenneth Mac Alpin had a claim to the Pictish crown through his mother, but his claim was disputed by surviving members of the seven royal houses of the Picts, and Drust X succeeded to the Pictish Crown.
Kenneth defeated the Picts in battle in 841: and squeezed between the Scots on one side and the rampaging Vikings on the other, the Picts agreed to a meeting with MacAlpin at Scone attended by all claimants to the Pictish Crown.. The alcohol flowed freely at the meeting. Then, in what has since been referred to as Mac Alpin's treason, Drust and the Pictish nobles were all killed by the Scots.
Suddenly there was only one claimant for the Pictish Crown, and Kenneth was crowned King of the Picts and the Scots in 843. He was the first King of the house of Alpin, the dynasty named after his father. Kenneth made his capital at Forteviot, a small village 5 miles south west of today's Perth. He also moved the religious focus of his kingdom from Iona to Dunkeld, St Columba's remains moved there in 849, perhaps for safe keeping from the continuing Vikings raids
The Stone taking pride of place in the square
The new bus shelter and information point being built, mostly all the materials being cut from the local forests.
The Village hall built in 1925
Not sure if the doorway was built in the Spanish style but it does look like it
Forteviot Church, the third, was erected in 1778. It was remodelled in the mid-19th century with a Celtic bell dated 900 AD, one of five Scottish bronze bells, it also has Medieval carved stones. The font is from the pre-Reformation church of Muckersie united with Forteviot in 1618.
Braw doors
Scotland was home to nearly 3,800 people accused of witchcraft between 1500s and 1700s, the vast majority of whom were women. In the end, about 1,500 were murdered as a result of witch hunt inquisitions. However, mysteriously, there is no record of a woman named Maggie Wall being tried as a witch. What’s more, no record of the monument itself until 1866,though a forest surrounding the monument called Maggie Walls Wood was documented as of 1829.Some claim that Maggie Wall did exist, her records simply didn’t. Some locals theorize that a member of the Rollos, a powerful family that lived in Duncrub Castle, had an affair with Maggie Wall and built the monument out of guilt. Another theory is that Maggie was a part of a backlash against a group of officials trying to elect a new local minister. The group was attacked by a hoard of women, and some believe Maggie could have been singled out and punished. The accepted theory is that this monument stands as a testament to all the witches murdered in Scotland during the witch hunts as no other such monument exists. Perhaps the name was taken from the surrounding wood to represent the countless and forgotten women who were killed. Occasionally a wreath is laid at the foot of the monument, serving as a reminder of the injustices suffered by the mysterious symbolic witch, Maggie Wall.
Saturday night was supposed to be a quiet night out in Dunkeld having a sit in curry until I spotted Hacko parking his van up and heading for the P.A to play in the Sensational John Langley Band.
The drink going down well
