VISIT BREADALBANE

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Cradle of Scotland

It was here in Breadalbane that Scotland was born, or at least conceived, when St Fillan joined the Gaels and Picts in Christianity. He paved the way for a united Scotland. Begin your journey into Breadalbane’s cultural roots at the Breadalbane Folklore Centre in Killin. It is housed in a watermill on the spot where 1300 years ago St Fillan built a meal mill.

The earliest settlers in the area were Mesolithic hunter–gatherers, who left barely a trace. Neolithic settlers shaped stone axes on an industrial scale on the slopes of Ben Lawers. These axes have turned up as far away as the south of England. Bronze Age dwellers carved cup and ring designs on scattered rocks throughout the glens. Next came the Celts, who built hill forts and crannogs (lake dwellings).

In the Middle Ages many different clans lived here. They included the Fergussons, the McNeishes, the MacNabs, the MacGregors and the Menzies. By the 16th century the Campbells had come to dominate the area with castles in Glen Dochart and by Loch Tay and Loch Earn.

After the turmoil of the Jacobite Rebellions, the arrival of roads, railways and steamboats brought new visitors. Many were day-trippers from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Others came to stay at the many fine hotels and lodges that sprang up by the lochs.

One of the most recent influxes to change the landscape was the arrival of the men who built hydroelectric schemes in the hills in the 1950s. Underground tunnels link lochs and rivers and bring power to homes throughout central Scotland.