Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Tibbermore

Tibbermore, a parish of Perthshire, containing Almondbank station, Huntingtower and Ruthvenfield. village, and a small portion of the parliamentary burgh of Perth. It is bounded N by Methven and Redgorton, E by Scone and Perth, S by Aberdalgie and Forteviot, and W by Findo-Gask. Its utmost length, from ENE. to WSW, is 61/8 miles; its breadth varies between 6½ furlongs and 2½ miles; and its area is 6170 acres, of which 30 are water. The Almond winds 25/8 miles east-north-eastward along all the Redgorton border, till it falls into. the Tay, which itself flows ¼ mile south-eastward along all the boundary with Scone. Beside the Almond the surface declines to less than 50 feet above sea-level; and thence it rises to 223 feet near Hillyland, 257 near Hill of Ruthven, and 467 near the Forteviot border. Thus, without being hilly, the parish is considerably diversified. In the western district it descends in a gentle slope to the N, and terminates in a narrow tract of level ground; and in the eastern district it in general lies somewhat high above the Almond, and then, going down in a steep descent, forms a delightful plain along the margin of the stream. The district is in general fertile; and to a large extent, especially on the E and S, is beautified with wood. The arable grounds, comprising nine-tenths of the entire area, have a various. soil-a sandy loam along the Almond, an argillaceous earth toward Perth, and a reclaimed substratum of moss in many parts of the W. Old Red Sandstane is the prevailing rock, and has been largely quarried. At Letham, 2 miles WNW of Perth, a new mansion was built about 1880. The chief objects of antiquity and the chief manufactures have been noticed under Huntingtower. Tibbermore or Tippermuir, though containing less of the battlefield than Aberdalgie, has given name to the first battle fought between the Marquis of Montrose and the Covenanters (1 Sept. 1644)-a battle in which the latter confronted 1700 Highlanders and Irishmen with 6000 foot and 600 horse, but were completely vanquished, and suffered a loss of 2000 slain and 2000 captured. Tibbermore was the residence of several of the bishops of Dunkeld, particularly of Bishops Geoffrey and Sinclair, who died in 1249 and 1337. Bishop Sinclair is noted in history for an exploit against the English in the reign of Robert Bruce. The earliest parish church of Tibbermore was originally a chapel dedicated to St Serf or Servanus, and situated on the N side of the Almond, within the present boundaries of Redgorton. At Tullilum, in the E end of Tibbermore, anciently stood a convent of Carmelites; and beside it Richard Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, built, in 1262, a chapel and a house. Here the synods of Dunkeld diocese were held till 1460, when they were removed by Bishop Thomas Lauder to his own cathedral. Alexander Young was the last prior of the convent; and, on his embracing the Protestant religion at the Reformation, he became minister of Tibbermore. The name Tibbermore signifies 'a great well,' and probably alludes to a perennial spring which issued from behind the church, and was long known by the name of the 'Lady Well,' but which, not long before 1843, was destroyed by the draining of the adjacent field. The father of Principal Tulloch was minister from 1833 to 1844. The Earl of Kinnoull owns about three-fifths of the parish, 5 lesser proprietors holding each an annual value of £500 and upwards, and 7 of between £100 and £500. Giving off a small portion to quoad sacra parish of St Leonard, Tibbermore is in the presbytery of Perth and the synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £304. The parish church, 2 miles SW of Almondbank station, is a pre-Reformation building; and the dates 1632 and 1808 on the belfry- which is a curious structure, much admired by some ecclesiologists-are those of repairs, and not of its erection. As enlarged by a N aisle in 1810, it contains 600 sittings. Two public schools, Ruthvenfield and Tibbermore, with respective accommodation for 218 and 153 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 74 and 65, and grants of £61, 18s. and £57, 17s. 6d. Valuation (1865) £9810, (1885) £11,617, 17s. 11d. Pop. (1801) 1306, (1831) 1223, (1841) 1651, (1861) 1296, (1871) 1563, (1881) 1883, of whom 752 were in the parliamentary burgh of Perth, and 1832 in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868.


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Tibbermore ScoP       Perthshire ScoCnty
Place: Tibbermore

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