Amulree and Strathbraan Parish Church

It was a glorious spring day and we set off to walk to a place we had passed hundreds of times and often thought about walking and never had.

We drove to the little hamlet of Amulree, parked beside the hotel which is now closed and togged up for our walk. The original route, along the line of General Wade's military road through Amulree, took a sharp bend over an old bridge which crossed the River Braan. It was strictly one vehicle at a time before the Regional Council decided to replace it with a new bridge on a new, gentler curve of road, thus bypassing the old bridge.

Our walk took us over the old bridge and onto a well kept farm path which is level and easy walking. We had our sights set on reaching Loch Freuchie a lovely small loch which lies in Glen Quaich. The loch was sparkling in the sunshine, the wind kicking up deep ripples. The sheep were contentedly cropping the grass and there was birdsong from the high conifer plantation we passed on our way.

Having walked about two miles we decided to about turn and head back. Ah, the wind was now at our backs! The view looking this way was as attractive as the view on our way out. The pretty little church sat on the knoll, surrounded by some of the beautiful rolling Perthshire hills.

Amulree and Strathbraan Parish church was built in 1743 and remodelled in 1881. The bell was cast in 1519 and is believed to be the work of Willem van den Ghein. An inscription in old Flemish reads, " I was cast in the year of our Lord in 1519".

The church contains copies of the records of the large number of people who stayed in the area prior to mass emigration, mostly to North Easthope in Canada, early in the 19th Century.

Amulree was the junction of three major droves which formed part of the route that Highland drovers would use to bring their livestock to cattle markets at Crieff and Falkirk.