Muirton of Ardblair
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- c1500 Muirton Of Ardblair
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Muirton of Ardblair
‘Shame on those who remain unmoved, whose pace fails to quicken, on entering one of these old habitations’
Once a thriving community, the cottages were built and inhabited by generations of tenant farmers, Muirton of Ardblair was allowed to fall into decline and little now remains.
Muirton of Ardblair or The Muirton as it is known was a small hamlet or township of some twenty dwellings on the outskirts of Blairgowrie,which may have dated back to the Medieval period.
Once a thriving community, the cottages were built and inhabited by generations of tenant farmers, flax growers and flax spinners and weavers. They had earthen or clay floors and thatched roofs; there was no running water or electricity until the 1950s. Weaving supplemented crop growing, mainly turnips,oats and potatoes.
Life at The Muirton would have been tough, yet it was seen as an idyllic place by artists and photographers. Ewan Geddes, a local artist ‘found artistically all his soul longed for’ there.
Sadly, Muirton of Ardblair was allowed to fall into decline and little now remains. Perhaps, today there may have been an attempt to preserve the township as at Auchindrain in Argyll. The artists and photographers captured a way of life that, like The Muirton itself, has disappeared for ever.
From October to December 2022 Perth Museum and Art Gallery staged an exhibition entitled ‘A Lost Community: Muirton of Ardblair’ after acquiring a collection of rare photographic prints dating from 1893.
For further information, see:
‘Muirton of Ardblair:The Lost Village and the Artists who keep the Memory Alive’ by Margaret Laing.
‘A Lost Community: Muirton of Ardblair’. video by Culture Perth and Kinross.