Perthshire

Alyth

An old market town at the foot of the hills north of Meigle, with the Alyth Burn running through it, a packhorse bridge of the 1500s and the ruined Arches of its first church.

Welcome

Five miles east of Blairgowrie, where the hills begin to rise above the flat farmland of Strathmore, Alyth is an old market town with roots going back to at least the 11th century.

The Alyth Burn runs right through its middle, between stone walls and under little footbridges, and the town has grown up along both banks.

Its oldest crossing is the packhorse bridge, a narrow arch of stone built to carry horses laden with panniers over the burn, shown on maps by 1600 and believed to be older still. It can still be walked across into the old part of the town. At the top of the hill, in the kirkyard, stand the Arches, the ruined arcade of the church first built here in the 1200s, looking out over the rooftops. A small museum opens in the summer months.

Alyth makes a good base for walks up the den above the town and out to the Reekie Linn on the River Isla.

Close byDen o' AlythA woodland walk through the den above the town.2 min by roadSee it

The Alyth Burn rushing over stones between autumn beeches in the Den o' Alyth.

Before you go

The town can be walked at any time.

The packhorse bridge crosses the Alyth Burn into the old town, and the Arches stand in the kirkyard at the top of the hill; the town's small museum opens in summer.

Where: Alyth, five miles east of Blairgowrie.
To see: The packhorse bridge, the burn and its footbridges, and the Arches of the old church.

Where it is

Five miles east of Blairgowrie, at the foot of the hills above Strathmore.

Close byAlyth and the Isla.