Abernethy – A Round Tower and a Village in Old Photographs
Abernethy is a small Perthshire village with a round stone tower at its centre, thought to be mostly the work of monks in the 11th century.
The village museum has made a walk of ten stops round the streets, each told in old photographs. The walk is a short one.
- Time
- Ten stops round a small village.
- The path
- Village streets and lanes. Dead's Lane is a short gravel road.
- Where to start
- On the street in the middle of Abernethy, near the round tower; there's a small car park in the village too. The walk starts at the Museum of Abernethy on School Wynd, PH2 9JJ.
- When to go
- All year: the walk is outdoors. From November the light goes by late afternoon.
- Children
- A round tower with a clock, and old photographs to match to the street.
- Before you set out
- The Museum of Abernethy opens on the first Saturday in May, then every Wednesday to Sunday from 1pm to 4pm until the last Sunday of September. The key for climbing the round tower is kept at the museum.
The walk
Park on the street in the middle of the village, near the round tower. The walk starts at the Museum of Abernethy on School Wynd, once the stables and byre of the house next door. The museum keeps a summer season, but its Village Walk is on its website all year: ten stops, each with old photographs to hold up against the street as it is now.
The round tower is the one to linger at. Scotland has only one other like it, at Brechin. Most of it is thought to be the work of the Culdee monks in the 11th century, and it has a Pictish symbol stone at its foot and iron jougs on its wall, once used to hold wrongdoers for punishment.
Other stops tell smaller stories. At Tootie Corner the cowherd blew a horn to gather the village's cattle. Kirk Wynd has the last marriage stone, over a blocked doorway, and Dead's Lane is the short gravel road to the graveyard gate.
If it rains
A short village walk on streets and lanes, easily fitted between showers.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.