Crieff is the second largest town in Perthshire, after Perth itself. It is wrapped around the slopes of the Knock of Crieff as they descend to meet the River Earn in its valley to the the south west. The High Street tends to follow the line of the hillside with intersecting roads either rising or descending from it.
Crieff was already well established as a town by the time the River Earn was bridged here in about 1690. The following year it became the site of Scotland's first public lending library.
The town's growth and wealth stemmed directly from its excellent communication links both to the Highlands and the Lowlands. By 1700 vast herds of highland cattle from across northern and western Scotland were driven along the traditional drove roads to the trysts, or cattle markets, at Crieff. Each year up to 30,000 cattle arrived on foot for sale in the town, and Crieff gained a reputation for wildness as Highland drovers far from home enjoyed the fruits of their efforts after the sales.
There were setbacks in 1716 and 1745 when successive generations of Jacobites attacked Crieff but overall the 18th Century saw continued growth in the wealth and the size of the town.
General Wade's military road-building efforts of the 1730s placed Crieff on the main route from Stirling to Perth, and provided a much better all weather route north to Aberfeldy and beyond.
In 1775, Glenturret distillery in Glen Turret, a little to the north of the town, was licensed. And although it was closed between 1923 and 1957 the distillery now has a visitor centre offering tours and tastings. Glenturret advertises itself as "Scotland's oldest distillery", taking the word "legal" for granted: there were certainly stills in the Highlands before 1775, though it is doubtful many had quite such a pleasing product or such a beautiful location.
By the 1770s cattle tended to head to markets in Falkirk rather than Crieff, leaving Crieff increasingly as a resort. It was popular with the rich and famous of the day, who wanted to take advantage of the town's attractive scenery and south facing slopes.
The railway arrived in Crieff in 1857, by which time Morrison's Academy had been set up in the town. Today the school occupies an attractive site just uphill from the High Street.
Today's Crieff is a far cry from the frontier town it was in the days of the cattle droves. Modern visitors find a bustling and prosperous town offering a wide variety of accommodation, shopping and other facilities: plus its long standing advantage of a central location equally well placed for Highland and Lowland destinations.
