Tour Scotland travel video of a fairly sunny early Winter road trip drive, with Scottish music, and all kinds of Scottish weather, North from Perth on the A9 to visit Blair Atholl on ancestry visit to Highland Perthshire. Blair Castle is now closed for the Winter following the Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions. Atholl or Athole, Scottish Gaelic: Athall; Old Gaelic Athfhotla, is a large historical division in the Scottish Highlands, bordering; Marr, Badenoch, Lochaber, Breadalbane, Strathearn, Perth, and Gowrie. Today it forms the northern part of Perth and Kinross. Atholl was historically a mormaerdom or earldom. The first recorded Earl of Atholl was Matad, Earl of Atholl sometime in the 12th century. In 1703 the title was made a Dukedom by Queen Anne. The right of the Earls of Atholl to hold courts for the area were ended in 1746 by the Heritable Jurisdictions Act. Until the early 19th century the only building on the site of the present village of Blair Atholl was an old Mill. It began to grow around the present parish church, largely as a planned settlement, when this was moved from Old Blair. The building of the main A9 North Road and railway line to Inverness encouraged the growth of the village, though the A9 has bypassed it since the 1980s.
The surname Atholl was first found in Perthshire, Gaelic: Siorrachd Pheairt, former county in the present day Council Area of Perth and Kinross, located in central Scotland, where they were anciently, recorded in the 8th century, seated in their territories. The Pictish influence on Scottish history diminished after Kenneth Macalpine became King of all Scotland. They were said to have been borne of seven sons of the King Cruithne. But those east coast families still played an important role in government and were more accessible to Government than their western highland counterparts. The family name became associated as a sept of the Clan Dukes of Atholl. Allegiances were important to Scottish middle age survival. Later they held a family seat at Glen Garry. Spelling variations of this family name include: Atholl, Athol, Athole, Athetle, Athet and others.
Margaret Atholl went to Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada, as a Scottish emigrant in 1801.
The A9 is a major road running from central Scotland to Scrabster Harbour, Thurso in the far north, via Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Perth and Inverness. At 273 miles, it is the longest road in Scotland and the fifth longest A road in the United Kingdom. Historically it was the main road between Edinburgh and John o' Groats, and has been called the spine of Scotland. Drive with great care and patience on this road as it regularly appears in lists of Scotland's most dangerous roads
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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