Place:Glenshee, Perthshire, Scotland

Watchers
NameGlenshee
Alt namesGlen Shee
TypeHistorical region
Coordinates56.8°N 3.433°W
Located inPerthshire, Scotland     ( - 1975)
Also located inTayside, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Perth and Kinross, Scotland     (1996 - )
source: Family History Library Catalog
the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Glen Shee (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Sith) is a glen in eastern Perthshire, Scotland through which flows the Shee Water. The Spittal of Glenshee, where Glen Beag and Glen Lochsie meet, marks the head of the glen in the north. It then runs south-east to Bridge of Cally where it merges with Strathardle to form Glen Ericht. Once known as the "glen of the fairies" it takes its name from the Gaelic "sith" meaning fairy. The old meeting place at the standing stone behind the present day church is called Dun Shith or Hill of the Fairies.

The main settlement is the Spittal of Glenshee, now by-passed by the main road, where there is an historic hotel, first run by monks from Coupar Angus Abbey to provide shelter and hospitality for travellers, hence the name "Spittal". The settlement now includes an outdoor activity centre, self-catering lodges, the church and an original General Wade humpback bridge. The first record of a refuge for travellers there dates back to 961 AD. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1959, and was rebuilt to a Scandinavian design. It now caters for coach parties and individual guests.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Glen Shee.

Research Tips

Notes for Perthshire

Family history societies and historical associations covering Perthshire are:

All of these associations publish their aims on their websites as well as a list of publications. In many cases the publications are also available through the Scottish Genealogy Society (see below).

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

  • Scotland's People This is a pay website providing vital statistics and census data for all of Scotland with original images. There is a description at Scotland under Genealogical Resources.
  • See the publications lists of the above Family History Societies.
  • The FreeCen Project for Perthshire has a searchable (not browsable) transcription of the major part of Perthshire for 1841 and 1851. The Scotland FreeCen page states that some work has also been done on 1861.

Transcriptions of Gravestone Inscriptions

  • The Scottish Genealogy Society provides a series of monumental inscriptions either in print in booklet form or on CD. Most of these were prepared by John Fowler Mitchell and Sheila Mitchell and published 1967. A new edition has been printed, with corrections, as a 4 volume set.
  • GENUKI has further details

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

  • GENUKI article on Perthshire. This was last updated in February 2014.
  • The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the the county of Perthshire. The tabs on the right provide more information, and a map of the parish within its surrounding area, with small settlements highlighted and linked to more information.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki article on Perthshire provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the county.
  • The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.
  • The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.
  • Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Glenshee. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.