Auchterarder, Perthshire
Auchterarder
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 Auchterarder High Street in the sunshine: Star Hotel, Post Office and Town Hall |
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 Auchterarder
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| Auchterarder shown within Perth and Kinross | |
| Population |
3,945 (2001 census) |
| OS grid reference | NN945125 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | AUCHTERARDER |
| Postcode district | PH3 |
| Dialling code | 01764 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
3,945 (2001 census)
Auchterarder (/ɒxtəˈrɑːrdər/ (
listen); Scottish Gaelic: Uachdar Àrdair, meaning Upper Highland) is a small town located north of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, and home to the famous Gleneagles Hotel. The 1.5-mile-long High Street of Auchterarder gave the town its popular name of "The Lang Toun" or Long Town.
The modern town is a popular shopping destination with a wide variety of independent shops and cafes.
In the Middle Ages, Auchterarder was known in Europe as 'the town of 100 drawbridges', a colourful description of the narrow bridges leading from the road level across wide gutters to the doorsteps of houses. The name appears in a charter of 1227 in a grant of land transaction to the Convent of Inchaffray The Jacobite Earl of Mar's army torched the town in 1716, but it quickly rose to prominence again thanks mainly to the handloom industry.
In 1717, a controversy over the selection of a parish minister, following the recent passing of the Veto Act, allowed the parishioners of Auchterarder to reject the chosen minister, Rev Robert Young. Whilst this might have ended with the selection of an alternative, Young took the issue to the High Court. The court's decision concluded a link between state and church, directly contradicting the church's own view, and causing the first in a chain of events which would ultimately lead to the 1843 schism in the Church of Scotland. The remains of this church – the tower – have recently been renovated, and there is a plaque explaining what the church used to look like. As a result of the troubles of 1834, Auchterarder became one of the first towns in Scotland to build its own independent Free Church, indeed appearing to pre-empt the Disruption by commissioning the architect David Cousin to design their church in advance, such that it was completed in 1843 as soon as the Free Church formally came into existence.
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Wikipedia