The village lies 3 miles (5 kilometres) south of Crieff, just west of the former railway line connecting Crieff with Gleneagles.
Muthill Parish Church
History
The ancient village was once an important religious centre and the site of a Celí Dé monastery in the 12th century.[2] The church here also served for a time as a seat of the Bishops of Strathearn (later Dunblane) before the building of the cathedral at Dunblane in the 13th century.
Ruined medieval Church at Muthill
The village was largely destroyed in the 1715–1716 Jacobite rising, by Jacobite troops retreating after their defeat at the Battle of Sheriffmuir, before being rebuilt in the 1740s as it lay on the route of General Wade's military road through Strathearn.[3]
One of a pair of massive brass armlets found at Pitkelloney Farm near Muthill and dating from 50 to 200 AD (British Museum)[4]St James Episcopal Church, Muthill
There are around 100 listed buildings in the village, which is designated as a conservation area.[3]
The kirkyard at the centre of the small town contains the ruins of an important 15th-century parish church, which incorporates an 11th-century bell-tower[3] (originally free-standing, and comparable to, though on a smaller scale than, that incorporated into Dunblane Cathedral), built on the orders of Michael Ochiltree, Bishop of Dunblane (in the care of Historic Scotland; no entrance charge). This is almost the only visible reminder of the ancient village. An early Christian cross-slab (perhaps 10th-11th century) and a damaged 13th-century double effigy of an Earl and Countess of Strathearn (formerly within the choir of the church) are preserved within the tower.
St James Episcopal Church dates from 1836 and is designed by R & R Dickson.[5]
.JPG)
