The village of Birnam is of modern growth, owing its existence, as has been shown, to the policy which placed the Railway Station for Dunkeld on the opposite side of the river and the distance of a mile from the ancient city. Prior to that date, there were several small hamlets, such as Easter, Middle and Wester Inshewan, and a small thatched cottage, Birnam Inn, on the route from Easter Ferry, was the forerunner of the palatial pile known as "The Birnam." In the immediate vicinity of the Station are rows of substantial houses, elegant villas, an Institute with Reading Rooms and hall, and fine mansions standing in their own grounds. Yet, although the village itself is but of yesterday, it is the centre of much that is interesting to historian and antiquarian alike. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, a picturesque building, stands on the site of one of the ancient Crosses, where pilgrims knelt in prayer when they first espied the object of their veneration, Dunkeld Cathedral.

A charming path through a wood leads to the Terrace by the Tay, near Birnam Hotel, where rise two majestic trees, an oak and a plane or sycamore, sole relics of the famous Royal Forest of Birnam. The circumference of both in 1908 at three feet from the ground, was over 21 feet. They are carefully preserved and propped.

On Birnam Hill also are many objects of interest to those versed in antiquarian lore.

The name Birnam gives rise to diversity of opinion. One Gaelic scholar derived it from two Gaelic words—mam, meaning a rounded hill, and bir, qualifying the adjective "round," as the hill is more peaked than round. Another connects the name with Braun, the hill standing at the termination of Strathbraan. In old charters it was termed Branen or Brannan, then Byrnane (Shakespeare used this spelling). A charter, dated 1644, uses "Birnan", not until the 18th century is the modern spelling introduced.

The Royal Forest, which includes Birnam Hill, was gifted in 1160 by Malcolm, the Maiden, to Duncan, Earl of Fife, on his marriage with Princess Ada, the King’s niece. This Duncan was a descendant of that MacDuff who accompanied Malcolm Canmohr on his march to oust the victorious usurper, Macbeth. The Forest was afterwards united to the Barony of Dunkeld by Bishop Brown, who bought it, along with the wood and lands of Logy, from King James IV., paying forty shillings a year. In 1611, it passed into the possession of the Abererombies of Murthly, the deed of sale mentioning that the turf for thatching the Cathedral and the residence of the Bishops was dug on the hill of Birnam.

Beautiful as this hill is, with its belts of graceful birches and green tasselled larches, its patches of purple heather and green blaeberry knolls, its huge precipitous rocks and gentle slopes with magnificent prospects, it does not owe its world-wide fame to beauty or prominence of situation. It has been rendered classical by Shakespeare’s immortal pen.

Every reader knows the story of Macbeth and great Birnam Wood.

Duncan, "gentle king," whose assassination by his general Macbeth, forms part of the play, was a son of Crinan, the lay Abbot of Dunkeld. On the east slope of Birnam the site of his camp is visible, while on the west side of the rock is a shelf locally termed King Duncan’s Bed. The crag at which he pitched his camp was pre-eminently suitable for his purpose. It is one of the last spurs of the Grampians, and commands the Howe of Strathmore, looking across to Dunsinane on the Sidlaw range. The huge bulk of Birnam Hill protects it to the north; in the plain below an occasional glimpse of the silvery Tay flashes in the sunlight. Seventeen years after King Duncan’s assassination by Macbeth, Duncan’s son Malcolm marched from Stirling on to Crieff, thence through the Sma’ Glen, until Duncan’s Camp was reached, their resting place for the night. Various reasons are cited for the subsequent adornment of Malcolm’s army with branches from Birnam Wood. Shakespeare has it

"Let every soldier hew him down a bough

And bear’t before him; thereby shall we shadow

The numbers of our host and make discovery

Err in report of us."

An old chronicler, Andrew Wyntoun, has thrown out another reason; he infers that the army knew the witches’ prophecy that Macbeth would be safe from injury until Birnarn Wood should come to Dunsinane. To quote his quaint description:

"Syne yai herd, yet Makbeth aye

In fantom-Fretis had gret Fay,

And trowth had in swylk Fantasy

Be yat he trowed stedfastly.

Nevyrn dyscumfit for to be

Intill wyth hys eyne he suld see,

De Wode browcht of Byrnane

To ye hill of Dwynsynane."

And so

"Of yat wode ilka man

Intil hys hand a busk tuk yan."

Be the reason of their adornment what it may, Macbeth’s courage fled when from the battlements of Dunsinane, he saw a host appear armed with leafy screens, "And Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane."

Duncan’s Camp, along with the ruins of Rohallion Castle and the Cup-Marked Rocks, all situated on Birnam Hill, in the Murthly estate, form the subject of a paper by Mr Thos. MacLaren, Perth, to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and from it the following extracts are taken - "Near the top of an eminence called Duncan’s Hill, 658 feet above sea-level, are the remains of a fort called Duncan’s Camp..... Duncan’s Hill commands a striking view of the plan of Strathmore. The Camp is roughly oval in plan. Its main access, running north and south, is 80 yards in length. Along the south-western side the boundary of the Camp follows the edge of a precipitous cliff. The other sides are steeply sloped, except at the north end, where there are artificial defences. . . . The south end of the Camp is the only part that is comparatively flat. . . . Stone walls were built by the late Sir William Drummond Stewart of Murthly about 1867, so that the position of the Camp ‘might form a more striking object in the landscape."

Cup-Marked Rocks

The eastern shoulder of Birnam Hill, south of the Slate Quarries, is named on the Ordnance Survey Map, Craig Ruenshin; slightly over 800 feet. . . . On the upper surface of a large bench of undisturbed rock which slopes slightly towards the west is a group of twenty Cup-Marks, most of which are well-formed and deeply cut. The space occupied by these scripturings measures 4 feet 8 inches by 4 feet 6 inches. The two largest Cup-marks are 3 1/2 inches in diameter and one of them is 1 3/4 inches in depth; the others range in size down to 1 1/4 inches in diameter. There are slight evidences of rings round three of the cups, the largest about 7 1/2 inches in diameter. Immediately to the south of this outcrop is a large block. On the top of this detached mass are three cup-marks . . . on the south face also there is a slight hollow resembling another cup-mark."

Rohallion Castle

About 30 feet below the top of Craig Ruenshin are the ruins of an old fortalice. . . Rohallian Castle. It lies in a hollow completely dominated by a rocky eminence. It consists of a central block, oblong in plan with round towers at two diagonally opposite corners and a series of outer defences. . . . The walls, which are not more than 4 feet in height above the ground, measure from 3 ft. to 4 ft. 6 in. in thickness.

Dr. Win. Marshall, in "Historic Scenes in Perthshire," states that Rohallion is called in Gaelic "Forhaillon." According to the same authority, the last time this building was occupied was during the period following the Reformation in Scotland, and it was also a hiding place of William, fourth Lord Ruthven, after the daring adventure of the Raid of Ruthven in 1582.

Between the cup-marked rocks and Rohallion Castle is a rectangular foundation with rounded corners, 40 ft. by 19ft, enclosing a mound, composed of earth and stones. No evidence of similar formations could be traced in the vicinity.

A green rounded eminence 360 yards from Duncan’s Camp is the Court Hill, where Courts were held for the transaction of civil and criminal business. The place of execution was half-a-mile below, and not far off is the place in Roch-in-Roy Wood where the condemned were buried, heaps of stones marking the spot. An oak tree in the vicinity is yet known as Ha.ng’d Men’s Tree," and varying tales are told of the why and wherefore of its name. It is a neighbourhood with no canny history. Near is Honghmanstares, a spot once so desolate that in Notes to the "Fair Maid of Perth," its eeriness is spoken of as " indescribable." Its appearance is now greatly improved by drainage, and the small chain of miniature lakes as the Perth road enters Birnam Pass make a very pretty bit of scenery, the modem Rohallion House being quite near. The skirmish which gave its name to Honghmanstares is alluded to in the "Fair Maid of Perth." The haughty Earl of Douglas boasts to King Robert of his achievement, "When I was entrusted with the lieutenancy of the kingdom, there were some of these wild clans came down from the Grampians. I troubled not the Council about the matter, but made the Sheriff, Lord Ruthven, get to horse with the forces of the Carse. . . . When it was steel coat to frieze mantle, the thieves knew what lances were good for.

There were some three hundred of their best bonnets, besides that of their chief, Donald Cormac, left on the Moor of Thorn and in Rochinroy Wood, and as many were gibbeted at Honghman Staires which has still the name from the Hangman work that was done there."

But all, with wide-open eyes, were left staring up into the sky.

There arc other versions of the story.

It is said that several Highlanders had killed a Perth

citizen and the burgesses flew to arms,

"And do pursue them unto Honghmanstares,

In memory of the fight it hath the name,

For many men lay there, some dead, some lame."

—From Adamson’s "Muses Threnodie."

Any allusion to this place was a sore subject to the Celt afterwards, as shown by the words of Hal o’ the Wynd when desirous of insulting his Highland visitor, "I whistle at my work whatever comes uppermost and commonly it is the Highlandman ‘s `Och hone for Honghmanstares' which tune had the same effect as whistling `Boyne Water' to an Irishman."

But Birnam has other attractions besides those of historic interest. The walks are numerous and beautiful; many beauty spots have been transferred to canvas by various artists, the chief of whom was Sir John Everett Millais, P.R.A., who resided at various mansions in or near Birnam and introduced their views into his pictures. The rugged shoulder of Birnam Hill figures in one, "Gathering Fuel," Murthlv Castle in "Christmas Eve," and many others. There is the Terrace Walk, shaded and romantic, beside the Tay; there is Birnam Glen, following the course of the prattling Burn past the Falls, until the Moor and lakelet of Tomgarrow burst into view; and Balhomish, beyond which through the heather is Glengarr, a miniature glen in length, but with all the magic of solitude, rocky heights, and stream far below the narrow path. And last of all there is Birnam Hill, 1324 feet high, towering over the village at its feet, familiar name to every reader of the world’s greatest dramatist.

General Stewart, of Garth, in his "Highland Sketches," observes "Birnam Hill at the entrance into Atholl, has formed the boundary between the Lowlands and Highlands and between the Saxon and Gaelic languages. On the southern and eastern sides of the hill, breeches are worn, and the Scotch Lowland dialect spoken, with as broad an accent as in Mid-Lothian. On the northern and western sides are found the Gaelic, the kilt and the plaid, with all the peculiarities of the Highland character. The Gaelic is universal, as the common dialect in use among the people on the Highland side of the boundary."

As in other cases and places, these remarks are scarcely applicable to the present day.

The hill is not difficult to climb if the path near the Station is followed, and the view from the top is almost unequalled in its panoramic and picturesque beauty.

The huge Bens of the rugged Grampians are here seen sinking down to the wide fertile plains of Strathmore.

As Stewart, the shoemaker poet, says—

"Here let me pause on classic Birnam’s brow

To look around—land of the freeborn Gael—

Schiehallion, Ben-e-Vrackie, Ben-e-Gloe,

Mountain o’er mountain, rising from the vale,

Before me now, in rugged wildness, gleam

The blue hills of the North and Scotland’s noblest stream."

On reading the descriptive poem, "Birnam," in which the above occurs, written more than a hundred years ago, there is evidence that Birnam Hill has greatly changed in character since then. The poet speaks of "Communing with the eagle and the roe," also tells that "he who on rocky pinnacle shall stand, shall hear the eagle to the eaglets call.’ Seldom now is the roe seen, the eagle never.

In a poem on "The Tay," a second writer harps on the same idea—

"On Birnam’s side the light-brown doe,

Is grazing by the mossy spring."

In the latter, allusion is also made to the Royal Forest of old and the two trees by the Tay.

"Huge Birnam towers above the tide

All bright with morning’s golden glow,

But scarce a tree adorns his side

Where forests waved long, long ago.

None, none of all thy forest throng

Save yon twin brothers by the tide

Lives but in tale and poet’s song.

And well it is they have not died,

For fair and stately do they prove

Was ancient Birnam’s living grove."

—Millar.

At that time of writing, Birnam Hill was devoid of trees, but clad with heather from top to base. Since then trees have sprung up, but some who remember the glorious expanse of purple presented in August, regret the change.

Dunkeld an Ancient City
Elizabeth Stewart
Dunkeld, 1926

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