Auchtergaven is a Church of Scotland parish located about 8 miles (13 kilometres) North-West of the Scottish city of Perth and 7 miles (11 kilometres) south of Dunkeld. Prior to 1974, Auchtergaven was in the old county of Perthshire, which was replaced by the Tayside region, and then in 1996, became Perth and Kinross Council Area. The red outline on the map below (from the Boundaries Viewer on the National Library of Scotland maps website) shows the parish boundaries c.1840-1880s.
Notably, the 'cut-out' section in the map below, which is shown as Methven, is 'an isolated tract four miles in length, but of very small breadth, called Tullybeagles, belonging to the parish of Methven' but because of its proximity to Auchtergaven and distance from the village of Methven several miles to the South, inhabitants attended the Church in Auchtergaven.1 This is an important detail in tracing the story of William Roy I's family.
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| Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. |
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| Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. |
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| Image reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. |
The village of Auchtergaven is now known as Bankfoot, and other settlements in the parish include Stanley, Waterloo, Tullybelton, Obney and Meikle Obney. In the 2011 Scotland Census, the population of the village of Bankfoot was 1,257.
Bankfoot is a pretty village situated at the base of an elevated ridge, with the old parish church located on the top of the ridge and therefore visible from a distance.
When I was in Scotland in August 2019, en route from the Highlands to Edinburgh we detoured to pay a quick visit to Bankfoot. The village itself mostly dates from the mid-1800s, when the cottages were built on ‘lands leased for that purpose by Mr Wylie’ and were inhabited by people ‘employed in weaving from the manufacturers of the neighbouring towns, and in various trade’.2
The Bankfoot Inn on the village’s main road however was built as a traditional coaching inn in the 1760s. It was a place for travellers on the road to rest and stable their horses for the night. It was closed the day I was there, but I chatted to one of the staff and was able to pop my head in. I'd love to come back and stay at the Inn, which is now a family-run small hotel with two bars and a restaurant.
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| Bankfoot Inn, August 2019. Picture: Alison Dennison |
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| Interior of Bankfoot Inn, August 2019. Picture: Alison Dennison |
The 19th Century Auchtergaven Parish Church (seen in photos below) was located on the top of hill alongside the village’s main street. In February 2004, a fierce fire ripped through the building and it was destroyed. Remnants of the church ruins remain, surrounded by the graveyard, but the tower is to be demolished due to stability and safety concerns and as a result, access to the graveyard is currently (January 2022) restricted.3
This version of the church was built around 1812/1813 in sandstone in a Gothic Style with a pitch-pine ceiling.4 There were previous churches on the same site, with the 1796 Statistical Report describing the existing church at that time as being 'in very bad disrepair'.5
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| Ruins of Auchtergaven and Moneydie Parish Church and surrounding graveyard, August 2019. Picture: Alison Dennison |
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| Ruins of Auchtergaven and Moneydie Parish Church, August 2019. Picture: Alison Dennison |
It is very likely that William Roy I and Margaret Campbell and their children attended this church while they lived in Bankfoot.
Confused about where these characters fit into the family tree? Or where this action is occurring? You can always check The Family Tree and Map pages for visual clues.
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