Perth, Perthshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Perth. You may be able to find further references to Perth in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Perth ancient city Bartholomew
Perth Groome
Perth, District of one of the districts into which Perthshire was divided by Act of Parliament Groome

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Perth within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 1: Fife and Perth 13
Thomas Pennant July 24-31: Fife and Perthshire 11
William Camden Scotland: North of the Antonine Wall 5
James Boswell August 24th to 26th, 1773: Aberdeen to Forres 2
Daniel Defoe Letter 13, Part 2: Dundee, Aberdeen and the Highlands 2
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 2
John Wesley 1765-8: Justice for Methodists; Methodist Character; Instructions to Parents 1
Thomas Pennant August 7-13: Aberdeen and the North East 1
Thomas Pennant August 14-18: Inverness and the Black Isle 1
Thomas Pennant August 30-September 5: The Great Glen and Argyll 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix II: Of Elgin and the Shire of Murray 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix III: The Life of James Crichton of Clunie 1
Thomas Pennant Appendix VIII: Itinerary 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Bridgend 0 2
Scone 19 2
Kinnoull 1 2
Bertha 1 2
Moncreiffe 1 2
Huntingtower 1 2
Dunbarney 0 2
Aberdalgie 0 2
Rhynd 0 2
Kinfauns 0 2
Bridge of Earn 1 3
Almondbank 0 2
Redgorton 0 2
Forgandenny 0 2
Pitkeathly 0 3
Balthayock 0 2
Pitcairngreen 0 2
Tibbermore 0 2
Luncarty 3 2
Dupplin 9 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Perth. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
BAR TATHA F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
PERTH John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
PERTH DISTRICT OF F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
SAINT JOHNS TOWNE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
ST JOHNSTON Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ST JOHNSTONS Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
ST JOHNS TOWN Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.