Universalis

Tuesday 16 August 2011

Kenmore Kirk - 1

OK - perhaps The Queen does not worship here, but it is a real gem!



Kenmore is an extremely attractive planned village situated some 6 miles west of Aberfeldy on the A827. Its site is on what amounts to a promontory projecting into the eastern end of Loch Tay, and it has the loch to its south and west, and the River Tay to its north.

Kenmore as you see it today was built as a planned estate village by the Earl of Breadalbane in the years following 1755. It stood on the site of an earlier village which in medieval times may have been known as Inchadnie. Another account suggests that Inchadnie was actually a distinct village which until 1550 stood beside a ford over the River Tay a little to the east. It was then removed to make way for the construction of the principle seat of the Campbells of Breadalbane, Balloch Castle, the predecessor of Taymouth Castle.

At the heart of Kenmore is "The Square", an extremely broad east west street lined with strikingly attractive (mainly) white harled buildings. The most imposing of these is the Kenmore Hotel, on the north side of the Square. This claims to be Scotland's oldest inn and carries a date of 1572. On one of the walls is a poem written, actually onto the plaster of the wall itself, by Robert Burns during a visit in 1787. The Kenmore Hotel oozes character with distinctive rooms and a striking front entrance supported by black painted tree trunks. At the end of the row of cottages on the opposite side is the village shop and post office.

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