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Earthquake House

One of Comrie's nicknames was the 'Shakey Toun', due to it lying on the Highland Boundary Fault and experiencing earth tremors for many centuries. These were first recorded in 1597 and a major series of 70 shocks were noted in 1789. Admission: FREE to the site.

In the late 1800s a local writer, commenting upon an argument at a public meeting in Crieff, observed that 'there was a row upstairs like an old-fashioned Comrie earthquake. I say old-fashioned, because nowadays these commotions do nothing but spill the contents of inkwells - a very mild row at best!' Mild or not, the world's first seismometers were set up in Comrie in 1840 on the site of Brough and Macpherson's - and a more sophisticated recording station was erected in a field in The Ross in 1869. Recently refurbished, Earthquake House is well worth a visit.

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