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| Glenshee |
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Since early times a small group of Campbells lived in the Glen Isla area and they had been given certain forest and land rights by the Abbot of Coupar, Donald Campbell (O.S. Map sheet 43, ref.192646). The land owner, Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, who owned all the surrounding ground, picked a fight to get rid of the Campbells and four were killed in the fight. The remaining Campbells sent a message to the Duke of Argyll, the head of the Clan Campbell, who in response sent one of his chieftains with 500 men to sort out Lord Ogilvy. 
The moral of the story was that it was unwise to upset the Campbells.
There is a large rock surrounded by trees at Finegand which is called the "Cockstane" (O.S. Sheet 43, Ref. 141643). Stories handed down in the Glen through the Centuries have it that when the Clan MacThomas or what was then known as the MacOmish came to the Glen, they built their first settlement at Finegand. One night a cock was heard crowing from the top of the rock. Its cries were so loud that the clan was awakened. It being unheard of for a cock to call at night, it was taken that something was seriously amiss and the call to arms was raised, the men taking up defensive positions. As soon as this was done the cock fell silent. After a while the men were beginning to get restive and think it was all for nothing when strange sounds were heard which were made by armed men approaching and bumping into objects in the dark. It was a raid. The attackers were taken completely by surprise when instead of a helpless sleeping village, they found they were attacking a company of well armed and prepared people. The raiders were cut to pieces and few escaped. The clan realised they owed their survival to the cock crowing from the rock and from that moment on the rock became the central point for the clan. At times of danger when the Glen was being raided or attacked the men would rush to the rock with their weapons and the chief or cheiftans would organise them into cohesive fighting units and co-ordinate defence and counter attacks as required. The clan chief made counsel standing on the rock, judgements, tribunals and all serious clan business were conducted by the chief and lesser chieftans with the whole clan gathered around. Although long dispersed from Glenshee, members of the Clan MacThomas Society return each year on the third weekend of August to swear allegiance to their clan chief as he stands on the rock.
Finegand takes its name from an incident that happened in the 16th century (O.S. Map Sheet 43, Ref. 14653). Tax collecting in these times was done in a rather forceful manner by bands of heavily armed men called Messengers at Arms or Sherriff's Officers. A list of names and addresses with amounts due would be given to the Chief Sheriff's Officer who would then assemble a group and make a sortie for four or five weeks, visiting each address in turn and demanding the amount to be paid on the spot. If cash was not available or forthcoming, then any livestock, valuables or possessions of any kind whatsoever were seized, taken to the nearest market and sold until the amount was raised. Anything left was supposed to be given back to the owner, but this seldom happened.
He met the tax collectors crossing the ford of Finegand which is approximately four miles south of the Spittal. An argument developed which broke into a fight. A tax collector was killed, some were injured and the rest surrendered. One of them, probably "in his cups" from some of the booty from the widow's house shouted "MacCombie Mhor, we are the King's men and will bear witness against you". This was a huge mistake. The answer came "there will not be witnesses". MacCombie instructed to kill every one of the tax collectors which the clansmen proceeded to do with relish. He then ordered them to be decapitated and the heads thrown in the burn. It is said that he then roared down the Glen "Now swim back to your masters in Edinburgh and tell them what happens to thieves they send to Glenshee".
In the late 6th Century, legend has it there lived in Scotland, a great warrior named Diarmid, reputedly a man of outstanding martial prowess and a great favourite with the ladies, so much so that Queen Grainne, the wife of the incumbent King Fingal, was having an affair with him. The king got to know of the affair, but according to Celtic custom he could not appoint a deputy to act for him or seek help from any relative - he had to deal with Diarmid man to man. The king knew if he challenged Diarmid he would lose, such was Diarmid's fearsome reputation. However, an opportunity came for Fingal. The people of Glenshee petitioned the king to come and rid them of what they claimed was a demon boar. This beast had for some considerable time caused great damage to property and livestock in the area and several attempts to hunt it down had all failed with a number of hunters losing their lives. It was considered the king's job to deal with matters of this kind, therefore a hunting party was raised and Fingal personally invited Diarmid to the hunt. When they arrived in Glenshee, camp was made in the area of the Spittal of Glenshee. The king then challenged Diarmid to go and hunt the boar himself. Diarmid accepted the challenge and duly managed to track the boar down. There ensued a vigorous battle in which according to the epic handed down through the centuries, his mighty hunting spear was smashed by the beast and he had to fight it with a sword, axe and dirk before it succombed. In the desparate fight Diarmid was wounded and pierced by the spines along the boar's back. Wounds from boar spines become infected very quickly and result in death within one day. This did not concern Diarmid too much as there was a known antidote for the poison which was carried by hunting parties. He cut off the boar's head, carried it back to camp, placed it in front of the king and asked for the medicine. The king had prepared for this by throwing the supply of medicine into the burn. The infection from the wounds spread through Diarmid's body and he died. When Queen Grainne heard of his death, she committed suicide.
Soon after this double tragedy, another queen who was staying in a castle between Alyth and Glen Isla, some 15 miles to the south east was put to death. The method of her death was quite horrendous - she was thrown into a pit of starving dogs, which was apparently a Pictish punishment for an adulterous woman. The queen's name was Guinevere, ex King Arthur. Legend has it that her remains were taken to Meigle where there existed an early Culdee monastery, and buried there. Researchers have recently claimed to have found a Pictish stone at Meigle which they claim is possibly that of Queen Guinevere. The legends and stories of King Arthur and the Round Table do not give any satisfactory answer as to where Guinevere and Sir Lancelot went after they were found out. A Queen and a great warrior, even in those times, could not just disappear without trace but one could imagine that wherever Guinevere was, her lover and protector would not be far away. So who was Diarmid? Could he and Sir Lancelot have been the same person? Historians would probably not agree but then what evidence have they got otherwise. The Clan Campbell claim direct descent from the man known as Diarmid - or Sir Lancelot? They grew to be the most potent and powerful clan in Scotland. Their motif is the boar's head.
The railway used to run from Dalmunzie House (O.S. Map Sheet 43, Ref. 091713) which is now a country house hotel, to the Glen Lochsie Shooting Lodge (Ref. 064726), gaining over 400 feet in height over an approximate distance of 2.5 miles. This track was built by Sir Archibald Birkmyre in the early 1920's for the sole purpose of transporting grouse shooting parties in August. This was in the days when the Empire was still at its height with people making vast fortunes and competing with one another for ways of spending it on ostentatious projects, and this must have been one of the more outrageous ones. The railway was narrow guage with a light engine drawing a string of miniature carriages complete with miniature freight wagons for all the food, drink, guns, ammunition and all the other paraphenalia required for a grouse shooting party of that era. The engine was powered by two petrol engines brought back from the First World War trenches. The Head Keeper leading a garron (Highland pony) and holding a red flag, walked in front of the engine, so the whole affair was done at a very leisurely pace of some two miles per hour. Altitude was achieved with a series of forward and reversing manoeuvres through sets of points up the hillside in a zigzag fashion. When the railway reached the lodge the passengers would alight, the more sprightly ones proceeding on foot and the older ones being transported on garrons up to the shooting butts for the day's sport to commence. The rail track was in full working order until the 1970's when new Government legislation was introduced bringing all private railways under the auspices and control of British Railways. The landowner at that time was informed by British Rail that he would have to upgrade and improvethe railway to meet the new regulations. This was going to cost at that time some £60,000. The landowner did not see the point of spending this kind of money on such a toy and decided to uplift the rails which were subsequently sold as scrap. Fortunately the engine and carriages were retained and are in storage at Dalmunzie House at present. The route of the old rail track is still very apparent and can be walked the entire distance and there has been some talk of reinstating, if not all, then perhaps part of it as a tourist attraction.
Catearan is the Gaelic word for a fighting man or warrior. Between the 13th and 17th Centuries, the Glenshee area was subject to many raids from the north and northwest clans. The purpose of these raids was to steal cattle which were the currency of the Highlands. Having adequate cattle to survive a harsh winter was the difference between survival and death to many of these people. It was in the Angus glens that the Aberdeen Angus bull was developed, but for centuries prior the Glenshee and Angus areas were considered to be the prime area in Scotland for cattle. A raiding party could range from 50 to 500 men and usually came from Lochiel, Lochaber and Badenoch areas. These bands rarely consisted of the men from only one clan but were usually made up of a confederation of clansmen with an elected chieftain to lead the raid. These bands could travel very swiftly over the hills and mountains of Scotland covering up to 50 miles per day even over rough terrain and would strike without warning, nearly always at night. The clanspeople of those times did not live in one large village but were scattered in smallholdings and crofts all over the glen, so the method was to simultaneously strike as many households as possible and kill the men, thus reducing the possibility of retaliation and pursuit. Children were never harmed. The women were often assaulted but not seriously, in fact the women's job was to try and distract the attackers using every means at their disposal. This helped in allowing the men to grab their weapons and run to the pre-arranged assembly points in the glen where defence and counter attack could be organised. One of the last raids recorded in the Glenshee was also the largest ever (O.S. Map sheet 43, Ref. 145770). A raiding party 500 strong attacked Glenshee, Glen Beag, Glen Lochsie, Glen Taitneach, Glen Isla and Strathardle simultaneously. They rounded up more than 2,700 head of cattle. This was no mean feat as these cattle were spread out over what amounted to 100 square miles of hill and glens. The assembly point in the morning was the Inn at the Spittal of Glensgee. This did not amuse the innkeeper as these people did not pay for what they required and 2,700 head of cattle assembled into an area tend to leave a lot of mess which he obviously had to tidy up afterwards. The stolen herd was moved north up through Glen Beag to the Cairnwell Pass. This is when the raiders were at their most vulnerable to counter-attack as the speed of the herd is only some two miles per hour and the raiders would have to spread out to form a periphery around three sides of it, thus leaving only half the party to fight a rear-guard action.
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