David Dundas, Bart., in 1877. What is the
word Dunira derived from? Is it like Dundurn, "the hill or fort upon
the Earn"? or is it _Dun aoraidh_, "the hill of worship"? It is
difficult to say; Gaelic words have been so much corrupted to suit the
tongues of the Saxon. There is little doubt, however, that in ancient
times the locality was intimately associated with divine worship. Not
far from the east lodge there are to be seen large standing-stones,
supposed, as already said, to be the remains of an old Druidical
circle. On the hillside, above Dunira House, there is a place called
Drumnakil, which signifies the "ridge of the chapel"; and farther to
the north-east, near the hill of Dunmore, is Ballochintaggart, "the gap
of the priest." At Drumnakil there is an old burying-ground, the
grave-stones scarcely discernible among the rank grass; but all trace
of the chapel, or monks' cell, if ever there was one, has disappeared.
Dunira was once the property of Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville and
Baron Dunira. He was son of Robert Dundas of Arniston, Lord President
of the Court of Session. He was called to the bar in 1763, and elected
member of Parliament for the County of Edinburgh in 1774, and after
holding several important offices under the Crown, he retired with Pitt
in 1801, and the following year he was raised to the Peerage. After
his death his Perthshire friends paid a tribute to his memory and worth
by erecting a monument on Dunmore Hill, at Comrie. It is an obelisk,
72 feet high, built in 1812 of Innergeldie granite. A better site
could not have been chosen. From the top of Dunmore Hill there is a
magnificent view of varied landscape. To the west you have a peep at
Loch Earn, the Aberuchill Hills, and the old white-washed Castle
nestling among its trees; to the south you have the village of Comrie
and the strath, with the Earn and the Ruchill winding their way through
the plain; to the east, Sir David Baird's Monument, the Knock of
Crieff, Turleum, the Ochils, and one of the Lomonds of Fife; looking to
the north, we see Glenlednock stretching far towards Loch Tay, with
Spout Rollo at its head, and guarded on each side by the lofty peaks of
the Grampians. This, like so many others of our Highland glens, has
suffered much through depopulation during this century. An old
Glenlednock farmer still living in the parish informs us that in his
recollection there were thirty-six tenants with their cottars, where