Forteviot

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Houses on the square in Forteviot

Forteviot (Scottish Gaelic: Fothair Tabhaicht) (Ordnance Survey grid reference NO052175) is a village in Strathearn, Scotland on the south bank of the River Earn between Dunning and Perth. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross. The population in 1991 was 160.

The present village was rebuilt in the 1920s by John Alexander Dewar, 1st Baron Forteviot of the Dewar's whisky family.

[edit] The Pictish Palace of Forteviot

Forteviot is known to have been inhabited in the 9th century. It was the palace of the Pictish kings of Fortriu. King Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth mac Alpin or Kenneth I of Scotland) (d. 858), is said to have died in the 'palace' (palacio) there, and his successors. The palace formerly stood on Haly Hill on the west side of the village overlooking the Water of Mey.^[1]

The ruins of a 'castle' associated with Máel Coluim III (1058-93) were visible in the 17th century. Several pieces of early medieval sculpture are preserved in the parish church, which is dedicated to St Andrew, and the well-known 'Forteviot Arch', an early-9th century monolithic sandstone arch with figure sculpture, discovered in the old bed of the Water of May, west of the terrace on which the village stands, is in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It is likely to have once adorned a royal chapel.