DUNKELD, burgh of barony and parish (with Dowally), Perthshire, Scotland, on the left bank of the Tay, I 5 m. N.W. of Perth by the L.M.S.R. The station is at Birnam, on the right bank. Pop. The river is crossed by a bridge of seven arches designed by Thomas Telford and opened in 18o8. The town lies in the midst of luxuriant trees, and the noble sweep of the Tay, the bridge, the grounds of Dunkeld house, and the pro tecting mountains combine to give it a beautiful site.
As early as 729—some authorities fix the date a hundred and fifty years before—the Culdees possessed a monastery at Dunkeld, converted into a cathedral by David I. in 1127. At the Reforma tion it was unroofed and fell into ruin. The building, given to the nation by the duke of Atholl in 1918, consists of the nave, aisles, choir, chapter-house and tower. The Pointed arches rest upon pillars, possibly Norman, and above them, below the Decorated clerestorey windows, is a series of semicircular arches with flam boyant tracery. The choir, founded by Bishop William Sinclair (d. 133 7 ), has been repaired, and serves as the parish church, a blue marble slab in the floor marking the bishop's grave. The chapter house, adjoining the choir, was built by Bishop Thomas Lauder in 1469, and the vault beneath is the burial-place of the Atholl Murrays. Lauder also began the tower, completed in 1501. The most famous of the bishops was Gavin Douglas 15 2 2) , translator of the Aeneid. Shortly after the battle of Killie crankie (1689), the Cameronian regiment which was enrolled in the same year (afterwards the 26th Foot), was despatched to hold Dunkeld prior to another invasion of the Highlands. It was under the command of Colonel William Cleland (b. 1661), a poet of some merit. On Aug. 26 a force of 5,00o Highlanders suddenly appearing, Cleland posted his men in the church and behind the wall of the earl of Atholl's mansion. The Highlanders were forced to withdraw, but while leading a sortie Cleland was killed.
Adjoining the cathedral is Dunkeld house, a seat of the duke of Atholl. The 4th duke planted several square miles of the estate with larches, of which he had made a special study. The oak and sycamore in front of Birnam house, a mile south, are believed to be the remnant of the wood of Birnam which Shakespeare im mortalized in Macbeth. The Pass of Birnam, where the river nar rows, was the path usually taken by the Highlanders in their forays. In the vicinity are the castles of Murthly, one an old one, still occupied, which was occasionally used as a hunting-lodge by the Scottish kings.