The Friends of Perth & Kinross Archive: John Dewar’s Perthshire and Loch Lomond

John Dewar (1802–72) was a tradition-bearer from Arrochar who spent 10 years, from 1862 to 1872, going around Argyll, Arran, Perthshire and Lochaber collecting the people’s history in Gaelic from the mouths of the people themselves. His manuscripts (in Inveraray and Edinburgh) amount to 4,338 pages of immense value.

The Dewar Project (www.dewarproject.com) was founded in 2017 with the aim of transcribing and translating the material and publishing it in ten regional volumes. The first, John Dewar’s Islay, Jura and Colonsay, appeared in 2024 (www.johndewarpublishers.com). Next up is John Dewar’s Perthshire and Loch Lomond, due in 2026, and local feedback is vital to the project. Ronnie Black will describe the Perthshire stories and appeal for help in identifying some of the more obscure sites mentioned.

Please note that this talk will be delivered in English. All the stories have been translated into English and Ronnie will include extracts in both Gaelic and English.

Image by Ronnie Black