Perth (Regno Unito)
]</ref>
Murray Royal Hospital
Murray Royal Hospital is the other hospital in Perth. The hospital caters for forensic psychiatry; pallative medicine and psychiatry patients. The Glenelg ward, formerly the Almond ward, has recently undergone a refurbishment plan which now includes a long term area and rehabiliation unit in 2007. [1]
Murray Royal was opened in 1827 as James Murray's Royal Asylum at a cost of £40,000. James Murray was a labourer who was bequeathed a large inheritance and, having no family to leave the money to when he died, set up the asylum on Kinnoull Hill.[2]
Transport
Car
Perth remains a key transport hub for journeys by car and rail throughout Scotland. The M90 motorway runs south from the town to Edinburgh; the A9 road connects it to Stirling and Glasgow in the south west and Inverness in the north. Other major roads in the town include the A85 to Crieff and Crianlarich, the A93 to Blairgowrie, the A94 to Coupar Angus and Forfar and the A90 to Dundee and Aberdeen.
The town itself was bypassed to the South and East by the M90 in the 1970s and to the west by the A9 in the 1980s.
The M90, A9 and A93 all meet at Broxden Junction, one of the busiest and most important road junctions in Scotland. Uniquely, all Scotland's cities are signposted from here.
The final part of the M90 included the construction of the Friarton Bridge in 1978 to facilitate travel to Dundee and Aberdeen to the east of the town, finally removing inter-city traffic from the town centre and is the most northerly piece of the UK's motorway system.
Rail
Perth railway station has regular services to Fife, Edinburgh Waverley via the Forth Bridge, east to Dundee and Aberdeen, and south to Glasgow Queen Street. There are two direct trains per day to London, one operated by NXEC to King's Cross (from Inverness), while the Caledonian Sleeper runs overnight to Euston.
The station currently has seven platforms; it once boasted more in the past to serve the smaller branch lines running throughout Perthshire. Perth Station is located on Glasgow Road, close to St Catherines Road.
Bus
Bus travel is plentiful in the town. Local buses are run by Stagecoach Group; inter-city bus travel is made from Leonard Street bus station and connects to most major destinations in Scotland. The budget Megabus service is centred on Broxden Junction (2.2 miles/3.5km outside the town centre) and runs direct buses to Scotland's largest cities plus Manchester and London. In addition, there is a park and ride service from the services at Broxden to the town centre.
Air
Perth has a small airport. Perth Airport is located at New Scone, 7 km north east of Perth. There are no commercial flights out of this airport, but it is used by private aircraft and for pilot training. The nearest major commercial airport is Edinburgh Airport or Aberdeen Airport, although Dundee Airport, which is only 20 minutes drive from Perth, offers flights to London City Airport, Belfast, and Birmingham as well as charter, engineering and training facilities.
Bridges
There are four bridges that cross the River Tay in Perth. The northernmost structure is Smeaton's Bridge (also known as Perth Bridge and, locally, the Old Bridge), completed in 1771 and widened in 1869, which carries the automotive and pedestrian traffic of West Bridge Street (the A85). Eastbound vehicles are not permitted to make a right turn onto Bridgend's Gowrie Street.[3]
Next, some five hundred yards downstream, is Queen's Bridge, which also carries vehicle and pedestrian traffic, this time of South Street and Tay Street. Queen's Bridge was completed in 1960, replacing the old Victoria Bridge (1902–1960), and was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in October of that year.[3]
The third bridge in the centre of Perth is a railway bridge, carrying trains to and from the railway station, half a mile to the north-west. It was completed in 1863. There is also a pedestrian walkway on its northern side (from where this image was taken).[3]
Finally, the southernmost crossing of the Tay inside Perth's boundary is Friarton Bridge. It is part of the M90 motorway, and forms part of the east coast road corridor between Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
A fifth bridge is to be added farther upstream (north) from the existing bridges. It is part of the Sustrans Connect2 successful bid for funds from The People's £50 Million Lottery competition.[4] Locals and visitors alike will benefit from this project. When completed cyclists and pedestrians will be able to cross the Tay without the associated risks to safety, health and environment of being close up to other vehicles on Smeaton's Bridge.
Politics
Perth is within the Perth and Kinross council area, the Perth Scottish Parliament constituency, the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region of the Scottish Parliament (at Holyrood), and the Perth and North Perthshire United Kingdom Parliament constituency (at Westminster).
The Perth Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood) constituency is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation.
The Perth and North Perthshire United Kingdom Parliament (or Westminster) constituency elects on Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system.
The Holyrood constituency was created in 1999, for the first election to the Scottish Parliament, with the boundaries of the Perth Westminster constituency. The Perth Westminster constituency was abolished in 2005, when a new set of Westminster constituencies, including Perth and North Perthshire, was introduced.
Economy
Despite the downfall of the whisky distilleries, which have long since been sold off and moved away from Perth (although the town's name still appears on the labels), Perth has remained a centre for doing business. New high-tech industry has moved in, and the commercial impact has remained as major services, including insurance and banking, have come to the town. Amongst the largest employers are Norwich Union, the Bank of Scotland and Scottish and Southern Energy.
Perth's city centre is situated to the east of the banks of the River Tay. The centre has a variety of both independent and major retailers, particularly on the pedestrianised High Street, running from the junction of Tay Street to Atholl and Scott Streets. [5] Perth also boasts many restaurants and bars on the majority of the city-centre streets, with coffee shops being most evident in the area of St. John's Place[6] The St. John's Shopping Centre, on St. John's Square, which opened in 1987, also adds to the mix, providing forty units[7] to complement any further retail therapy. The main sheriff court building and City Hall are also located within these boundaries.[8] A new specialist three-floor shopping centre has been set to be finally approved for the troubled City Hall and likely to start building work as soon as possible.[9]
Sport
St. Johnstone is the town's professional football club. Their home ground is McDiarmid Park, which is located on Crieff Road on the west side of the town. The team used to play at Muirton Park on the Dunkeld Road, five minutes from the town centre, but the ground was sold in the early 1990s to the ASDA chain. Perth's first McDonald's Restaurant and Drive-Thru was built adjacent to the supermarket.
There are two other football clubs based in Perth, both of junior grade: Jeanfield Swifts and Kinnoull.
There is a large sports complex, Bell's Sports Centre, to the northwest of the town centre, at the western edge of the North Inch. Prior to the building of the Greenwich Dome, it was the largest domed building in the UK. An identical structure exists at Lexington High School in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA.
Perth hosts Scotland's largest volleyball event every May - the Scottish Open Volleyball Tournament. There is a highly-competitive indoor competition held inside Bell's Sports Centre alongside both a competitive and fun outdoor event played on the town's North Inch. Teams competing traditionally camp alongside the outdoor courts with the campsite being administered by local cadets. The Scottish Volleyball Association's annual general meeting is also held at the same time as tournament.
Perth Leisure Pool, to the west of the railway station on the Glasgow Road, is the town's swimming centre. The modern leisure pool complex was built in the mid 1980s to replace the traditional public swimming baths (established 1887[10]) which used to sit just off the Dunkeld Road.
Perthshire RFC is the town's rugby union side, and are based at the North Inch next to Bell's Sports Centre. They currently play in the BT Premiership Division Three for rugby union in Scotland.
Perth Racecourse is located within the grounds of Scone Palace (3 miles/5 km by road from the city centre), and holds regular horse racing meetings as well as other outdoor events.
The Dewar's Centre, which includes an eight-lane ice rink, has long been a main centre of curling in Scotland. Many top teams compete in this arena and many major events are held here each year. Curling is available from September to April annually. There is an indoor bowling hall, hosting major competitions. Historically Perth had a successful ice hockey team, Perth Panthers, who played at the old ice rink on Dunkeld Road. The rink at Dewars is the wrong shape for ice hockey, so when the team reformed in 2000 for 2 seasons they played their home games at Dundee Ice Arena.
Media
The sole newspaper based in the town is the Perthshire Advertiser owned by Trinity Mirror. Editorial, advertising sales, etc still have their offices in the Watergate but the newspaper is printed in Blantyre.[11]
There is no freely radiating radio service, although Hospital Radio Perth broadcasts to Perth Royal Infirmary and Murray Royal Hospitals. Hospital Radio Perth is the UK's most successful hospital broadcasters having been the Hospital Broadcasting Association UK Station of the Year in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2007. [12][13]
Art and music
Perth Museum and Art Gallery is the town museum, and is one of the oldest provincial museums in Scotland, located at the top end of George Street, near the River Tay. The Fergusson Gallery, housed in the former waterworks, contains the major collection of the works of the artist J.D. Fergusson.
The New Wave band Fiction Factory had some success with their hit "(Feels Like) Heaven" in 1984. The song, which reached number six in the UK charts, would be their biggest hit, and Perth's biggest to date.
The Perth Festival of the Arts is an annual collection of art, theatre, opera and classical music events in the town. The annual event lasts for a couple of weeks and is usually held in May. In recent years, the festival has broadened its appeal by adding comedy, rock and popular music acts to the bill.
In September 2005, the new 1600-seat Horsecross concert hall opened atop the former Horsecross Market. The state-of-the-art construction cost around £20 million, mostly donated as part of the UK millennium celebrations. It is located near the Kinnoull Street multi-storey car park and it backs up to the Fair Maid's House on Curfew Row.
Perth Theatre was established more than one hundred years ago and is located on the town's pedestrianised High Street.
Perth was home to numerous cinemas during the previous century. Some were converted to other uses such as bingo halls but some have eventually disappeared altogether. The only remaining cinema is the Playhouse, on Murray Street, located outside two main bus station stances.
Parks
Perth's two main parks are the North Inch and South Inch. The Inches were given to the city in 1377 by King Robert III.
North Inch
The North Inch is located directly to the north of the city centre. It is bordered to the south by Charlotte Street and Atholl Street and to the southwest by Rose Terrace. Its western perimeter consists of part of the exercise path that circumnavigates the entire park. The River Tay bounds it to the east. A little further to the north is the Inch's eponymous golf course.
South Inch
Situated half a mile south of the North Inch, directly across the city centre, is the South Inch. The Inches are linked by Tay Street, which runs along the western banks of the Tay.
The South Inch is bordered to the north by Marshall Place and Kings Place; to the east by Shore Road; to the south by South Inch View; and to the west by St Leonards Bridge. The Edinburgh Road passes through its eastern third.
The South Inch offers various activities, including bowling, an adventure playground, a skatepark, and, in the summer, a bouncy castle.
The Perth Show takes place annually on the section of the Inch between the Edinburgh Road and Shore Road.
Branklyn Garden
Located just off the Dundee Road on the eastern side of the Tay, Branklyn Gardens, a National Trust for Scotland site, is two acres of private gardens, predominantly featuring collections from China, Tibet, Bhutan and the Himalayas.[14] Its centrepiece is its collection of Himalayan blue poppies.[15]
Norie-Miller Riverside Walk
Situated between Perth Bridge and Queen's Bridge and known locally as the "Middle Inch", the Norie-Miller Riverside Walk features a sculpture trail. The walk ends close to Branklyn Garden.
Bell's Cherrybank Gardens
The Cherrybank Gardens are home to Europe's largest collections of heathers, known as "The Bell's National Heather Collection".[16] The gardens are sponsored by the Bell's Scotch whisky brand.
Tourism
Perth has a number of popular architectural and historical attractions, most notably Scone Palace and St. John's Kirk. It is also the centre of the regimental Black Watch whose base is located on Dunkeld Road, near ASDA, and whose museum is located inside Balhousie Castle. The Castle, of medieval origins, and the seat of the Eviot family, was extensively altered and enlarged in the 19th century, and retains little of its original character.
Kinnoull Hill and Craigie Hill, well provided with forest walks, give spectacular views of the city
Two Historic Scotland properties within a short distance of the town are Huntingtower Castle, former seat of the Earls of Gowrie (open all year; entrance charge), and Elcho Castle, former seat of the Wemyss family (open in summer; entrance charge). Both are excellent examples of late medieval Scottish tower-houses, and are popular sites for weddings.
Schools and education
There are many schools in Perth, including St. John's Primary, Tulloch Primary, Viewlands Primary, Oakbank Primary, Perth Academy, Perth High School, St. Columba's and Perth Grammar School.
Further and higher education - including a range of degrees - is available through Perth College, one of the largest partners in the UHI Millennium Institute.
Perth College runs a network of learning centres across the area, in Blairgowrie, Crieff (a joint project with Perth & Kinross Council), Kinross, Pitlochry, and Pathways in Perth. It also owns AST (Air Service Training) which delivers a range of aeronautical engineering courses.
City status
The classic definition of Perth has been as a city, and traditional documentation confirms that this has been true since time immemorial. However, in the late 1990s, the UK government and the Scottish Executive re-examined the definition of a city and produced a list of approved cities, from which Perth was omitted. It is now considered to be a "former city", a similar definition to that of Brechin or Elgin. Current road-signs around the borders now call it "The Perfect Centre" instead of "The Fair City", although directional signs within still indicate "City Centre". In June, 2007, Alex Salmond, the newly-elected first Minister of Scotland backed a campaign to confer city status on Perth, saying it should be granted "at the next commemorative opportunity".[17] The architectural writer John Gifford has said that Perth is a city "to its inhabitants and most outsiders, but not all bureaucrats."[18]
Twin towns
Trivia
In March 2007, Perth became the first place in Scotland to join the European Cittaslow movement which assesses towns and cities against sixty different criteria regarding quality of life for residents and visitors.
Gallery
Notes
- ^ http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/staff/spectra/Spectra30.pdf page 5
- ^ Gavin & Ruth Smith, Perth in Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing, 2000, page 77, ISBN 0 7509 2381 4.
- ^ a b c PerfectPerth.com
- ^ VisitScotland Perthshire - Connect2 Sustrans - in Perth
- ^ VisitScotland Perthshire - Perth City Centre Map
- ^ Perth City - Perth Eating Out - Restaurants, Pubs and Cafes in Perth - www.perthcity.co.uk
- ^ http://www.stjshopping.co.uk/index.php
- ^ VisitScotland Perthshire - Perth City Centre Map
- ^ Perth City Hall ‘revamp’ submitted to council - Perthshire Advertiser
- ^ Gavin & Ruth Smith, Perth in Old Photographs, Sutton Publishing Limited, 2000, page 105, ISBN 0 7509 2381 4.
- ^ Perthshire Advertiser at Media UK
- ^ http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/staff/spectra/Spectra30.pdf page 9
- ^ Hospital Radio Perth Website
- ^ Branklyn Garden at Perthshire.co.uk
- ^ Branklyn Garden.org.uk
- ^ Cherrybank Gardens at Perthshire.co.uk
- ^ Salmond backs bid for city status (BBC News)
- ^ Gifford, John (2007) Perth and Kinross, Yale.
External links
- Perth City
- Perth History
- Perth and Kinross Council
- Perthshire Tourist Board
- Perth Festival of the Arts
- Welcome to Perth
- Template:Wikitravel
- St John's Kirk
- St John's Shopping Centre
- St. Matthew's Church of Scotland
- St John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Perth
- Carpow Roman Fort
- Google Map showing many of the places mentioned in this article -->