Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine Summer 2023

WELL…WHAT HAPPENED WAS…
A friend of mine here in Blair casually said….
“I’ve just found out that George Barty’s
gravestone is in The Auld Hill Kirk”.
So I told Brian, the friend, we could have a wee
look and see if we can find the stone.
The Genalogy group, (highly recommended)
based at the Blairgowrie Library, have access
to a numbered map, showing very many of the
gravestones and who’s they are. So holding the
‘map’ we went searching……..SUCCESS !
The Graveyard is now the ‘home’ of many
important and influential people from around
Blairgowrie and Rattray, one of whom is this
one…… BARTY.
THE HILL KIRK GRAVEYARD
George Barty was born in Blairgowrie on July
20th 1767. George operated a Snuff mill at
Lornty, where dry tobacco leaves were ground
down into snuff. Using snuff became very
popular from the 17th century. George moved
to Perth, where he opened a tobacconist shop
at 55 High St. He died suddenly on Thursday
6th June 1839 aged 72. Aside from his snuff and
tobacconist business’, George is more famous
for the...
BARTY MORTIFICATION.
What is a Mortification, I hear you ask!
Google says…… it is a “great embarrassment”
…..as in being really mortified.
However in The Church of Scotland, there
are examples of Mortifications being
like Endowments of money…..The Barty
Mortification is one such example.
The photo show the Graveyard after its first
cut of the year.
A heritable security of money was to be devoted
to the education of children of poor families
within the local parishes, with the names of
Barty and Souter to have preference.
As time passed and free education became
available, the trustees of the Barty Mortification
agreed to offer bursaries of £4 and upwards to
pupils attending schools in Blairgowrie, Rattray,
Bendochy and Kinloch.
As previously mentioned, there is much great
history to be sourced from THE AULD HILL KIRK
GRAVEYARD, here in Blairgowrie.
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