Today I'm going to show you a place that you'll definitely want to visit;
whether you'll have a bike ride away like me, or you're coming from the other side of the world.
This might feel like the middle of nowhere, and an unlikely place for a library, but it was a
crossroads for the Romans, who built a fort here. The Drummond family were granted these lands by
Robert the Bruce, in return for their service in the 14th Century. In my video in 'The Marriage of the
Thistle and the Rose', I described James the Fourth's connection to that Drummond family in his time,
but it's because of an even later Drummond, that I've brought you here today.
Okay, I didn't come by bike, but the reason that I brought you here, is because this is the oldest
public lending library in the land. In fact I may say in these islands, so if you're interested in
the people, places and events in Scottish history, then click the subscribe button at
the bottom right hand side of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
There's a ruined castle a short way along the River Earn.
It's the ruins of Innerpeffray Castle. There's been a building on that site since William
Wallace was a boy. There was a chapel mentioned next door around 100 years later in 1365. It was
established as a collegiate chapel at the time of James the Fourth, Tudor times if you're south of the border.
The chapel had housed priests, who were employed to pray for the souls of the Drummond family.
Now it was buffeted, but survived the Reformation as a family chapel for those Drummonds
who supported Charles the First during the War of the Three Kingdoms. One of them fought with James
Graham, Marquis of Montrose at the Battle of Tippermuir, just east of here, in fact I've got
a beautiful treat for you in that connection later, and I'll come back to that, but our story
starts when that tumultuous period of civil wars across the kingdoms was over, and Charles
the Second was established on the throne, but Scotland was entering the Killing Times of the covenanting years,
not long before the start of the Jacobite period, where the Drummonds again supported the Stuarts.
You see David Drummond, third Lord Madertie, was a bit of a reader, you might even say a scholar,
and in 1680 he decided that he wanted the public to have access to read his books too.
Now I often speak disparagingly about nobility and gentry, but let's pause here to think what the
Reformation John Knox and Presbyterianism had done was to make Scotland a literate population.
What David Drummond then did, was for the first time ever, to give the general public the chance to
use the literacy, with access to the same library as the local Lord of the Manor, and free of charge,
and he created a fund for the upkeep. That is the revolution that took place here in 1680.
Now current Covid restrictions prevent us, but normally we could go into the chapel here and
inside at the rear, there's a set of stairs up to a little attic room above and that little room above
the chapel was Innerpeffray Library, where local folks could borrow the books that David Drummond
had deposited there. 340 years ago if you'd been able to see through this window, there would have
been a tiny cramped room full of books, maybe with a local choosing one to take home
from Scotland's first public lending library. Now a little room like this with a tiny window
can't have been an ideal place from which to operate. The good news is that this little room
wasn't the end of things. In 1739, a later Drummond, Robert Hay Drummond, was a scholar and a clergyman,
who rose to become Archbishop of York no less, but he inherited Innerpeffray. He commissioned
this much larger building, and added his own books to the new library that opened in 1762.
So 1762 was the 80-year anniversary upgrade.
Quite a thought isn't it? It continued as a lending library right up until 1968. Now you can't come
and borrow books today, but what you can do is visit. It's a treasure trove of old original books
Now the reason that I often bring people to visit is for my Real Macbeth Tour, where I tell people the story
of the real Scottish King, but have you ever wondered where Shakespeare got his nonsense from, then you
can find the source that he used here at Innerpeffray in Holinshed's Chronicles of England,
Scotland and Ireland with the three witches, Banquo, and all the alterations that have been made over
the centuries from the real Celtic King, but there are so many other wonderful books to see here,
like this 1555 copy. Let me say that again, 1555 copy of 'Poisson' by Pierre Belon, a hand
coloured book about fish, bound in vellum. Now I mentioned the Drummond's connection
to the Marquis of Montrose in the Battle of Tippermuir, indeed the founder, David Drummond, he
was a brother-in-law of Montrose and here at Innerpeffray Library, you can find the Bible
that Montrose took into battle, that he'd have read to his troops at Tippermuir. Now I'm not
sure how well they understood it, it was in French. There's also a copy of Montrose's biography by
George Wishart, a version of which was mockingly hung around Montrose's neck at his, execution and here
is a copy of the Scots Magazine Annual of 1776, with the August edition containing a
copy of those rebellious Americans' Declaration of Independence, less than six weeks after it was made.
Earlier still with a map of the Americas from 1638. What you'd call New York, it lists as New Amsterdam,
as it was at the time, of course to the west there are huge swathes of unmarked territory.
Now there's no way that I can even scratch the surface of what you can see here, but here's a bit
of fun. Why don't we play a game of Desert Island Discs? In the comment section below, let me know
what's your favourite book that you would take, if you were going to be stranded on a desert island,
and why not check out what other folks say as well? It'll be like our wee book exchange, it'll
be great. It might inspire you, but there's one more thing that I want to show you, that I'm sure will
inspire you. Nowadays you'll have an electronic library card. You probably make transactions online,
but here is the original remaining library card for the oldest lending library in Scotland. It's
the borrower's register. This goes back to 1747, the year after Culloden. You can see who borrowed books,
what books they borrowed, you can find out where they lived, what they did for a living.
It's incredible! You can even see it in their own handwriting. Now imagine if you live in this area,
some of your ancestors' handwriting might be in this book. The first female recorded in the
borrowers register is Beatrix Faichney, born at a nearby farm and working as a servant on the Abercairney
Estate, who on the 29th of August 1747, borrowed the first volume of 'Clarendon Civil Wars', 'The History
of Queen Elizabeth', and the first volume of 'The Complete History of Europe'. Isn't that a beautiful
thing? In a time where women in general weren't credited with equality of status or intellect, here
we have this rural, Scottish servant girl reading European history, but this is also a document of
personal development and international travel. You see, also recorded in here is Donald McOmish, born
in 1835, then serving his apprenticeship as a gardener at Drummond Castle nearby.
Now recently their gardens were used to represent the gardens of Versailles in Outlander. Anyway he
borrows history books on the lives of Nelson and Wellington, but by March 1861, he's recorded
as gardener at Inchbrakie, and he borrows Philip Miller's 'The Gardener's Dictionary 1768'. Over the
years he borrows more gardening books, and he goes on to build a successful private nursery business
in this area. Some of the trees that he planted will still be growing here in Strathearn today.
Now presumably his son Malcolm joined the family business, because he's also listed in
the register as a nurseryman. The first time that he borrowed a book from the library was
in March 1898, and the book was 'Oceana, Or England and Her Colonies' by James Anthony Froude 1886. Now
I don't know if this book was part of his research or his inspiration, but we know that he went on to
emigrate to one of those colonies and settled in Queensland in Australia, where he had a sugar
plantation before becoming a preacher. His own son, also Donald, retired as the Chief Inspector
of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and from the other side of the world, continued to enjoy
his favourite tipple of Glenturret whisky, from just up the road here in Crieff. So this register
provides a record of our old world and migration to the new one. People from all over the world, tell
me in the comment section below these videos how their ancestors arrived in Australia, New Zealand,
Canada and America. It's funny to think that some of them may have come to this very room
to make their plans and the record of their journey started, not in a port on a shipping list,
but as a record in a register in the oldest library in Scotland. This is truly an interesting
place, in a beautiful location. Whether you're local, or a world away, why not come and visit?
Now this isn't an advert, nobody's paid me to say this, although I may have read it in a book.
There's a video coming up about the man who owned the Bible that I pointed out, James Graham,
the Marquis of Montrose. In the meantime, tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.