Kinnoull Hill

Kinnoull Hill
View east of Kinnoull Hill tower, the A90 and the River Tay in view.
Highest point
Elevation	222 m (728 ft)
Coordinates	56°23′23″N 3°24′00″W / 56.3896°N 3.3999°W / 56.3896; -3.3999
Geography
Location	Perth, Scotland

Kinnoull Hill is a hill located partly in Perth and partly in Kinfauns, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It shares its name with the nearby Kinnoull parish.

In view from the 222 metres (728 ft)-high south-facing summit is the Friarton Bridge, a stretch of the Tay Coast railway line and the Sidlaw Hills.^[1] Further to the south, Moncreiffe Hill can be seen.

[The view] commands the lower course of the Tay and its estuary, widening out between the level expanse of the Carse of Gowrie, thickly sprinkled with farms and mansions, and the opposing shores of Fife, onward to where it is closed by the smoke of Dundee and the line of the Tay Bridge.

— Francis Watt, 1889^[2]

Near the summit, which is divided into two points, is the Windy Gowle, a hollow which (historically, at least) offered "an echo of nine distinct reverberations".^[3]

William Wallace is said to have concealed himself in a cave on the hill, to avoid detection by his pursuers.^[3]

On an outcrop a few hundred yards to the east of, and several feet below, the summit is Kinnoull Tower, a folly built in the eighteenth century, by Thomas Hay, 9th Earl of Kinnoull, to resemble castles along the Rhine he had admired in Germany during his Grand Tour of Europe. Kinnoull saw a similarity between the mountainous landscape along the Rhine and the rocky outcrops on his estate near Perth. On his return, to achieve a similar effect, he built a modest castle on the highest point of Kinnoull Hill, with its tower overlooking the River Tay. The tower is a Category B listed structure.^[4]

Another of Hay's lasting legacies is the Perth Bridge over the Tay, which he helped fund.

Jane Austen visited Kinnoull Hill in September 1789. She described Kinnoull Tower in "Lesley Castle", one of two Scottish stories in her Juvenilia, as:

An old and Mouldering Castle, which is situated two miles from Perth on a bold projecting Rock, and commands an extensive view of the Town and its delightful Environs.^[5]

Today the tower is more easily accessible, via a winding footpath through the woodland park.

In 2009 and again in 2010, Kinnoull Hill was awarded Green Flag status.^[6] In 2010, Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park also came runner up in Scotland's Finest Woods Awards.^{[7][failed verification]}

Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park is managed in a partnership between Forestry and Land Scotland^[8] and Perth & Kinross Council.^[9] A Users Group has also been established for many years and supports the management of the Woodland Park through a Management Committee.^[10] Branklyn Garden was built by Dorothy Renton and her husband in the western foothills of Kinnoull Hill. The house and garden are owned by the National Trust for Scotland.^[11]

In 1793, wild roses which were discovered on the hill were transplanted into an extensive nearby nursery owned by James Dickson and James Brown.^[12] At its peak, the nursery employed around eighty people.^[3]

Woodland sculptures created by Pete Bowsher have been erected in the Woodland Park. There are fourteen sculptures reflecting the animals and plants of the park.

The hill's summit has become well-known as a location for suicides.^[13] In 2015 it became "highlighted as a national area of concern for completed suicides".^[14] That same year, 20-year-old Forfar Athletic player Jack Syme committed suicide at Kinnoull Hill.^[15]

In early January 2002, Daniela Smith, a 31-year-old mother-of-two, pushed her infant children off the hill's summit while they were strapped in their pushchair, before throwing herself off. Their bodies were discovered on a ledge about 100 feet (30 m) below the summit on 15 January.^[16]

The bodies of two men were found below the hill in 2014.^[13]

The Kinnoull Campus of De La Salle College in Melbourne, Australia, is named after this hill. The property previously on the site of the College, built in 1856 by Sir James Palmer, was renamed Kinnoull by Sir Alexander Stewart (1874-1956) (former chairman of BHP), who was born near Kinnoull Hill.

Abernyte Brewery released a beer called Kinnoull Red, named for the hill.^[17]

• Deuchny Wood

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kinnoull Hill.

• Descriptive Gazetteer - Kinnoull, Perthshire through time
• Explore Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park - Perth and Kinross Countryside Trust