Overview of Errol

The second-largest settlement in the Carse of Gowrie, Errol lies on the Firth of Tay, 10 miles (16 km) east of Perth and 10 miles (16 km) west of Dundee. The parish of Errol was the traditional fiefdom of the earls of Errol and the Kirkton of Errol achieved burgh status in 1648. It retains an unusual winding main street and several buildings with clay wall construction. Described as the Cathedral of the Carse, the square-towered parish church of Errol, built by James Gillespie Graham in 1831-33, dominates the skyline. The kirkyard of the old parish church remains and nearby is one of the early Free Church Disruption kirks of 1843. A fountain and market cross can be found in the square at the centre of the village and many of the 19th-century buildings are constructed using local bricks made from estuarine clays laid down in the carse after the last Ice Age. The Errol Brick Company continues the 200-year tradition of brick making at Inchcoonans to the northwest of Errol. A former wartime airfield to the northeast of the village is now occupied by an industrial estate that includes the Tayreed Company which supplies thatch for roofing from nearby reed beds on the Tay estuary. These reed beds were planted in the 1780s by an enlightened landowner in an attempt to prevent erosion of the river bank. Errol Station to the north of Errol, which operated between 1847 and 1985, reopened in 1990 as a railway heritage centre and is now a craft shop.