Dirnanean House is part of traditional Highland estate located near Enochdhu, Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross in Moulin parish, Scotland, 10 miles ENE of Pitlochry. The estate is situated adjacent to the 64 mile waymarked Cateran Trail.
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A 1588 charter record states that Andrew Small was granted the lands of Dirnanean in Strathardle by John, the 5th Stewart Earl of Atholl.[1] By the time James Small (1835-1900) inherited the estate on the death of his father, Patrick, Dirnanean had been passed from father to son for nine generations.[1] When James Small died without a direct heir, the ownership of Dirnanean transitioned to a series of his nephews until Francis Keir Balfour, the owner of neighboring Kindrogan House, purchased the estate in 1926. A distant Small family cousin through his mother, Amelia Jane Keir, Francis Keir Balfour continued the Small family ownership of Dirnanean into the 1970's.
A herd of Simmental Cattle, originally bred by James Small, is named after the Dirnanean estate.
The Smalls are a sept of Clan Murray of Atholl.[2]
A number of notable individuals are descendants of the Smalls of Dirnanean.
Queen Victoria passed through the lands of Dirnanean in 1865 and again in 1866, on her way from Balmoral Castle to Dunkeld via the Spittal of Glenshee. Her visit in 1865 included a brief stop at Dirnanean House before a more extended visit at Kindrogan House.[1]
For 37 years, until its death in 1908, an eagle was kept in captivity in a metal and thatched cage next to the Dirnanean Burn. Taken when young from its nest near the Kirkton of Glenisla,[3] the eagle was fed mainly on game by the estate staff. The Perthshire Eagle was a popular Perthshire attraction during its residence at Dirnanean. Several postcard depicting the eagle in its cage next the Dirnanean Burn were issued to draw Victorian travellers to the Dirnanean area. Partial remnants of the eagle's cage can still be seen along the Dirnanean Burn walk.
The estate's traditional highland garden area include 1.5 hectare of garden plantings with 7 hectares of policies located 1,000 feet above sea level.
Features within the garden include a refurbished summer house on the front lawn, a walled garden, a burn walk with cascades, a traditional estate kitchen garden with an orchard, a greenhouse and poterage, and a small museum of garden tools discovered during the refurbishment of the garden and the grounds. Peacocks and guineafowls can often be seen roaming the grounds, and a Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) speciman tree bordering the front lawn is estimated to have been planted around 1870. [4]
The garden is accessible by the public for a small fee.
One of the finest features of the estate is the Allt Doire-nan-Eun (Scottish Gaelic: Stream of the Thicket of the Fowl), a stream flowing from high in the Dirnanean hills southwards through a deep wooded gorge on its way to the River Ardle.
Near the former carriage entrance of Dirnanean House, close to the town of Enochdhu, lie the graves of a Pictish warrior named Ard-fhuil and his henchman. The two fell during a battle near the grave. Buried feet to feet, there is a large stone at Ardle's head and a lesser one at his henchman's. The origins of the stones are unknown but it is thought unlikely to be prehistoric.[5] Local lore has it that during Victorian times, the laird of Dirnanean buried his horse at the spot as a garden amusement.