Birnam
| |
|---|---|
  Birnam Location within Perth and Kinross | |
| OS grid reference | NO032417 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area |
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| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Scotland |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Birnam is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located 12 miles (19 km) north of Perth on the A9 road, the main tourist route through Perthshire, in an area of Scotland marketed as Big Tree Country.[1] The village originated from the Victorian era with the coming of the railway in 1856, although the place and name is well known because William Shakespeare mentioned Birnam Wood in Macbeth:
MACBETH: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane/ I cannot taint with fear.
— Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, scene 3.[2]
Prior to the construction of the railway, the only substantial building on the site of the present village was the church of Little Dunkeld parish, which still stands in its ancient position within a graveyard within the village. Dunkeld, to whose monastery Kenneth MacAlpin, the first King of Scotland, moved the bones of St. Columba around the middle of the ninth century, and which is notable for its cathedral, lies on the opposite bank of the river.
- ^ "Tay Forest Park: Tall Trees & Big Views" (PDF). Forestry and Land Scotland. 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "Macbeth, Act 5, scene 3". Folger Library. Retrieved 23 October 2023.