08-07-2025
The tiny Scots village where a Saint 'slew a dragon' and 20ft shrine honours witch
This small village has roots in the Iron Age, with a Roman camp and a name linked to an ancient hillfort
Just 10 miles from the city of Perth lies a village with fewer than 1,000 residents and a past packed with myth, mystery, and moments of destruction and rebirth.
Dunning may be small, but its history stretches back to the Iron Age and encompasses the Roman invasion of Britain, the Jacobite rebellions, and early Christian legends and stories of powerful relics and lost lives.
The village's name is thought to come from the Old Irish word dúnán, meaning 'little fort', likely referring to an ancient hillfort that once stood in the area, The Express reports.
By the first century AD, the Romans had established a camp here, marking it as a place of strategic importance. Part of a rampart from the encampment still survives to this day in Kincladie Wood.
One of the most enduring legends tells of Saint Serf, a key figure in Catholic, Scottish Episcopal and Eastern Orthodox tradition from the 6th Century.
The second son of the King of Canaan, he moved to Rome where he served as Pope for seven years before vacating the Holy See.
He travelled to Britain and settled in Scotland, with his ministry centred in Culross, according to tradition. And legend tells that he slew a dragon in Dunning, using his pastoral staff,
It is a tale that still echoes through the region, with the parish church being named St Serf's Kirk in his honour. The church, originally built in the 12th century and mostly rebuilt in the early 1800s, closed in 1972 and is now managed by Historic Scotland.
It is open to the public and houses the Dupplin Cross, a towering and intricately carved Pictish stone dating from around 800 AD.
Locals fought to keep the cross in the village when proposals were made to relocate it, and their efforts paid off. Today, it remains a powerful symbol of Dunning's long-standing spiritual and cultural identity.
But Dunning's past is not only marked by legend, it has also endured real trauma. On the night of January 28, 1716, amid the collapse of the 1715 Jacobite uprising, Jacobite troops, reportedly under orders from John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar, set fire to the village, destroying homes, farms and barns.
Why Dunning was targeted remains unclear, especially as the rebellion was faltering rapidly after the inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir months earlier.
Just two days after the attack, the Jacobites abandoned their stronghold in Perth, and within a week, James Stuart, 'The Old Pretender', and the Earl of Mar fled Scotland for France. Neither would ever return.
The village's recovery was slow, but a major turning point came in 1792, when a new village plan was laid out for Lord Rollo. Dunning began to flourish once again, and by the 1850s it was thriving. Today, it boasts 108 listed buildings, a testament to its architectural and historical importance.
Among Dunning's most intriguing features is a stone monument just outside the village. Built on what was once the parkland of Duncrub Castle, it stands nearly 20ft high and bears the chilling inscription: 'Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch.'
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The Maggie Wall memorial has become something of a shrine, with visitors leaving flowers, candles and trinkets. Yet her story is shrouded in uncertainty.
Although an estimated 1,500 people, mostly women, were executed as witches in Scotland between the 1500s and 1700s, there is no record of anyone named Maggie Wall being tried or executed.
Some believe she symbolises all women accused of witchcraft, while others think her story may simply have been lost to history.
Today, getting to Dunning requires a car or a bus from Perth, as the local railway station closed in 1956, more than a century after it opened. Although a section of the Scottish Central Railway still runs nearby, trains no longer stop in the village.
