Glen Tarken

Overview

Glen Tarken rises above the picturesque village of St Fillans on Loch Earn.

A beautiful woodland walk climbs from the west side of the village past the small Hydro-Electric station and old railway line and on through Glen Tarken wood. Through the trees, glimpses of Loch Earn and surrounding high mountains are rewarding. Continue upward and the path gives way to open hillside and more spectacular vistas.

Once on the hill there is a clearly defined track which can be walked as a circular route or extended into a linear route over to the neighbouring Glen Beich.

The deserted hillside settlement of Morell or Easter Glen Tarken lies 1.5 miles/2.5km west of St Fillans and makes an interesting stopping point on the route down from the hill. Deserted in the 19th century, the villagers found life on the exposed site inconvenient and uncomfortable and families moved to more salubrious surroundings closer to the loch. The houses at Morell were long and one end was used to house the 'beasts', a good source of heat and manure! Despite having no cement, some of the walls still stand quite high - the best time to see them is in the autumn. Local author Elizabeth Bain sums up the sentiment experienced when visiting a deserted village:

"Twas a desolate glen as I'd known it,
With never a stick upon stone,
And a scattering of sheep on the hillside,
That was bare as a bone.

For I stumbled a lost man through it,
Til all of a sudden it broke
And morning came down on a Glen
That was stirring with folk."