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The five-arched stone bridge across the River Tay at Aberfeldy has contributed much to the fame of Breadalbane's thriving capital. It was built by General George Wade, who was sent north by King
George I to investigate the problem of lawlessness in the Highlands, in the aftermath of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. One of Wade's solutions to this problem was to construct barracks, roads and bridges. These made the
previously undeveloped area easier to police. Another was to create companies of gendarmerie, or Highland Watches, which were to be manned by gentlemen of the locality. The first
 six were raised in 1725, with four
more being added in 1739 as a regular regiment - the first such to be formed in the Scottish Highlands. It is from this development that the Black Watch (Royal Highland
Regiment) traces its origins. The men wore and, indeed wear, uniforms of government tartan - the black, dark blue and green colours that give the regiment its Gaelic nickname Am Freiceadan
Dubh, or Black Watch. The regiment assembled for the first time in May 1740 at Wade's headquarters, the tall white-washed inn at the village of Weem that stands to this day. However, the first muster
took place in the field of Boltachan between Taybridge and Aberfeldy. Most of the officers and men came from old Highland families or possessed landed property and it was not unusual for private soldiers to take
their personal servants with them into military service. Many men came from the immediate area and a glimpse at the officers roll reveals the
strong links that the first regiment enjoyed with the Perthshire landed gentry. The first lieutenant colonel was Sir Robert Munro of Foulis and the colonel was the Earl of
Crawford. After its embodiment the regiment was based on the banks of the River Tay at Aberfeldy and its drills were carried out in the grounds of Taymouth Castle in the nearby
village of Kenmore. The building that stands at Taymouth today dates from the l9th century. It replaced a l6th-century fortalice that the Black Watch would have used in the 1740s. At
Aberfeldy, near the bridge that Wade built, stands the Black Watch memorial - a stone cairn topped by the imposing figure of a Highland volunteer in Scotland's first Highland regiment |
