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Meikleour Beech Hedges

Heritage attraction

Meikleour Beech Hedges — Photo: G Laird, Wikimedia Commons · Original Geograph photograph · Report the wrong picture

Explorer Tom

The Meikleour Beech Hedge has had nearly three centuries to decide whether it is a hedge or a forest and appears to have chosen both. It runs beside the A93 in Perthshire for about 530 metres and rises roughly thirty metres high. At that scale, a gardener needs a very long ladder and perhaps a quiet moment to reconsider the job. Jean Mercer and Robert Murray Nairne planted the beech trees in 1745. That was the year of the Jacobite rising. Local tradition says men who worked on the hedge went to fight and never returned, so the trees were allowed to grow as a memorial. Robert himself died after joining the Jacobite cause. The story gives the hedge a human shadow, though the precise fate of every planter is harder to establish than the living trees in front of you. It is recognised as the world's tallest hedge and one of Britain's longest. Trimming it is a major operation, generally measured in years between cuts rather than Saturday afternoons. In spring it starts a fresh green wall; by autumn the beech leaves turn copper and gold. The scale is easiest to grasp when a car passes below it and suddenly looks like a toy. This is a roadside sight, free to view at any time, not a formal garden with paths through the trees. The A93 carries traffic and the verges are narrow. Choose a safe place to stop, keep clear of the road and stay out of private ground. A photograph from a sensible distance gives the hedge its full length. Whatever story you favour about 1745, the trees have kept growing long enough to tell it loudly.

What is recorded here

The Meikleour Beech Hedge was planted in 1745 by Robert and Jean Mercer Nairne and allowed to grow after Robert was killed following the Jacobite rising.

Read the whole record

The Meikleour Beech Hedge was planted in 1745 by Robert and Jean Mercer Nairne and allowed to grow after Robert was killed following the Jacobite rising.

What this place is

It is a long double line of closely planted beech trees forming an immense living boundary beside the A93.

People and events

Robert and Jean Mercer Nairne planted it in 1745; tradition says Jean left it uncut in grief after Robert died following Culloden.

How it was used

Estate workers have trimmed the sides while allowing extraordinary height, turning an ordinary boundary into a managed landmark.

What survives

About half a kilometre of mature beeches survives, officially measured and repeatedly cared for as individual trees age or fail.

Why it mattered

It matters because a working estate hedge became a living memorial whose scale joins Jacobite family history with generations of skilled care.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 16 August 2026.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) w32209322

This does not grant access. Check current paths, opening conditions and ownership before entering.

Recorded date: 1745

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More pictures of this place

Meikleour Beech Hedge - Autumn — Meikleour Beech Hedge - Autumn · Photo: Adam Ward · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph

Meikleour Beech Hedge — Meikleour Beech Hedge · Photo: Scott Cormie · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Original Geograph photograph

Places near here

Photo credits

G Laird, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Maigheach-gheal, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Mike Pennington, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tom Pennington, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Karl Peet, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Peter Gamble, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Alpin Stewart, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Paul McLennan, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Scott Cormie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Richard Webb, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

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