Lochearnhead (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Loch Èireann) is a village in Perthshire on the A84 Stirling to Crianlarich road at the foot of Glen Ogle,  north of the Highland Boundary Fault. It is situated at the western end of Loch Earn where the A85 road from Crieff meets the A84.

Loch Earn is  above sea level, with the settlement running from its shores up to higher ground on the hills at the mouth of Glen Ogle. Lochearnhead lies within the Breadalbane area of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

Early history
The first evidence of people in Lochearnhead comes from Mesolithic arrowheads found in Glen Ogle by former local policeman Tom Gibbon, and his son Donald. A settled population is in evidence in the Neolithic period, from a burial chamber at Edinchip, and from the cup-marked stones which lie between the Kendrum Burn and the Craggan Road, in what is known locally as the Druid Field. There is another site with cup and ring marks at the head of Glen Ogle.

There are two crannogs still visible on Loch Earn, one at the west end of the loch in Carstran Bay, below Edinample Castle, the other at the east end of the loch, at St Fillans, known as Neish Island. (Other submerged possible crannog sites also exist, and recent surveys by the Scottish Crannog Centre and others suggest the known number may increase if the archaeology is enabled to go ahead). These man-made islands probably date from the Bronze Age, although Neish Island was inhabited (latterly by the Clan Neish, for whom it is now named) until 1612.

The Pictish frontier
Loch Earn was on the frontier between Pictland and Dalriada, or Dál Riata. Dundurn at the east end of the loch being a Pictish frontier fort. This lends weight to the argument that the name Earn therefore comes from Eireann, in other words "the loch of the Irish".

The siege, by the Scots, of the Pictish Fort of Dundurn in 683 AD is mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. Giric, (sometimes called Grig), King of Picts and Scots, is said to have been killed at Dundurn in 889, and is buried in Iona.

Feudal estates
Although Norman nobles had been obtaining land in Scotland for a century beforehand, the coming of the feudal era is attributed to David I of Scotland in the first half of the 12th century. Feudalism proved the backdrop for local history for several centuries, not least in land ownership patterns. The ownership map of the land around Loch Earn changed as land owning families came and went, and the shape of estates fluctuated, partly through the politics of inheritance. Three family names associated with Lochearnhead are MacLaren, Stewart and MacGregor. The first of these is recorded in 1296, when Lauren of Ardveich had his name entered into the Ragman Roll. The MacLaren burial ground at Leckine was last used in 1993.

By the time the Stewarts came to Ardvorlich in 1582, the Reformed church, under the guidance of John Knox, had been adopted in Scotland for more than two decades.

It was nearly two centuries later that the MacGregors acquired Edinchip, in 1778, building the current Edinchip House in 1830.

Language
Lochearnhead is a post-Gaelic speaking area. According to the Old Statistical Account of 1799, Scottish Gaelic was the language of the "common people" of the area, although it also tells us that in the spring the young men would go herding in the "low country" (around Stirling), where they would "have the advantage of acquiring the English language". This would in fact have been the Scots language of the Stirlingshire area, rather than Standard English.

By 1837, the New Statistical Account tells us that in the area, "Gaelic is the language generally spoken, but it has been rather losing ground within the last forty years". At the time of the 1881 Census, when a question about Gaelic was included for the first time, there were still more than 70% in the parish with Gaelic as their first language, and even some with Gaelic as their only language.

Regular church services were held locally in Gaelic up until 1930, Today the generation which remembers native Gaelic being spoken is fast dying out, and any Gaelic speakers are likely to be either learners or incomers from Gaelic-speaking heartlands. To this day, though, "Church Gaelic" is based on the Perthshire Gaelic dialect. The first Gaelic Bible was translated by Balquhidder minister Robert Kirk.

Legends and folklore

Each uisge
It is said that a water horse, or each-uisge, inhabits Loch Earn, having been chased, in some variants of the legend, out of Loch Tay and across the hills by Fingal. This creature would entice people to ride on its back, but the rider's hands would stick to the creature's neck, and the unfortunate soul would be dragged under water by the Each Uisge to drown.

The unpredictable currents in Loch Earn may have given a ring of truth to this legend.

Fairies
The hillock in the Games Field, known as Chieftains' Mound or the Shian (an Sitheann), is said to be a fairy knoll. (Sídhe, sìth or siodhe refers to earthen mounds that were thought to be home to the fairy folk.) In less cynical times, people attuned to the supernatural were said to report green light emanating from it, or to hear the strains of fairy music coming from within.

Edinample Castle, haunted and cursed
Edinample Castle has several legends attached to it. The best-known is that 'Black' Duncan Campbell, a man known for his fury and his ornery nature, had asked the architect to build the castle with a parapet, but on discovering that there was not one threw the hapless architect off the roof to his death. His ghost is said to haunt the castle, wandering around the roof where the parapet should have been.

The building and its inhabitants are also said to be cursed. Depending on which version is told, this curse is either a result of a witch's malediction, or because gravestones were used as building materials.

Yet another legend has it that the 6th century holy man, Saint Blane, cursed the lands and the previous building said to have stood on the spot.

Ardvorlich severed head
The following gruesome tale is factual, but is included here in a section on legends since it is recounted for its sensational nature, and because it provided the inspiration for Sir Walter Scott's tale, "A Legend of Montrose".

It was the custom to provide hospitality to anyone who asked for food and shelter. In accordance with this custom, Lady Margaret Stewart at Ardvorlich, pregnant at the time, gave hospitality to some travelling MacGregors. However, they had just come from murdering her brother, John Drummond of Drummonderinoch, and while she was out of the room placed his severed head on a silver platter, and placed in his mouth some of the cold victuals she had served them. She was so distraught that she ran out to the hills and gave birth to James Stewart, later known as Mad Major. The lochan she gave birth by is known as Lochan na Mna, the Lochan of the Woman, on the side of Beinn Domhnuill. Major James Stewart is one of the great historical characters of the Covenanting Wars and is the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel A Legend of Montrose, in which he changed James Stewart's name to Allan Macauley. This name is actually engraved on the foot of Major Stewart's gravestone in the Stewarts of Ardvorlich old kirk of Dundurn just outside the village of St Fillans on the shores of Loch Earn.

Ardvorlich Lifting Stone 

Outside Ardvorlich house sits a curious large granite boulder. This is the Ardvorlich Lifting Stone. It is smooth, round, unbalanced and seldom lifted due to its incredible weight and lack of grip. The stone was weighed at 152kg or 332lbs. The stone sits in the shade of trees and as a result can have a green, mossy tinge to it. As of 2023 the stone has been lifted to chest by less than twenty stone lifters. It has only been shouldered four times. As such, many would say it is the pinnacle of Scottish stone lifting. Akin to the Husafell Stone in Iceland. No formal permission is required to lift the stone, however, it is courtesy to make yourself known to the residents of Ardvorlich House. Moreover, it is crucial to respect the stone as it is a historic artifact. Always lower the stone as gently as you can after lifting; a small crash mat can be purchesed online which is even better.

Development of communications
Like many highland communities, until the coming of the military road,