Dunkeld (/dʌŋˈkɛl/, Scots: Dunkell,[2] from Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians"[3]) is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

[11] Both these place-names imply an early importance for the area of the later town and bishop's seat, stretching back into the Iron Age.

[13] Kenneth I of Scotland (Cináed mac Ailpín) (843–58) is reputed to have brought relics of St Columba from Iona in 849, in order to preserve them from Viking raids, building a new church to replace the existing structures,[14] which may have been constructed as a simple group of wattle huts.

The relics were divided in Kenneth's time between Dunkeld and the Columban monastery at Kells, County Meath, Ireland, to preserve them from Viking raids.

This early church was for a time the chief ecclesiastical site of eastern Scotland (a status yielded in the 10th century to St Andrews).

An entry in the Annals of Ulster for 865 refers to the death of Tuathal, son of Artgus, primepscop (Old Irish 'chief bishop') of Fortriu and Abbot of Dunkeld.

At that time, its abbot, Crínán of Dunkeld (d. 1045), married one of the daughters of Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (1005–34) and became the ancestor of later Kings of Scots through their son Donnchad (Duncan I) (1034–40).

[18] By 1300 the Bishops of Dunkeld administered a diocese comprising sixty parish churches, a number of them oddly scattered within the sees of St Andrews and Dunblane.

[14] Below the ceiling vault of the tower ground floor are remnants of pre-Reformation murals showing biblical scenes (c. 1490), one of very few such survivals in Scotland.

Within the tower are preserved fragments of stonework associated with the cathedral and the surrounding area, including a Pictish carving of a horseman with a spear and drinking-horn, and a number of medieval grave-monuments.

After the Reformation this chamber was used as a burial aisle by the Earls, Marquises and Dukes of Atholl, and contains a number of elaborate monuments of the 17th-early 19th centuries.

[23] Dr George Smyttan FRSE HEIC (1789-1863) was born and raised in Dunkeld and retained links to Birnam all his life.

Closes (lanes) leading off this main street give access to the backlands of the houses (a traditional arrangement in Scottish towns).

At the north-west corner of the same row is the Duchess of Atholl Girls' School, erected 1853 in neo-Gothic style, designed by R & R Dickson.

[36] About 2 miles (3 kilometres) northeast of the town is the Loch of the Lowes nature reserve, managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

[43] The 1,324 feet (404 m) summit of Birnam Hill (on Murthly Estate) lies 1 mile (2 km) south of the railway station and is easily ascended from there, or from a car park to the east.

[49] There is access by rail at Dunkeld & Birnam railway station on the Highland Main Line route between Perth and Inverness.