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When The Courier reported in January that minerals specialist Erris Resources hopes gold worth £300 million could be extracted from hills in Perthshire, it raised the possibility of a mini goldrush and cries of “there’s gold in them thar hills!”

The company believes there is “excellent potential” in prospecting for gold in sites to the south of Loch Tay, and it plans to start prospecting and mapping shortly, with the ultimate aim of finding 250,000 ounces of gold.

But for Fife Council archaeologist Douglas Speirs, the “entirely possible” reality of a major gold find in Perthshire has rekindled his fascination with a period in history which saw more than 2,000 speculative gold miners descend on the Lomond Hills in Fife, during a single month in the 19th Century.

“To put events in context, you have to appreciate the worldwide news sensation that was the Californian gold rush of 1848-49,” explained Mr Speirs.

“In 1852, any paper you read in Scotland, in almost every issue, would have a story of ordinary folk getting rich beyond belief in prospecting in California or Australia. The papers were full of adverts encouraging people to up sticks to California or Australia, and get rich quick panning for gold under beautiful blue skies.

“Labouring classes in Scotland had zero chance of bettering their station in life so it’s not surprising that many were tempted to become miners.

“It’s against this background that news of the Kinnesswood gold rush was announced to the penniless labouring classes of Scotland in May 1852.”

Mr Speirs explained that some time around the first week of May 1852, an unnamed convict transported to Australia but, originally from Kinnesswood, had written home and said that he recalled seeing sparkling gold-like minerals in rocks on the Bishop Hill above Kinnesswood, very similar to the rich gold-bearing rocks then being mined to great profit in Australia.

In the first week of May 1852, his village friends started prospecting on the Bishop Hill.

News spread like wildfire and, by the second week, hundreds of local miners joined the diggings after shifts and in their spare time.

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