The name Blackford was given, according to tradition, by an ancient king of Caledonia, whose experience in passing the River Allan at this point was of the saddest. The stream spread itself out in those days, says the story, so as to be more lake than stream. When the king came to it with his queen and suite the waters were deep and the current strong. It must have been at night surely, if we are to have any faith in the tale, for the poor queen was carried away beyond help and hope. They drained the strath dry to recover the body; and a solitary knoll on the Allan's bank some way below the present village marks the place where they found and buried the remains of fair Queen Helen. Hence the name Blackford. In the days of the Roman occupation the legionaries frequented this upper part of Strathallan, and have left traces of their presence. Many of them, indeed, must have quartered near; for at the Loaninghead, about two miles east of the village, there is an undeniable Roman camp, an outpost of the great camp at Ardoch. But the earliest historical reference to Blackford is in Blind Harry's "Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace." After taking the peel of Gargunnock, Wallace and his men passed up Strathallan on the way to Methven, and at Blackford met a party of the English, whom they slew, and threw their bodies into the Allan. "At yai Blackfurd, as at yai suld pass our,[1] A squeir come, and with hym bernys four. Till Doun suld ryd and wend at yai had beyne All Inglismen, at he befor had seyne. Tithings to sper he howid yaim amang. Wallace yarwith swyth with a suerd outswang. Apon ye hede he straik with so great ire, Throw bayne and brayne in sondyr schar ye swyr. Ye tothir four in hands sone wer hynt, Derfly to dede stekyt or yai wald stynt. Yar horss yai tuk, and quhat yaim likit best, Spoilzied yaim bar, syne in the brook yaim kest." Further on in the same story, we learn that Wallace after slaying Fawdoune, and seeing his ghost at Gask Hall, rode south, hotly pursued by the English. He forded the Earn at Dalreoch, and crossed the Muir of Auchterarder. "Ye horss was gud," but the forced pace sorely taxed its strength; so "at ye Blackfurd" he alighted and walked. After he had gone a mile his pursuers overtook and harassed him. They had great advantage, being on horse, while he was on foot; yet Wallace beat back the foremost of them, recovered his seat, and fled towards Sheriffmuir. "Quhil yat he cum ye myrkest mur amang,[2] His horss gaiff our and wald no furthyr gang." Then, rather than let the steed fall into the hands of the enemy, "His houch sennownnis he cuttyt all at anys, And left hym yus besyde ye standand stanys. For Southrone men no guid suld off hym wyn. In heith haddyr Wallace and yai can twyn."