Harry Potter Author Buys Part of Piping History

The author of the wildly popular Harry Potter books and movie, J.K. Rowling, has purchased the Killichassie estate in Perthshire, Scotland, where the famous six- or eight-part reel, “The Smith of Chillichassie,” was inspired.

Killiechassie House was originally built by a Scottish general in 1865 by the River Tay near Aberfeldy in Perthshire. Reports indicate that Rowling spent £1.9 million on the estate.

Rowling was Britain’s highest-paid woman last year. She wrote the first book in the Harry Potter series as a single mother in Nicholson’s Cafe on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.

The composer of “The Smith of Chillichassie” is not known, though the tune is thought to have been first a composition for the fiddle, then adapted by Highland pipers.

There is no indication that Rowling will employ either a piper or a smith at her new house.

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