Bridge of Earn is the main village in the parish of Dunbarney (sometimes Dumbarney in older documents). The place-name is of uncertain (though probably Gaelic) origin, and may contain the element "druim", 'ridge, spine'. The ancient ecclesiastical focus of the parish was not within the present village, but about 1.5 km to the west at NO 113 190. The site of the medieval parish church is marked by a walled burial ground a little south of the River Earn. There are no visible remains of the medieval building (or of the medieval village that is said to have adjoined it to the south), but the churchyard contains an interesting collection of 18th-century headstones carved with symbols of mortality, trades etc. In 1689 the church was rebuilt much nearer to the Bridge, by then the main focus of settlement in the parish, at NO 130 185. In 1787 the church was rebuilt yet again, using the same stones, on its present site just to the east of the second, which also became a graveyard. The present congregation is a large and flourishing one, and a modern hall and kitchen has been built adjoining the church in recent years. The parish has recently been merged with Forgandenny, its neighbouring village to the west.